The document discusses challenges related to workforce turnover and the loss of organizational knowledge. It notes high turnover rates in the US federal government and private sector. When people leave an organization, either through retirement, job changes, or downsizing, their valuable institutional knowledge is lost. This impacts productivity, quality, consistency, and the ability to adapt to change. The document advocates that organizations capture, retain, and leverage knowledge to increase their resilience and agility during times of change. It provides examples of knowledge management techniques like communities of practice, expert knowledge transfer processes, and learning repositories. The key takeaway is that organizations need to view knowledge management as an ongoing, long-term process rather than a one-time project in order to operate effectively

1. ©Working KnowledgeCSP LLC All Rights Reserved
Losing Your Minds:
Capturing, Retaining and
Leveraging Organizational Knowledge
Bill Kaplan
Founder, Working KnowledgeCSP
27 May 2014

2. Some Perspective
• ~2,700,000 workers = US federal government
• ~100,000+ = Hires each year to replace turnover
• 4.1 years = Median number of years that wage and salary
workers, including federal service, were with their current
employer
• 11 jobs = Career jobs for average worker starting today
• 60 million = American workers changing roles within their
current organizations

3. Workforce Turnover and Loss
• People loss = knowledge loss
• Who: leadership and workforce
• Causes: retirement, promotion, career
change, job change, downsizing, dismissal
• Impacts
o losses in productivity
o reduced cycle time
o reduced quality
o reduced consistency in practice
o reduced ability to successfully adapt to change
Risk to Mission Delivery !

4. What are your organizations doing
to address these workforce
challenges?

5. • Resilience: the ability of an organization to
operate effectively in the face of change,
(e.g. employee turnover, work disruptions,
emergencies) beyond initial control of the
organization
• Agility: the ability to address the unknown
and to adapt effectively to change
Two Terms to Remember

6. Change Drives Knowledge Needs
• Determines kind of knowledge needed to mitigate
the impact of change and the critical event on the
normal operating performance of the organization
• Organizations that can effectively leverage their
knowledge will shorten not only the severity of the
impact, but also the duration of the impact.

7. Performance
Level
Time
Change Occurs Here
(Critical Event)
Change Events
1. Changes in leadership
2. Relocation of Operations
3. New missions introduced
4. New processes introduced/
5. Reallocation of duties
6. Reduction in Force/Resources
7. Legal/regulatory changes
8. Workforce Turnover– Knowledge Loss
Duration
Severity
Normal Performance Level
KM Mitigates Impact
Improvements
Change Drives Knowledge Needs
© 2010 Working KnowledgeCSP
Ability to Leverage Knowledge in The Midst
of Ongoing Change

8. “Operating Faster than the Speed of Change”
Organizations that adapt to change well:
• routinely capture and retain critical and
relevant knowledge
• can access “the know how and know why”
of the decisions they have made about how
they have addressed challenges and
opportunities in the past
• have enabled an ability for their workforce
and leadership to “connect, collect , and
collaborate” in addressing these challenges
and opportunities
• possess the ability to respond quickly to
“right the ship” or take advantage of an
opportunity to drive a better outcome

9. Obvious – Intuitive
… but still a big challenge!
• Lack of formal, consistent knowledge
capture and reuse frameworks that are
an integral part of government
operating or business processes - part
of the way government works.
• Lack of broad senior leadership
commitment to provide the necessary
resources and take the necessary
action to address knowledge capture
and retention challenges
• It is difficult and labor intensive (costly)
to capture what is in people’s heads.”
• Requires a unique skill set that is both
“art and craft” -- technology is not the
answer

10. Obvious – Intuitive
… but still a big challenge!
• Knowledge and skills transfer is seen as “extra work” to be
tackled “when we have time”
• Agency planning is FY focused
– KM requires an investment over time but is viewed on a year
by year basis and budgeted the same way
– Political process demands instant success impacting agency
budget decisions
– Not surprising that the patience for longer term investments
in knowledge management doesn’t make the investment cut
• Requires enlightened leadership that can focus on value
and longer term outcomes
• Compliance vs. performance environment

11. Understanding Some Basics for Success
• There is long term value in capturing and
reusing knowledge and how and where it can
be applied – it’s about performance!
• Recognize that it is a long term commitment
to build and sustain a knowledge enabled
organization
• Knowledge capture and reuse must be a
routine part of the way you work
• Look for a place to start where it will have a
significant impact on performance
• Focus on the people and the processes
necessary to move knowledge across your
workforce -- not the technology -- it’s about
changing behavior!
• Understand the multi-generational nature of
the workforce

12. Getting Started
• Create a common approach for knowledge capture
and reuse focused on collaborative behavior -
requires cultural change – it is not easy
• Place to start – at the leadership level or at
the workforce level – and look for the early
adapters in your organization to begin to
move your efforts forward
• Pilot project to demonstrate the value of these efforts
and the investment in time and resources
• Measure or value the outcome of your efforts to
demonstrate success and to convince anyone that
not doing this is a risky alternative

13. • What are some of the tools and
techniques your organizations are
using for capturing and reusing
knowledge?
• How well are they working?

14. Suggestions
• Mentoring and internships
• “Communities of Practice” can create an ability
for the workforce to share what they know
across boundaries enabled by existing
technology – or just get together
• Learning Before, Learning During, Learning After
• Knowledge Repositories (Knowledge Base) to store the “know
how and know why” of processes or methods
• Leadership and workforce expert knowledge transfer
• **Design and implement a context relevant KM Framework

15. Example: Expert Knowledge Retention
& Transfer Process Overview
Step Objective
1. Identify Experts &
Critical Knowledge To
Retain
• Identify experts and critical knowledge areas
OR
• Identify and prioritize knowledge areas for achieving
future strategies and mission-critical operations, then
identify corresponding experts
THEN
• Assess risks and other vulnerabilities
• Prioritize knowledge retention opportunities
2. Identify Successor(s)
or other Learner(s)
• Determine who will receive what knowledge
• Understand learner(s)’ current capabilities
3. Determine Knowledge
Retention & Transfer
Objectives
• Define learner(s) expected capabilities and level of
performance post-transfer (e.g., competent versus
SME).
4. Determine Knowledge
Transfer Method(s)
• Select methods for each knowledge item.
5. Develop/Execute
Knowledge Transfer
Plan
• Identify specific knowledge items to transfer with
timeframe and measures of success or capability.
• Implement knowledge retention plan.
6. Monitor Expert And
Learner Results
• Manager tracks expert and learner progress against
knowledge transfer objectives and plans.
• Modify plans if needed.
• Provide resources & reinforcement.
Source: NCMA World Congress 2009; Jeff
Stemke

16. A Few Takeaways
• Move from FY to longer term view
• Leadership must think beyond politics to
success of their mission
• Focus on establishing a culture (and
supporting technology) geared to
collaboration
• Capture and retain relevant and critical
individual and organizational learning on a
continual basis as part of normal business
operations
• Doesn’t have to take a long time or cost a lot
to begin doing something
What is the alternative of not doing anything?

17. Questions or Comments:
Bill Kaplan
571.934.7408
bill@workingknowledge-csp.com
www.workingknowledge-csp.com