IDENTIFYING & TRANSFERRING CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE MASTERCLASSPractical, Proven Steps that Can Make a Difference in Your Organisation

CARLA SAPSFORD NEWMAN

HOW MANY ...

• employees in your company retire every year?

• employees transfer jobs or jump ship?• new employees join?

For every one of these shifts in your talent pool…You have a potential problem

DEMOGRAPHICS AREN’T IN YOUR FAVOUR

And Gen X and Gen Y employees aren’t loyal to one company anymore.

Experienced professionals are fast retiring.

CRITICALITY OF KNOWLEDGE: Case Study of the Oil & Gas Crew Change Crisis

According to Schlumberger Business Consulting based on a worldwide HR Benchmark Survey in 2011:

• 70% of National Oil Companies and 60% of the oil majors said they faced project delays due to a staffing crisis

• 76% of high growth companies plan on bringing back retirees

ACCORDING TO BOOZ ALLEN:

…The average employee working for a major operator or service company is 46 to 49 years old, according to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) in the United States.

With the average retirement age for the industry being 55 years, it is obvious that the industry faces a crisis in the next 7 to 10 years as more than half of the employee base leaves the work force.

FRAMING THE PROBLEM

Identifying Your Organisation’s Most Critical Knowledge:

• Intellectual Property• Personal Networks – It’s not

WHAT you know, it’s WHO• Lessons Learned/Case Studies• Resources• Not Know-How, but Know-Why

KNOWLEDGE IS EXPENSIVE TO REPLACE

So if you can be a KM hero in your organisation, you can help save a LOT of money for your boss.

If you ARE the boss, you can help reduce churn and diminish lost downtime as new employees get onboard.

When companies say, ‘people are our greatest asset’ what they mean is…It is too expensive to replace them and start all over again!

SO, HOW?

• Identify the knowledge that is the most valuable to your organisation.

• Make it a contractual requirement or build into your HR practices a guided knowledge transfer.

• If people aren’t required to do it, chances are they won’t bother.• Must build in incentives for behaviour which benefits not only the

organisation, but the employee.

YOU CAN’T MANAGE KNOWLEDGE LIKE A DINOSAURNOT IN THE ERA OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Technology has to be part of your solution.

But IT alone can NEVER replace a human-focused KM strategy.

Checklists alone will never drill down to the most critical knowledge your employees carry with them.

WHEN TO KICK IN WITH A KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

BASIC RETIREE TRANSFER TIMING

Ideally 3-6 months before retirement

SCOPE

Beginning with their career history, lessons learned with an emphasis on current position

FOCUS AREAS

• Areas of expertise • General experience and

background • Information resources • Examples of lessons learned, as

in projects • Key contacts (personal network)

Personal views on the future direction of the function Opportunities for improvement

WHEN TO KICK IN WITH A KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER : CREW CHANGE

TIMING

Within weeks of the transfer announcement

SCOPE

Current job or role, lessons learned and occasionally key knowledge accrued; knowledge gap with successor

FOCUS AREAS

• Roles & responsibilities • Key activities • Risks and challenges • Information resources • Key contacts (personal network)

Opportunities for improvement

THANK YOU!

CARLA SAPSFORD NEWMAN

carla@strategicknowledge.org

Carla.Y.Newman@gmail.com