TRAFFICKING IN TRUST

The Art and Science of Human Knowledge Networks
by Karen Stephenson

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By x-raying the social network of an organization, we in effect provide another and new way of seeing. Until very recently, we perceived organizations as a structural hierarchy that was both blind and deaf to another life force fomenting within. Tacit knowledge-the critical information that makes organizations functional-is in fact transferred not through established channels within the formal hierarchy but instead through informal relationships. And the medium of exchange is not just the authority of transactions but, significantly, the trust within relationships.

Without an understanding of this other world and its operating principles, women leaders will find genuine power to be potentially within their grasp yet nevertheless, frustratingly, at arm's length. And they will be marginally effective, at best, at managing and influencing their own culture. The missteps and misreads that result during reorganizations, layoffs, strategic initiatives, and promotion decisions are just a few signs of a larger cultural illiteracy that can bedevil all leaders (male and female) who fail to understand the social networks at work.

Such corporate failings usually indicate an incomplete portfolio of knowledge. An over reliance on explicit, procedural knowledge that can be readily taught or passed on in notes, instructions, or textbooks is the culprit. Tacit knowledge, in contrast, is developed through embodied experience; stored away in impressions, intuition, and instinct; and subsequently shared with trusted colleagues. The best leaders understand that this knowledge is a critical component of success. How one interacts with customers, navigates a bureaucracy, generates innovations, blows off steam without stressing the system, or increases the efficiency of a warehouse storage facility is not information that is always readily accessible. Such knowledge cannot be stored in databases or captured in instructional manuals so that it can be tapped when needed. Instead, it invisibly resides in each person's knowledge bank and is exchanged, distributed, or blocked depending on who that person encounters, trusts, or fears.

For a long time I did not realize that by studying networks I was actually staring at trust. Knowledge is biased and does not travel neutrally like currency in an electronic communication network, or currents in utility lines. Instead, knowledge ebbs and flows down hallways, in meetings, and in private conversations inside and outside the office. The key to the way that knowledge travels lies in the relationships that can bypass the standard organization chart. The quality, kind, and extent of those relationships are much more influential than most leaders recognize. Relationships are the true medium of knowledge exchange, and trust is the glue that holds them altogether.

> Part 3

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