Overcoming Knowledge Loss: Key Knowledge Retention and Transfer Approaches

In APQC's most recent research on knowledge retention and transfer (KR&T) approaches, the primary lesson is that variety is key. Best-practice organizations do not apply a "one size fits all" philosophy. Instead, they leverage an array of KR&T approaches designed to fit specific business situations and the unique cultures of their respective organizations.

The following sections describe a few of the most effective KR&T approaches and provide examples from APQC's most recent consortium benchmarking study, Retaining Today's Knowledge for Tomorrow's Work Force.

Communities of Practice

Best-in-class organizations rely heavily on CoPs for the purposes of identifying, capturing, and transferring knowledge.

·         Fluor Corporation's communities are based around the need to share experiences and insights within particular business groups and disciplines. The organization has two types of communities: functional and industry. Most of the communities are broad in scope, but specialized topics are handled in forums that reside inside the knowledge communities for specific technical areas.

·         The Aerospace Company's communities are formulated around corporate-sponsored projects or initiatives. These CoPs are responsible for cross-divisional knowledge stewardship, including both tacit and explicit knowledge. Community members are tasked with taking information and materials and refining them to a point where they can become corporate positions on topics.

·         Michelin North America's transverse networks manage cross-functional processes, common business practices, and areas of expertise in order to achieve important business results. Using the networks as a means of stimulating interaction between people who might not otherwise meet, members refine, clarify, and capture explicit and tacit knowledge while incorporating it into documentation that is known as the "official" source of content. The networks have defined validation processes that are used to refine ideas into formal enterprise-wide best practices.

Transfer of Job-Related Knowledge

One stumbling block that many organizations face is how to transfer knowledge related to a specific job or role from one person to the next. However, many best-practice organizations have adopted KR&T approaches that address this challenge; popular techniques  include knowledge audits, handoff documents, lessons learned, and structured interviews.

Knowledge Audits and Handoff Documents

·         Performed during day-long workshops, Rolls-Royce's structured knowledge audits consist of detailed interviews that pose questions about specific knowledge areas. During the interviews, participants outline what they need to know to perform certain jobs. The knowledge team then uses this information to identify areas of knowledge that are difficult to replace or replicate and/or that are understood by only a few people within the organization.

·         Michelin uses a tool called a handoff document to capture basic information about a person's job when that person is about to retire or move to another position. A handoff document is a structured record intended to capture all the topics that a person would normally need to cover with his or her replacement. This includes information such as the main job responsibilities, where and how documents are stored, contacts, a vision for the future, schedules, routine reports, and budgeting.

Lessons Learned

·         The objective of NASA's Lessons Learned Information System (LLIS) is to facilitate the integration of lessons learned into NASA policy, standards, procedures, and training. At major project milestones, technological reviews, or other key decision points, employees are asked to review key lessons learned, determine their relevancy to the current project, and assess project compliance with lessons learned recommendations.

·         At Rolls-Royce, lessons learned review teams hold review sessions at the end of each phase of a project. The reviews follow a structured agenda that asks questions pertaining to the objectives of the project in order to learn what worked well, what didn't, and why. Collected lessons are submitted to Rolls-Royce's official Lessons Learned Log, which is an online repository accessible to anyone in the organization. Once submitted, a lesson undergoes a defined review process before being published.

Structured Interviews

·         Certain Rolls-Royce retirees undergo an extensive interview process, called a leaver's interview, prior to their retirement from the organization. A panel of experts conducts each interview using an extensive interview guide. Before the interview, the retiree works with the knowledge team, refining the list of questions to those most pertinent to his or her role and guiding the selection of experts to participate on the panel. The knowledge team digitally records each interview and then extracts bullet points for publication on the intranet. The full interview results are published in the corporate library, where they are accessible via the intranet.

·         Recognizing that it would not be productive to ask individuals to try to regurgitate everything they know about a particular process, Michelin uses a structured interview procedure to capture critical knowledge in an organized fashion. The interview covers specific topics and scenarios that allow the expert to explain how he or she would solve particular problems. The facilitator is usually someone with enough experience to ask clarifying questions of the expert, but the facilitator should not be an expert him- or herself. The interviews are videotaped and processed for indexing to make the end product searchable.

Mentoring and Apprenticeship Programs

In the past few years, APQC has noticed a resurgence in mentoring and apprenticeship programs. Traditionally, these programs have focused on leadership, behavioral, and skill development. However, they can also be used as a means to transfer knowledge, especially tacit knowledge, from a more experienced employee (i.e., a subject matter expert) to a more junior employee.

·         Fluor's apprenticeship program pairs subject matter experts (SMEs) with high-potential individuals who have interest and/or limited experience in a subject matter area, but who are in need of further development and training. The apprentices are responsible for extracting information from the SMEs and then incorporating what they learn into the organization's Knowledge OnLine portal so that it will be available for reuse. In addition, each apprentice helps his or her SME respond to community questions, find documents for sharing, and perform other KM-related tasks.

·         In Aerospace's shadowing program, a new hire or junior employee (the shadower) follows a more experienced employee (i.e., an SME) through his or her job, after which the shadower writes down information about the experience for future reference. This technique provides unique opportunities for veteran employees to share their experiences, thought processes, and decision-making strategies with junior members of the staff.

