This is the fourth in a series of four posts about barriers to collaboration in Professional Leaning Communities.
According to Berkley and INSEAD professor Morten T. Hansen, author of Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid The Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big Results, “The Transfer Barrier” concerns people who are unable to transfer knowledge easily from person to person, from team to team, from school to school, or from district to district.
“People run into problems in transferring expertise, know-how, and technologies when people from different units do not know how to work together. This transfer problem is not about motivations but about abilities: people can be highly motivated to work together, but they find it difficult to do so.”
The transfer problem is commonly manifested in three different ways.
1. Tacit Knowledge
“This type of knowledge makes transfer hard. Tacit knowledge refers to information that is hard to articulate orally—in writing, in manuals, in equations, and in software code.”
Teaching has a great deal of tacit knowledge. Many people can be taught to write a lesson plan, but to teach that lesson plan effectively requires tacit knowledge of instructional pace, classroom management, checking for understanding strategies, and many other things that make teaching an art.
English Language Learners often lack the tacit knowledge of the language they are learning. Knowing vocabulary or the rules of grammar does not mean one is able to “speak the language.” There is a great deal of tacit knowledge required to truly speak a language.
“It takes time to learn and master tacit knowledge.”
According to Hansen, “Several studies demonstrate the challenges of transferring tacit knowledge. It’s easier to collaborate when people deal in straightforward, well documented, technical knowledge…”
Professional Learning Communities may have a great deal of tacit knowledge that to outsiders is not known. Articulation between differing departments, grade levels, and schools can be hampered when all involved do not share the same tacit knowledge. Differing levels of knowledge and varying ways in which curriculum, strategies, how to use data, common assessments, etc are implemented can hamper collaboration if all members do not share the same tacit knowledge of these things.
It is one thing to know what a common assessment is or types of student data available, it is something entirely different to understand the nuance of how to create common assessment, when to use them for greatest effect, how to interpret results, and how to respond.
2. No Common Frame
“People who do not know each other have no common frame—an understanding of each other’s working habits, subtle ways of articulating something, a liking of each other, and an appreciation for each other’s moods.”
This commonly happens when Professional Learning Communities bring new members on to the team. Especially if team members have been working with each other for a length of time. Members naturally have an understanding of each other’s habits, moods, communication styles, and unwritten expectations. New members will struggle due to not having a common frame with the rest of the team.
Professional Learning Communities should anticipate the “no common frame” issue and take steps to mitigate it, so as not to hamper collaboration.
3. Weak Ties
“People find it hard to transfer knowledge when they don’t know each other well (a weak tie). They need strong ties—relationships where people talk often and have a close working association. Weak ties create havoc when people need to transfer tacit knowledge.”
In other words, Professional Learning Communities need to be “communities” A place where people feel like they are welcome. PLC members should be open, sharing, and communicative. Creating strong ties creates community.
According to Berkley and INSEAD professor Morten T. Hansen, author of Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid The Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big Results, “The Transfer Barrier” concerns people who are unable to transfer knowledge easily from person to person, from team to team, from school to school, or from district to district.
“People run into problems in transferring expertise, know-how, and technologies when people from different units do not know how to work together. This transfer problem is not about motivations but about abilities: people can be highly motivated to work together, but they find it difficult to do so.”
The transfer problem is commonly manifested in three different ways.
1. Tacit Knowledge
“This type of knowledge makes transfer hard. Tacit knowledge refers to information that is hard to articulate orally—in writing, in manuals, in equations, and in software code.”
Teaching has a great deal of tacit knowledge. Many people can be taught to write a lesson plan, but to teach that lesson plan effectively requires tacit knowledge of instructional pace, classroom management, checking for understanding strategies, and many other things that make teaching an art.
English Language Learners often lack the tacit knowledge of the language they are learning. Knowing vocabulary or the rules of grammar does not mean one is able to “speak the language.” There is a great deal of tacit knowledge required to truly speak a language.
“It takes time to learn and master tacit knowledge.”
According to Hansen, “Several studies demonstrate the challenges of transferring tacit knowledge. It’s easier to collaborate when people deal in straightforward, well documented, technical knowledge…”
Professional Learning Communities may have a great deal of tacit knowledge that to outsiders is not known. Articulation between differing departments, grade levels, and schools can be hampered when all involved do not share the same tacit knowledge. Differing levels of knowledge and varying ways in which curriculum, strategies, how to use data, common assessments, etc are implemented can hamper collaboration if all members do not share the same tacit knowledge of these things.
It is one thing to know what a common assessment is or types of student data available, it is something entirely different to understand the nuance of how to create common assessment, when to use them for greatest effect, how to interpret results, and how to respond.
2. No Common Frame
“People who do not know each other have no common frame—an understanding of each other’s working habits, subtle ways of articulating something, a liking of each other, and an appreciation for each other’s moods.”
This commonly happens when Professional Learning Communities bring new members on to the team. Especially if team members have been working with each other for a length of time. Members naturally have an understanding of each other’s habits, moods, communication styles, and unwritten expectations. New members will struggle due to not having a common frame with the rest of the team.
Professional Learning Communities should anticipate the “no common frame” issue and take steps to mitigate it, so as not to hamper collaboration.
3. Weak Ties
“People find it hard to transfer knowledge when they don’t know each other well (a weak tie). They need strong ties—relationships where people talk often and have a close working association. Weak ties create havoc when people need to transfer tacit knowledge.”
In other words, Professional Learning Communities need to be “communities” A place where people feel like they are welcome. PLC members should be open, sharing, and communicative. Creating strong ties creates community.
Professional Learning Communities experience the transfer barrier because what we know is hard to share and explain, or we don’t how to work with each other, or simply don’t really know each other. PLCs need to overcome these issues by understanding that there is much knowledge they posses that isn’t always clear to those we are collaborating with. We need to expose our tacit knowledge and anticipate what other may not know. Further, PLCs must expose their unwritten habits and subtleties to new member to create common frames from which to collaborate. Finally, PLC must become true communities by creating strong ties through close working relationships.
Parts 1-3
Part 1: Overcoming the "Not-Invented-Here" Barrier in Professional Learning Communities
Part 2: Overcoming the “Hoarding” Barrier in Professional Learning Communities
Part 3: Overcoming “The Search Barrier” in Professional Learning Communities
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