Knowledge Transfer: Can Your Business Afford Not To?

Be honest. Did you read the title of this article and roll your eyes or even groan in frustration? Not another thing I have to do? It’s true that there are many initiatives you could take on, but how many of them should you? Instead of distracting you from the key tasks of growing your business, improving efficiency, and encouraging innovation, a solid system for knowledge transfer will help ensure your company meets these important goals. So, rather than viewing knowledge transfer as just the latest trend or something nice to do if you have the time, adopting a systematic approach is vital for any business’s survival. Still not sure? Keep reading to understand why. First, let’s clarify what we mean by knowledge transfer.

What Is Knowledge Transfer?

In simple terms, knowledge transfer is all about the systems and processes a business has in place to capture, catalog and share all the information that is in the collective heads of employees.

There are two aspects to consider. The first is explicit knowledge, which involves the steps an employee must follow to finish a task or process. This type of knowledge is typically found in manuals, standard operating procedures, or FAQs. It’s a relatively simple issue to address compared to the second aspect, which is tacit knowledge. This refers to the more abstract knowledge gained over many years through on-the-job experiences that lead to accumulated wisdom and insights. It’s this “you don’t know what you don’t know” kind of organizational knowledge that many businesses are struggling with.

Why Is Knowledge Transfer Important?

It’s estimated that up to 10,000 baby boomers retire from work every day in the US, that’s an incredible 4 million people every year. In addition, millennials are predicted to change jobs at least four times by the age of 32. Quite simply, that represents an awful lot of organizational knowledge that is literally walking out the door.

We’ve all had experience of the longstanding colleague who retires after many years in the job. The collective wisdom, intimate knowledge of all processes and procedures, let alone the vast network of contacts they’ve built up after so many years leaves a massive hole behind, doesn’t it? When your go-to person is no longer there, it can have a huge impact on the whole team and the wider company.

Businesses can no longer afford to let that all that knowledge simply slip through their fingers, or worse still, end up in the hands of competitors to exploit.

The bottom line is that the more an employee knows, then the more likely he or she is to make the right choices in the context of the workplace. And so as well as safeguarding organizational know-how, a systematic knowledge transfer process helps to ensure your business is more adaptable, innovative and responsive. And these are all important drivers of growth, productivity and ultimately profitability.

What’s more, a greater understanding of the business, how it works and how all the pieces fit together often means that the employee is more engaged and invested in what’s going on. Being able to confidently step in and help, enhances staff engagement and all-round job satisfaction.

According to MyHub, businesses are exposing themselves to significant risk and are failing to ensure the company is as agile as it should be by ignoring the importance of knowledge transfer.

How Can We Facilitate Knowledge Transfer?

A quick debrief before John’s retirement party, a hastily composed email from Susan prior to heading off to another company, or worse still a shared conversation over the coffee machine on Samuel’s last day, quite clearly won’t cut the mustard anymore.

Having said that, the process of knowledge transfer doesn’t have to be as difficult as perhaps you might have thought at first. Here are some straightforward, easy to implement pointers to get you started on the process of developing knowledge transfer in your company.

Openness and trust are the cornerstones to effective knowledge transfer. And a company culture which can support that as well as positively encouraging sharing and collaboration across teams is an important first step. It’s amazing how many businesses operate in departmental silos and then wonder why knowledge transfer isn’t happening. Often all that’s required is for employees to have a better understanding of the bigger picture and a clearer sense of their place in the process.

2. Make Knowledge Transfer A Formal Process

Don’t rely on those informal chats around the water cooler. Introduce a clear, consistent process and make it compulsory. Develop checklists, templates or use the exit interview to capture the outgoing employee’s organizational knowledge. Consider using the following as headings to guide discussions with outgoing employees:

Objectives and responsibilities of the position
Deliverables
Main contacts, both external and internal
Compliance and reporting requirements
Budgetary responsibilities
Risk management and mitigation
Insights or lessons learned.

3. Consider Introducing A Buddy System For Business-Critical Functions

Everyone wants to avoid duplication of effort, but for business-critical functions, a buddy system of cross-training is a good way to mitigate the risk of essential personnel departing and leaving the business in a hole. In addition, it means that your business can continue functioning in the case of an emergency such as a key employee’s sudden illness.

4. Use Technology

There are plenty of technological solutions out there that can help you capture and transfer organizational knowledge. In fact, it’s a good idea to have a toolkit that includes a broad range of platforms and options. Different individuals have different learning styles and preferences and this applies to both the sources and recipients of organizational knowledge. These learning styles have been classified into the following broad categories:

Visual learners – prefer pictures, diagrams and infographics
Auditory learners – prefer to listen to instructions and hear information
Reading/writing learners – learn best through reading and following written processes
Kinesthetic learners – learn by doing and experimenting.

With such a broad range of learning styles together with differences in intergenerational expectations, a mix and match approach to knowledge transfer which includes some or all of the following technology platforms is the best way to go:

Blogs
Wikis
Webinars
Podcasts
Mentoring and buddy arrangements
Simulations and role-playing
Apprenticeships or internships
Checklists
Standard operating procedures
Frequently asked questions.