Lasting knowledge: getting the most out of what your organization knows

As the wave of Baby Boom retirement begins, many of experienced people with in-depth knowledge of your organization will take their wisdom to a golf course near you. What can you do to preserve and pass on that wealth of knowledge to the next generation of employees?

1. Take Stock

• What skills are critical to your organization?
• Who currently possesses those skills, and how close are they to retirement?
• How long would it take a new employee to learn these critical skills and deliver the same output as the current skilled employee?
• Whose skills and depth of knowledge are comparable to your those personnel nearest retirement?
• Is there an exit strategy in place to ensure training and knowledge transfer before veteran employees retire?
• Who is responsible for knowledge management in your organization?

Once you’ve answered these questions and have a better picture of where you stand in relation to knowledge management issues, brainstorm strategies with the rest of your team for achieving successful knowledge transfer.

2. Recruit with the future in mind
The exit of the Baby Boom generation has not affected the workforce—yet. Now is the time to recruit and train new resources to whom organizational knowledge will flow; the staff who will fill in the gaps when the first half of the anticipated retirement wave begins. To learn more about the significance of each generation in the current labour market, send us an email.

3. Be Creative
Consider a “Shadowing Program” to allow a new or existing employee to shadow (and learn from) a skilled worker expected to leave the organization. You can also try a “Position-sharing Program”, through which two people work at two jobs interchangeably—perhaps one week on and one week off, or one month on and one month off. This way, two individuals acquire intimate knowledge of both positions and can train a new recruits when required.

4. Retain your best if you can
Identify the “keepers” in your organization—those with skills your team needs. Consider the things you can do to make those people want to stay on, perhaps even long enough to offer on-the-job training—transferring their knowledge to the next generation of employees. Retention strategies do not have to involve fancy programs; they can include opportunities to learn new skills, to actively train others, and to make or at least influence organizational decisions.

If you’re able to enhance morale, this may be the time to do it. Positive feelings will increase knowledge transfer, make people less likely to resign with short notice, and encourage your best people to stay a little longer.

5. Retrain your best if you can
Identify the employees whose skills may soon become redundant; these may be ideal candidates for re-training, being people with organizational awareness who could take on the jobs of departing senior workers.

6. Get everyone on board
Designate a “Chief Knowledge Officer” to be at the helm of the issue. The exit of senior or skilled personnel should be top of mind for all management team members, whose collective responsibility it is to ensure training, cross-training, and implementation of solutions.

7. Documentation is key
A flow chart demonstrating how to undertake a process in your organization could be helpful to a new incumbent. Use diagrams or process descriptions to serve as training tools. Updated annually, these documents could serve as a guide should someone leave unexpectedly—or simply as a frame of reference.

8. Train the Trainer
Being skilled or knowledgeable does not automatically make someone a good teacher. Research has shown that teaching adults requires an understanding of how people learn and of appropriate teaching styles. Current team members should be taught how to teach effectively, and how to confirm that learning has taken place.

9. Network
To find out about Mentoring and Management Training Programs in the federal government, visit www.ccmd-ccg.gc.ca/main_e.html.

10. Rely on us
We represent many of the most skilled resources available in the nation’s capital: senior people looking for short- or long-term contracts in which they can apply their knowledge and teach others. Call on our resources to serve as an integral part of your knowledge-management solution.