Mining Experiential Knowledge At Partnering Events - Part 2
Date of publication: August 6, 2009
In Part 1 of this article we looked at the targeted information that is transferred during a partnering conference, either formally through the written partnering information which is provided online and printed in the conference package, or informally during the face-to-face meetings.
However, the targeted information which is transferred in order to serve the intended partnering objective, is only one part of the informational interaction. The other part is an informational “by-product” which is not intended in the first place, and which is activated by communication, questions on the side, small talk. It is sometimes more valuable than the targeted message. And this is also the reason why savvy partnering veterans derive value even from one-onone meetings whose primary purpose turns out to be a misunderstanding, or just not feasible.
After the recent euroPLX 40 Warsaw, held in June, the Global Business Development Manager of Apotex Inc., Mr. Wendell Clayton, wrote us about his experience:
“As part of the procedure for allocation of appointments at euroPLX I was scheduled to meet with a company which, due to the nature of their business and ours, was unlikely to yield a business opportunity. Rather than starting and ending the meeting on that note, I took the opportunity instead to learn more about their business and to gain a better understanding as to how their industry works and the challenges they face in their day to day transactions. In the end I walked away enriched.”
These mechanisms work by:
- the transfer of explicit information and know-how
- implicit knowledge which is inexpressible but which finds its way into opinions, notions, and views
- newly created knowledge and business ideas as a result of communicative interaction.
Transfer of Explicit Information And Know-how
Focused partnering conferences have the advantage of being attended by “peers”, i.e. professionals who share great conformity of their tasks and skills. On the other side, their individual sets of knowledge differ owing to different working environments, nationalities, and cultures. When these persons convene, a unique opportunity to obtain insider information and experienced guidance is created. And this opportunity is used by many to tap know-how, for example:
In spite of efforts to harmonise regulatory procedures, the health markets of Europe remain heterogeneous and their requirements for introducing, and probably having the cost of new drugs reimbursed, are a closed book for many. It is not surprising, therefore, that euroPLX Meetings are used by many to receive guidance from experienced peers. Especially the delegates of non-European companies who aim to introduce drugs into European countries resort to this source of information.
By definition, explicit knowledge is knowledge that can be structured and that is easy to communicate.
You may argue that Pharma Licensing Group conferences are attended by peers, too, and that their speakers transfer explicit knowledge by means of their lectures. But note the difference: Speakers always have their own agenda, especially if they want to pitch their services. They do not want you to know all they know, because it’s their personal strategic advantage to know more than their peers. But they do want to spread certain information and opinions which help them reach their goals.
By contrast, if you meet a peer face-to-face and ask for her advice, you will receive a much more genuine, agenda-free lecture than if the same person would speak in front of an audience. This is why business developers derive more benefit from an organised partnering meeting than from a lecture-type conference, even if it should be accompanied by small-talk opportunities.
Experiential Knowledge, Procedural Skills, Cultural Views, Gut Feelings
In this chapter we talk about tacit, implicit knowledge which is inexpressible and which does not lend itself to be captured, codified, stored, or transferred. It is a kind of knowledge that people are not often aware that they possess it or how it can be valuable to others. It cannot be verbalised but it finds its way into opinions and expertly advice. This sort of knowledge resides in people, not in computers or documents.
As tacit knowledge is ineffable, i.e. cannot be put in words, it can neither be converted into explicit (structured) knowledge, nor can it be transferred to another person. Perceptions and conclusions, however, as results of social interaction in which tacit knowledge is manifested, can be transferred to another person, although the transfer looks more like grasping an idea or getting a gut feeling than like a formal learning process. It can be learnt through being socialised into the community and through interaction with its members.
This is why knowledge workers’ most ubiquitous tools will fail to support this transfer: computers, databases, and online systems. These are suited to store and transfer explicit knowledge, knowledge that has been published, i.e. codified, in books, articles, patent specifications, either in print or electronically.
But they can’t handle tacit knowledge.
This is also the reason why enterprise collaboration platforms provided by MicroSoft, Oracle (Press Release 03 Nov 2008 quote “…expected to enable enterprises to make effective and immediate use of the knowledge present in their people, messaging and content”), and other software companies must fail when it comes to tacit knowledge which is said to make up 80% of an organisation’s competitive knowledge base.
Newly Created Knowledge And Business Ideas
This is an interesting phenomenon at euroPLX Meetings and it relates very much to the experiential, tacit knowledge described above: People meet face-to face in order to discuss a specific opportunity. After some questions and answers they find out it won’t work that way. But they feel there is more in it and that they just haven’t had the right approach.
So they keep discussing or take up the subject again later in the more relaxed atmosphere outside the sessions, during dinner or at the bar. And while they wander from the original subject, their talk brings forward a new business idea or a new insight that deviates grossly from the original issue. And more often than not the new knowledge is more valuable than solving the original issue.
The mechanisms which are active in such a process are difficult to determine. What happens in such a situation is that the persons involved in the interaction focus their minds on the issue and its various aspects and problems. On one side it is the structured knowledge of both people that is transferred and compared during the discussion. On the other side, as each person has a different background, different patterns of personal, cultural, and professional experience, the issue is looked at differently by each person. By openly discussing, accepting, and sharing these differences, new knowledge is created and, sometimes, a brilliant new business idea.