Knowledge is power: How to power up your organization

In the current business environment organizations face many challenges finding, attracting, and retaining key talent.

When key individuals leave your company - either for retirement or for a different job - the challenge is being prepared for the loss of the critical knowledge that resides with them. Whether the critical knowledge is formal, documented policies and procedures or informal, tacit know-how, companies risk delays and setbacks when that knowledge walks out the door.

More and more leaders now recognize the importance - and power - of having a disciplined process for collecting and sharing business and operational knowledge in a planned and structured way.

While certain key data may be captured in documents, policies, procedures and business plans, organizations have come to learn that other equally important information resides with specific individuals. In particular, those employees who have developed experience-based knowledge that is unique to them and to their history with the company. As a result of their tenure with the organization, they have gained perspectives through historical experiences, key relationships, and successes and failures.

These are the go-to people who can provide background information on "how we got from there to here." Often, their knowledge is not in documents, not universally understood or deemed critical, or ascribed as anything of value until that resource is no longer available. Exit interviews are not the right time to determine just what kind of knowledge is walking out the door.

A recent article in Chief Learning Officer referred to this experience-based knowledge as "deep smarts." These people with "deep smarts" are often those hired back as consultants because the transfer of information did not occur during their tenure. Considering your company's "deep smarts" can offer insight into the current state of knowledge transfer.

What can your organization do to ensure the continuity of this unique knowledge that is vital to the organization and its smooth operation? Here are some things to consider:

• First and foremost, identify what is critical knowledge and where it currently resides. Who are the go-to people in your organization? Which positions lack back up? Where do you anticipate retirements in the near future? These questions can help you identify pockets of critical knowledge.

• Recognize that critical knowledge is not only hard data like product and equipment expertise, but also soft skills such as key supplier and customer relationships, government liaisons, community involvement, and the like. Capturing and sharing relationship knowledge is as vital as knowing facts and figures.

• Prioritize according to areas of greatest risk.

• Be specific about the content. Identify how the information will be captured and where and with whom it will reside. Your immediate need may be knowledge transfer from one individual to another. But beyond that, your long-term goal should be to create a system for overall knowledge management.

• Identify timelines and accountability for knowledge transfer.

• Ensure the continuity of knowledge transfer by assigning responsibility and ownership for knowledge management.

• Incorporate both the philosophy and the priority for proactively managing knowledge into the organization culture.

How do you help employees recognize the value of knowledge transfer? Have senior leaders champion the initiative and create ways to report out on knowledge transfer as a key business metric. This will make it clear that knowledge management is a process that your organization values and uses on an ongoing basis similar to financial reporting and monitoring changes in head count.

To further ensure success, align knowledge transfer into already existing organization talent systems such as:

• Succession planning

• Employee and leadership development

• Performance review and management

• Strategic planning

• Reward and recognition programs

Don't think that knowledge transfer is a onetime only event to consider with acquisitions, divestitures, or mergers. Recognize the power of knowledge management as the lifeline of learning from the past to the future.

• Pam Falvey is a Human Resource Director at MRA - The Management Association. Follow MRA on LinkedIn: tinyurl.com/MRAonLinkedIn, Facebook: http://facebook.com/MRAmeansHR, or Twitter: @MRA_HR_Pros.