What does it take to transfer foundational vs. actionable knowledge?
When it comes to training, one solution doesn’t fit all. You want a collection of tools and the right knowledge transfer plan to share knowledge effectively.
So, if you’re training employees that need months post-onboarding to learn how to do their jobs OR your employees are making frequent mistakes, then you may need a new knowledge transfer strategy.
At ScreenSteps — a knowledge ops solution — we help companies transfer knowledge more efficiently. And it comes down to understanding what type of knowledge you need to transfer and choosing the right software and strategy to achieve your desired outcomes.
In this article, I’ll explain the differences between foundational and actionable knowledge. Then you can explore the most efficient ways to transfer those two types of knowledge to your employees.
2 main types of knowledge
Before you can transfer knowledge, you need to know what type of knowledge you are transferring. The type of knowledge you transfer determines how you will pass that information to another.
Knowledge transfer is the process of passing information from your experts to other employees.
When it comes to defining the different types of knowledge, most businesses refer to three types of knowledge:
- Implicit knowledge: Knowledge that is easily transferred through writing, like documents and digital guides.
- Explicit knowledge: Situational knowledge. It is the knowledge employees gain while handling real-life scenarios or discussing the different approaches to handling procedures with their co-workers.
- Tacit knowledge: Knowledge that learners gain through experience and context. It is usually more complex and the most difficult knowledge to transfer.
Those three definitions are great, but knowledge can be broken down into simpler terms. There is the knowledge that helps you KNOW things and knowledge that helps you DO things.
At ScreenSteps, we focus on two main types of knowledge: foundational knowledge and actionable knowledge.
1. Foundational knowledge
Foundational knowledge is conversational knowledge. Your foundational knowledge provides contextual information, such as background knowledge. This information helps your learner gain perspective and basic skills so that they have a foundation to build on.
Typically, foundational knowledge provides learners enough information to talk about a topic, but not enough information to do anything with that information.
For example, if you were teaching someone to cook, then your foundational knowledge would be teaching things like what is an oven, what are basic cooking terms, and other general information that will help your new cooks read a recipe in the future.
2. Actionable knowledge
Actionable knowledge, on the other hand, is all about training people on how to do something. This is your operational or procedural knowledge.
These are your how-to instructions that guide your employees through actions so they can complete assignments on their own.
Because actionable knowledge gets into the procedural details, your actionable knowledge changes all the time. That means it requires that employees adapt quickly to the changes by learning a new way of doing things immediately.
In our cooking example, your actionable knowledge would be like a recipe. As long as you have the right foundational knowledge, you should be able to pull up a recipe, follow it, and make the dish on your own.
Actionable knowledge is where most companies struggle.
How do we transfer knowledge efficiently?
Why do you need to understand the different types of knowledge you are transferring to your employees? It’s because, depending on the type of knowledge you are sharing, the knowledge transfer plan changes.
The most effective way to transfer foundational knowledge is different than the approach for transferring actionable knowledge.
(Now, do you see why you can’t rely on software alone to solve your knowledge transfer problem?)
How to transfer foundational knowledge
How can we transfer foundational knowledge as efficiently as possible?
Traditionally, companies build training programs that have hours on hours of lecturing with PowerPoint presentations. Now, lectures and slide decks aren’t bad things — the problem is how much time it takes.
Foundational courses are short (i.e. 10-20 minutes). They only focus on one topic. Foundational knowledge is only the background information and context.
Foundational learning is used to prepare employees to learn actionable knowledge.
Some ways to transfer foundational knowledge include:
- PowerPoints or slide decks
- eLearning courses or on-demand video courses
- One-on-one conversations
Learn how to make foundational courses here.
⚠️ WARNING
Don’t dump ALL of your information into foundational courses. If a foundational course takes more than 10-20 minutes to complete, it is taking too long. Remember: You don’t need in-depth information here — you are just scratching the surface of their jobs.
How to transfer actionable knowledge
The approach to transferring actionable knowledge is different than transferring foundational knowledge. Because you want your employees to handle different tasks, employees learn actionable knowledge by doing.
Traditionally, companies often use lectures, PowerPoints, and quizzes to train employees on actionable knowledge, but it doesn’t work. Employees are required to memorize everything trainers cover in those presentations, but memorization doesn’t work like that. People forget things.
When employees finish onboarding with these training methods, it takes another few months (and sometimes more than a year) to learn and become proficient at their jobs.
Transferring actionable knowledge requires role-playing, scenario-based training, or another hands-on learning experience. To do that, you need employee resources to support your employees. Specifically, you need digital guides.
Employees use these digital guides both in training and on their job. They practice different real-life scenarios in training, and then new hires know how to use the documentation on the job.
Digital guides — like how-to articles, reference guides, etc. — are the most effective way to transfer actionable knowledge because:
- It doesn’t require memorization
- It reduces the risk of human error
- It makes it easier to adapt to change
- It provides consistency in how you perform procedures
- It helps you capture your knowledge
⚠️ WARNING
Just documenting your procedures isn’t going to work. The key to good digital guides is writing them in a way where they are findable, followable, and scannable. Watch this free webinar to learn how to write digital guides that support your employees in training and on the job.
Adopt the right framework for transferring knowledge
It takes a lot of work to transfer knowledge to your employees. And often the different approaches can seem disconnected. However, if you use the right framework, you can have a seamless knowledge transfer plan.
The Find & Follow Framework helps companies build a training curriculum that connects the dots for transferring foundational and actionable knowledge. Using Find & Follow, companies have:
- Reduced training times by 50% or more
- Improved employee performance scores
- Saved $2.3 million by preventing employees’ mistakes
Is Find & Follow the right knowledge transfer solution for you?
Download our free Find & Follow playbook to learn how to build a Find & Follow training program in your company.
