CARLA SAPSFORD NEWMAN
IDENTIFYING & TRANSFERRING
CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE MASTERCLASS
Practical, Proven Steps that Can Make a Difference in
Your Organisation
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
Experienced professionals are fast retiring.
And Gen X and Gen Y
employees aren’t loyal
to one company
anymore.
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
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 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.
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 DINOSAUR
NOT 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
FOCUS AREAS
Ideally 3-6 months before retirement
•
•
SCOPE
Beginning with their career history,
lessons learned with an emphasis
on current position
•
•
•
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
FOCUS AREAS
Within weeks of the transfer
announcement
•
•
•
•
•
SCOPE
Current job or role, lessons learned
and occasionally key knowledge
accrued; knowledge gap with
successor
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