Many businesses do not record institutional knowledge until the key employee holding that knowledge either has one foot out the door or has already left. This puts the company in a real pickle.
When someone asks, “Who knows how to generate that report our biggest client prefers?” the answer is “Trisha does, and she retired to Bali two weeks ago.”
So, how do you get out of that mess?
The answer is, you give your key employees the time and resources they need to document this vital knowledge well before they are ready to transition out of the company. Not only does this give that employee an opportunity to take breaks (go on vacation, maternity leave, etc), but it also gives your business the stability necessary to grow without bottlenecks like the proverbial “Trisha.”
This is done by setting up a knowledge transfer system.
Knowledge Transfer: What It Is and Why It Matters
Knowledge transfer is the systematic process of capturing, documenting, and passing on critical information and institutional knowledge so that others in the organization can access and use it.
Ideally, knowledge transfer looks like this:
Trisha, who has handled three major accounts for years, is given the time and resources she needs to document her client communication protocols, escalation preferences, and account history notes in a shared/accessible system. Perhaps you hired someone to assist her with this project so that she can be promoted internally. Or maybe you brought on a secondary account executive as a failsafe and to support further expansion. Either way, the highly successful “Trisha” method can now become a company standard and be used to support further growth and expansion. Trisha can now take the vacation she’s been wanting, and the next person assigned to her accounts will have everything they need to serve clients at the same level from day one. The clients barely notice a change.
Knowledge transfers create consistency.
When a key employee leaves without documenting their role, the business must ask remaining staff to absorb undocumented work and accept a temporary drop in service quality. The company may be training a replacement, but no one will be able to do things exactly as the key employee did because nothing was documented!
This can result in higher overheads, exhausted teams, and poor client relations. The best way to avoid this is to build knowledge transfer systems into your culture now, long before anyone needs them.
How to Preserve Institutional Knowledge When a Key Employee Leaves
The most effective protection against knowledge loss is to establish a standing system in which every employee documents the key processes and procedures of their role at set intervals.
Here is how to build that system:
- Determine where to store documentation.
This must be a centralized, accessible location, such as a company intranet, a shared cloud drive, or a process management platform. The key here is that everyone can and does access and use the processes and procedures stored on the platform.
- Define what needs to be documented.
Every role has recurring tasks, specialized processes, key contacts, client-specific information, and decision-making frameworks that the employee uses day to day. In our Trisha example, she might have key contacts and reporting frameworks that she has developed over the years.
One way to determine what needs to be documented for a role is to ask the person in that role what they would need to provide a replacement during a vacation or other break. The list that they provide includes everything that needs to be documented.
- Build documentation into regular workflows.
Two things employees need to document knowledge are time and prioritization. Provide a “documentation hour” frequently (three days a week, every day, once a week, the pace is up to you) and give employees that time to document their processes and procedures. Ensure they understand this project’s prioritization within your company so they are motivated to complete it. Then, schedule a weekly or monthly update meeting to ensure the work is being completed.
- On the documented knowledge.
Business systems are only valuable when they are tried and true. That means they must be tested. Schedule a time once every quarter or so for a colleague from another department or role to attempt to complete a task using only the documented process. This will reveal any gaps or missing steps and give your team a chance to revise the documentation for practical use.
- Make participation a top-down expectation.
Inspire your team by documenting your own systems and openly discussing this project. Leadership participation signals that documentation is a standard business practice, not a burden placed on employees below you.
If you are ready to build a system that protects your business from knowledge loss, Business Success Consulting Group is here to help! Schedule your free initial process mapping session today.
