A recent survey of executives from 26 companies revealed that 64% think that the retirement of workers will have a significant impact on their organizations. Ninety percent believe that these retirements will significantly increase the loss of knowledge and expertise. Yet of those who participated in this survey, conducted by Career Partners International, only 34% anticipated making changes to employment practices to make the organization more attractive to new recruits and current employees. To all this, I say “Duh!?”
As I talk with managers throughout the US, everyone seems to say the same thing. “Yes,” they say. “We know this issue is coming, but there is just so much on our plates. Besides, where do we begin? I think someone in HR is handling that.”
The truth? No one is handling it, in the vast majority of cases. Sure there are companies like IBM and Abbott Labs that always seem to be on the leading edge which are actively working to gather, codify and transfer knowledge from generation to generation. We read about them, but that does not change our behavior.
One of the biggest obstacles to all this is the perception that the knowledge transfer process is this gargantuan task that is so tough to get started. I have a small library of books that dissects the process into tables, graphs and equations.
While all this can be very helpful to certain people, we have have to begin by investing the people on the front line to share their knowledge and coach the next generation. This means modifying the culture. Culture change is something that happens in an evolutionary way – not weeks, not months, but years. This means that to develop a meaningful knowledge transfer system, we must begin today.
So ask yourself, “What can I do today to build awareness of the need for knowledge transfer within those I supervise? What tiny steps can I take as a manager to get people talking about what they know and how best they can teach and mentor those in the emerging generations?” Take these steps first and you will be laying the groundwork for the gathering, the codifying and the transferring.