There’s a great deal of talk lately about brain drain coming ... with boomers leaving work in record numbers. Surveys suggest that few companies are prepared to cope when their senior staff walks off with a great deal of key company knowledge.
The Monster Organizational Knowledge Retention Report affirms that organizational knowledge retention is a serious problem in an age of brain drain. Recommendations include the responsibility of firms to recognize the value of knowledge and actively manage and protect it. The idea is to locate knowledge that is considered an asset. Then catalogue, organize and redistribute that knowledge. Offer rewards for the sharing of knowledge within a firm. Organizations that manage knowledge with a wider strategic approach will be more effective than those firms that neglect the task of managing and measuring knowledge.
No one approach will work for all firms, but those who create core competencies for knowledge management will most likely gain a competitive edge as the global marketplace increasingly relies on knowledge as a basis for growth. What will brain drain cost your firm?
Unfortunately 77% of 550 Human Resources managers surveyed, reported their firms were clearly unprepared for the coming brain drain. Shockingly, the vast number of firms could not identify their distinctive organizational knowledge ... and most feared their future could suffer through sudden loss of core company knowledge. Is it a problem where you work?
What can be done to spot and retain critical knowledge to keep your firm in the race after boomers retire?
It's not just critical knowledge. As I pointed out in my Boomer Brain Drain White Paper, it's also critical relationships. If an employee called Peter is getting set to retire, we can do a pretty good job of capturing his knowledge, but, at best we can only map the web of his relationships.
One of the most important things a company can do is conduct a Threat Assessment to determine what key people are able to retire soon and how difficult it will be to replace what they take out the door with them. Then we can look at a mix of tactics to deal with the situation. Some tactics are HR-based, some are business process-based, and some are technology-based.
Posted by: Wally Bock | September 28, 2007 1:39 PM | Permalink to Comment