Structured Use of Subject Matter Experts

Subject matter experts (SMEs) have always been important to organizations, which rely on these individuals for their demonstrated mastery of particular topics and/or jobs. Over the years, subject matter experts have come to play a key, if somewhat ad hoc, role in KM because of their ability to answer questions, provide historical perspective, offer solutions, and so on. However, in its most recent study, APQC observed a change in how best-practice organizations use their SMEs: Most have moved toward more formal, structured approaches.

·         At Rolls-Royce, knowledge transfer is defined as part of senior technical experts' roles and responsibilities. Mentoring and apprenticeship programs are another example of this more structured, strategic use of SMEs.

·         At Fluor, SMEs help identify core knowledge and documents for their respective communities as well as develop the taxonomies that the communities will use. They are also expected to respond to questions posted within the community discussion forums.

·         Several best-practice organizations in APQC's most recent study leverage their SMEs in place of more traditional instructors to teach internal courses.

Storytelling Programs

Storytelling is another powerful tool for knowledge retention and transfer. Stories can supply context for organizational successes and lessons learned, and each story has the potential to personalize an issue by bringing it alive for listeners or readers. Stories are also an effective way to bridge generational gaps, communicate important information about an organization's culture, and help employees develop a sense of organizational identity.

·         The storytelling process at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) focuses on providing an informal and experiential environment for both the storyteller and the listeners. Stories can take place in the past, present, or future; they can be historical or fictional; and they can be light-hearted or serious: The only criterion is that the speaker must present a personal story about his or her JPL experience. Storytelling sessions last for one hour, consisting of 45 minutes of storytelling followed by a 15-minute question-and-answer period. This latter portion is often the most important part of the hour because it allows listeners to ask questions that help put the story into context.

·         Fluor uses storytelling to capture successes, lessons learned, and related knowledge in an explicit fashion. The stories are instrumental in raising awareness about knowledge sharing and collaboration: They document the value proposition for KM by providing context, which is something that statistics cannot convey. Fluor's storytelling process connects to the organization's global success story campaign, which ties directly into its Knowvember campaign (an annual, month-long promotion to raise awareness of KM within the organization).

Partnerships with In-house Training Organizations

Traditionally, training groups or functions within organizations have been responsible for helping people develop their skills and capabilities. However, best-practice organizations have begun to involve their in-house training functions in knowledge retention and transfer efforts.

·         The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Academy is dedicated to preserving the lifetime experience and knowledge of NASA senior scientists and engineers in order to guide future generations. Academy staff members are responsible for extracting knowledge from NESC experts and incorporating it into targeted training courses.

·         The objectives of The Aerospace Institute, Aerospace's in-house training function, include the promotion, support, and guidance of learning and knowledge sharing. One of the institute's key offerings is its space and technical specialty curricula. The institute uses technical experts to develop and teach the courses offered as part of these curricula.

Integration with the Employment Life Cycle

Best-practice organizations recognize that the sooner employees are introduced to and engaged in knowledge transfer approaches, the shorter the time-to-competency for these individuals, which means they become productive employees that much more quickly. Thus, it is not surprising that knowledge retention and transfer approaches truly span the employment life cycle at these organizations.

·         At Aerospace, a course called "Learning the Business of Aerospace" teaches new employees about the resources that are available to help them perform their jobs. A second, newer orientation course, "Learning the Culture of Aerospace," instructs employees on the values and behaviors that the organization would like them to demonstrate, including knowledge stewarding. Throughout their tenure with Aerospace, employees have opportunities to leverage various other KR&T approaches in support of their jobs and professional development. Aerospace also makes extensive use of retirees to provide key skills within projects and initiatives.

·         At Fluor, exposure to KR&T processes and approaches begins during recruitment. On their first day, new employees are directed to organization-wide and functional community-based orientation processes that emphasize knowledge-sharing behaviors. Additionally, every function within the organization has a documented career path that includes information on the necessary experience, training, skills, and expected knowledge-sharing behaviors. This information can be accessed through the organization's online communities, of which a significant portion of its work force are members. Because Fluor's knowledge communities contain so many valuable resources, employees tend to remain community members throughout their careers with the organization.

Leveraging Retirees

Knowledge retention and transfer does not stop with retirement. Best-practice organizations use their retirees to provide needed skills and experience on specific projects, to mentor junior employees, and as participants in storytelling and training activities that allow them to share their experiences.

·         Michelin's "retiree employee" designation is used for individuals who retire from the organization and then are re-employed in capacities where their skills, training, and availability can be used to supplement the regular work force (as required by business needs). Employees must have been retired for at least three months before returning to work, and each is paid at a rate consistent with the established rate for his or her job.

·         Aerospace has had a long-standing interest in rehiring employees to work on an as-needed basis. In 1984, it formalized this practice in a program it calls "retiree casual" to ensure that all returning retirees would be treated in a consistent manner. The retiree casual program allows employees to work part time, to continue to save for retirement, and to gradually transfer key knowledge and insights to younger employees (minimizing the loss of organizational knowledge). In addition, the program allows management to use retirees to meet contract obligations (which vary on an annual basis) without incurring additional hiring costs.