Is ELICIT the right fit for your challenge? These three questions will tell you.

Question 1: is your process knowledge in people’s heads or in your systems?

This is the most fundamental question. ELICIT solves one specific problem: knowledge that exists in your organization but is not accessible to everyone.

Think of the operator who, after 20 years, knows why machine 4 always behaves slightly differently on humid days. The technician who can tell within three seconds, just from the sound, whether a setting is right. The quality specialist who knows exactly which combination of parameters leads to rejection, but has never formally documented it.

This type of knowledge is called tacit knowledge. It lives in the minds and instincts of experienced experts. It’s not written down in the SOPs. And it disappears the moment that person leaves.

ELICIT is a fit if knowledge disappears when the expert leaves and you currently have no way to prevent that.

ELICIT is not a fit if knowledge is already well documented in procedures and systems that people actually use. In that case you have a different problem: adoption, not extraction.

Question 2: are the experts still there?

ELICIT extracts decision-making knowledge from experts through structured interviews. Using an average of 110 questions, developed from 12 years of scientific research. This means one thing: the expert must be available, and willing to participate.

In practice, there are three situations:

• The expert is still there and has time. This is the ideal situation. A knowledge file requires on average around 5 interviews, making it manageable even for busy specialists.
• The expert is about to leave. This is the most common starting point. There’s time pressure, but the knowledge is still there. This is exactly when ELICIT proves its value.
• The expert has already left. In that case, ELICIT is too late for that person. But it is also the moment to realize that this can happen again and that you can take action now for those who are still there.

 

There’s a human side to this too. Some experts worry: if my knowledge is captured, will I still be needed? In practice, the opposite tends to be true. Capturing knowledge is an act of recognition. It confirms that what they know is worth preserving. Organizations that communicate this well see little to no resistance.

In short: ELICIT is a strong fit if you still have access to the experts whose knowledge you want to capture and they are willing to participate.

Question 3: is the problem already tangible or still abstract?

Knowledge retention is always a smart move. But it also requires investment: time from experts, attention from management, and an implementation effort. You don’t do that for a problem that “might happen someday in the future”.

The organizations that benefit most from ELICIT are those where the gap in knowledge management is already visible and tangible. Organizations that recognize the following signals:

• Breakdowns take longer to resolve when a specific person isn’t around
• New employees mainly learn by shadowing, which takes months
• The same problems keep recurring because solutions are not captured
• Production quality varies depending on who’s on shift
• Critical decisions depend on one or two specific people

 

If you recognize several of these signals, the problem is operationally tangible and ELICIT becomes immediately valuable both financially and operationally.

If these signals are not (yet) present, ELICIT may be too early. Not because it wouldn’t be useful, but because the urgency and internal support are likely still missing. And those are essential for a successful implementation.

The three questions at a glance:

What if you’re somewhere in between?

Many organizations find themselves in a middle ground. The problem is recognizable, but the urgency is not yet at its highest level. Or there is one department where it is clearly an issue, while the rest of the organization does not yet experience it.

In those cases: start small. One workplace, one expert, one knowledge file. This provides insight into the process, shows what can be gained, and builds internal support for a broader rollout.

Because most managers do not start with ELICIT after a strategic top-down decision. They start because there is a moment when the problem suddenly becomes very concrete. A retirement. A disruption. A moment when it becomes clear: we almost lost this knowledge. At that point, the value of ELICIT becomes immediately clear.

 

Want to know whether ELICIT fits your situation?

Do the three questions indicate that ELICIT is a fit? Or are you still unsure? We are happy to help you find the best solution. Schedule a no-obligation conversation and we will explore together how we can support you.