A house for knowledge: using metaphors to guide knowledge sharing and learning in development organisations

Abstract

This article is based on the author's two-year period of designing and facilitating a knowledge sharing and learning process at the Radio Netherlands Training Centre (RNTC). This process was aimed at providing more effective internal sharing and learning. Based on this experience, an approach has been developed for making more visible the intangibles surrounding knowledge and learning within organisations. This approach is based on the metaphor of a ‘house of knowledge.’ Following the introduction, the metaphor of the ‘house of knowledge’ is described, together with the different components of the approach involving rooms and corridors. Next, the two main phases of work within RNTC are reviewed, namely the diagnostic scan and the transformation process. The example of the RNTC process is then used to reach some general conclusions on issues of importance to knowledge sharing and learning for other development organisations.