The practice of knowledge transfer is complex and can be analyzed through many different lenses. The learning and cultural differences that exist in a diverse workforce, an organization’s history and culture, and the changing employer-employee contract are only a few.
From The Conference Board report: “Bridging the Gaps”
A recent report from The Conference Board, titled, “Bridging the Gaps – How to Transfer Knowledge in Today’s Multigenerational Workplace”, highlighted the widening chasm that is forming among generations who find themselves sharing the workplace. In it they highlight the fond hope that employers will seek to prevail on soon-to-be retiring employees of the Baby Boomer generation to stick around long enough to transfer their hard-earned skills to their, most likely younger but not necessarily cheaper, replacements. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin – those who live in hope, die fasting.
Unless employers can offer retiring employees a bargain that meets their needs they may find themselves filling vacant slots and rebuilding an incredible amount of tacit knowledge. The chaos this will cause may be profound and will incur significant cost. The reason for this is that the employment bargain that many Baby Boomers struck with their employers was based on hard work, commitment, mutual respect and a chance for advancement. The economic peaks and valleys of the last decade have certainly taken the shine of that implicit agreement. As a result Boomers, even those not ready to retire, may leave in waves and some may even take their knowledge and compete with their former employers out of frustration or a desire for more.
It seems that some fence mending is in order.
To that end, what systems should businesses be putting in place to tie the past and present of their organization to the future? There are a couple of critical elements. Make the knowledge easy to transfer. And, provide opportunities for it to be transferred. A common language for issue resolution and action is recommended. (Yes, I know my bias is showing!) If you share a common language for how to think and enact change, it can help link the way people think without telling then what to think. Essentially you need to create a context in which people can share and build an understanding of the issues at hand. Projects and structured approaches to managing decision and resolving problems provide excellent forums for this effort.
Previously I wrote an article on the challenge facing organizations addressing what I referred to as the Baby Boomer Vacuum. (If your interested in reading further – please make a request here.) This wholesale generational shift requires a strategic perspective on the part of leaders as they seek to manage this “changing of the employee guard” successfully. Keep employees engaged by having diverse groups work on matters that are important, even critical, to the organization’s health. This honors those who have served their time by recognizing their contribution, and engages those who are new to the organization by directly connecting them to something that matters (a key driver for the current generation entering the workforce.) Make this shift a matter of urgency and the employee engagement it delivers may surprise even the most jaded among you.
Tags: Baby Boomers, knowledge, multigenerational, thinking, transition, workforce
August 8, 2008 at 5:48 pm |
Work ethics right now are totally different than work ethics 20 years ago, that’s a given. The young generation does not believe anymore in long-term jobs. I work in the IT industry so transferring knowledge is never an issue (a lot of people possess the same knowledge), and I had knowledge transferred to me as much as I transferred knowledge to others (the process was always short). Is there an industry where you think transferring knowledge is a huge issue (a process that will take many months).
August 8, 2008 at 10:12 pm |
Strange as it is to say, even the IT industry (especially when you consider some of the geriatric IT systems embedded in other industry verticals) could benefit from this approach. The primary areas of immediate need are the utilities and energy sector where the learning has been built up through experiences over time. In some cases the hard won learning occurred during a one-off event. The knowledge transfer in these industry verticals is certainly months.
December 26, 2008 at 7:10 pm |
I work in the power generation industry and there is set to be a mass exodus of Baby Boomers, most likely when the financial world straightens out and heads North again we will see many of those who are on the virge of retirement leave us and with them priceless information. The new generation of workers doesn’t show the loyalty as the old generation(s) did, but it’s not why we think. Managers and executives haven’t found the correct incentive(s) to keep those individuals around, and it’s not a one size fits all. There will have to be a change in the HR systems and how pay and benefits are evaluated to increase the longevity of the new hires.