How Knowledge Improves Your Work Performance

Different people will define knowledge in different ways, but the actual knowledge definition encompasses facts, information, and skills people acquire through experience or education. When employees receive knowledge, they become more engaged and improve their performance at work.

Employees with real knowledge of their roles, the company, industry, processes, tools, and clients perform more efficiently. There are several distinct types of knowledge, each enhancing work performance in their own way.

Keep reading to learn more.

Declarative Knowledge Empowers Employees

Declarative knowledge refers to factual information – it is the knowledge of something – for example, knowing that the area of a circle is πr². This includes concepts, events, definitions, and rules that provide a theoretical understanding.

When you empower your employees with declarative knowledge, they can solve problems quickly, as it helps with critical thinking. Declarative knowledge forms an essential knowledge base for organizational activities.

Every workplace relies on a foundation of declarative knowledge relevant to its field or industry.

Tacit Knowledge Gives Them The Know-How

Tacit knowledge represents the most personal form of knowledge. It’s the know-how that’s difficult to write down or verbalize, often because people don’t fully realize they know it. Tacit knowledge tends to accumulate from personal experience over time.

Examples include intuitions, gut feelings about ideas, innate talents, or the ability to master something without being able to put it into words. While difficult to articulate, tacit knowledge guides employees’ thinking and choices. They become experts in their field and help solve complex problems.

Procedural Knowledge Can Be Applied to Real-Life Problems

Procedural knowledge is the practical know-how that enables people to perform tasks and solve problems. It refers to knowledge of a process, method, technique, or sequence of actions. Procedural knowledge allows employees to apply declarative knowledge to real-world situations.

For example, a software developer may use their declarative knowledge of programming languages and syntax to write code to create a program. Procedural knowledge comes from experience and practice doing activities, not just memorizing them.

The hands-on nature of procedural knowledge makes it vital for skilled job performance. Employees can gain procedural knowledge through formal training and job shadowing. Organizations often facilitate knowledge transfer between seasoned employees and new hires to build critical procedural knowledge.

Explicit Knowledge Standardizes Processes

Explicit knowledge refers to knowledge people can clearly articulate, code, and store in certain media. Employees can share factual and procedural knowledge through forms like documents, manuals, presentations, etc.

Explicit knowledge enhances work performance by allowing employees to have documented organizational processes, policies, and best practices. If a company has a troubleshooting guide to help clients, referring to it can help employees standardize the process and save time. The consistency and uniformity minimize errors, reworks, and time wastage.

Implicit Knowledge Shapes Employee Interactions

Implicit knowledge refers to the personal knowledge that individuals carry in their heads. It is the sum of their experiences, expertise, insights, intuition, and judgment that they have developed over time and through practice.

Implicit knowledge shapes employees’ interactions and decisions. In the workplace, it enables long-serving employees to develop deep customer intuition and foresight that helps them serve and guide customers better.

And when they understand customers’ needs and expectations, they can serve them better. When teams have a common understanding of processes, expectations, and institutional knowledge definition, they require less oversight to execute their responsibilities.

Priori knowledge Speeds Up Decision-Making

A priori knowledge refers to knowledge that people know or understand without experience. Simply, it is knowledge that does not require proof or external validation.

A priori knowledge helps to speed up decision-making in the workplace. Managers can quickly leverage logical reasoning and universal truths to make decisions even with insufficient empirical data. This avoids delays.

When your employees have the a priori knowledge, they can tackle problems without getting overwhelmed by their scope. For example, an employee who excels at math can help predict usage patterns during customer mapping sessions.

Posteriori Knowledge Helps with Metrics

A posteriori knowledge is the things people understand based on their experience. Technicians can diagnose tricky equipment issues by drawing from past working knowledge of similar breakdowns.

Marketers can launch campaigns based on experimental learnings and customer response metrics rather than pure hypotheses. This raises the probability of success.

Knowledge Definition and How It Improves Work Performance – In Sum

In the context of businesses, the dictionary’s knowledge definition can be understood as the facts, information, and skills that enable employees to deliver substantial performance dividends beyond merely completing tasks. Know-how combined with skill and the right attitude drives process improvements, innovation, and overall organizational advancement.