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[Transcript] Retaining the Knowledge of People Leaving your Organization
Date & time:
Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - 17:00 - 18:00 UTC
Transcript:
| 4:00 pm | WeKnowMore: | RT @egbertalberts: Just made this account to host Twitter chat for the first time, seems like I cannot use TweetChat @weknowmore will retweet my tweets #kmers |
| 4:08 pm | kmerschat: | It is me Egbert using one of @weknowmore 's handles :-) Are there any other people present at this #KM chat? #kmers |
| 4:08 pm | stangarfield: | Stan Garfield from Deloitte in Detroit is here. #KMers |
| 4:09 pm | jmcgee: | Jim McGee here in Chicago - #kmers |
| 4:09 pm | ithorpe: | Ian Thorpe working on KM in UNICEF joining the #KMers chat after a long absence #KMers |
| 4:10 pm | Vivisimo_Inc: | Hi Egbert, Stan, Ian, Jim and the entire gang... #kmers |
| 4:10 pm | kmerschat: | Welcome Stan and Jim! I am exited you guys are here! I never used Twitter really, so interesting how it will go! :-) #kmers |
| 4:11 pm | TheSoCalHiker: | Greetings all, Jeff Hester at Fluor here in SoCal #KMers |
| 4:12 pm | pekadad: | @kmerschat Lee Romero from Deloitte in Detroit here (maybe I should say "Detroitte"?) #KMers |
| 4:13 pm | WeKnowMore: | Hi guys! Johan Lammers here. Only lurking to see everything will go alright. Drinking good wine and eating good food at the same time #KMers |
| 4:13 pm | jeffhester: | Twitter appeared to be "confused" about which account was signed in. #KMers |
| 4:14 pm | kmerschat: | Great you are all here! Exiting to be on this chat! Lets start with the first question! #kmers |
| 4:14 pm | kmerschat: | [moderator] Q1. Do you have a knowledge management policy around people leaving? And what does this entail? #kmers |
| 4:16 pm | jmcgee: | places i have been have had no explicit policy nor any explicit process to debrief those leaving #kmers |
| 4:17 pm | pekadad: | @kmerschat The only related policy I've seen is an HR-required "exit interview". This is not related to knowledge retention, though. #KMers |
| 4:18 pm | VMaryAbraham: | Hello everyone. Mary Abraham here at AboveandBeyondKM.com in New York City. #KMers |
| 4:19 pm | kmerschat: | @jmcgee Did the mngmnt of the places where you've been never got the feeling that it would be interesting to pursue such a strategy? #kmers |
| 4:19 pm | swanwick: | Dropping into #KMers a little late. Hello folks. #KMers |
| 4:19 pm | kmerschat: | @pekadad What was the focus of these "exit interviews"? #kmers |
| 4:19 pm | jeffhester: | Q1: Nothing specific to the exit, although we do plan for knowledge loss. #KMers |
| 4:19 pm | VMaryAbraham: | Q1: Aside from ensuring that all open projects hv bn completed, I'm not sure how practical it is to force a brain dump in final days. #KMers |
| 4:21 pm | jmcgee: | @kmerschat - I think it was too far down the list and too abstract -seems to be a 2nd order KM issue not a 1st order issue #kmers |
| 4:21 pm | pekadad: | @kmerschat Never having been through one myself, I can only guess. #KMers |
| 4:22 pm | pekadad: | @kmerschat But my understanding was that it was understanding the reason for leaving and various bureaucracy-related tasks #KMers |
| 4:22 pm | swanwick: | Q1: In a highly matrixed organization the person leaving knows where to pass off what knowledge before they go. #KMers |
| 4:22 pm | VMaryAbraham: | Q1: @snowed says we know more than we say. I'd suggest we know more than we remember 2 say when we're heading out the door. #KMers |
| 4:22 pm | pekadad: | @kmerschat I think it also was a CYA kind of thing to ensure the company did not end up facing litigation later on for some reason #KMers |
| 4:22 pm | jeffhester: | NASA/JPL was doing something with videotaped interviews/storytelling for knowledge capture. #KMers |
| 4:23 pm | rsamii: | @kmerschat Q1 Roxy from #ifad. Don't have a policy. Bigger question is how early on u need to start the debrief 2 transfer knowledge #kmers |
| 4:23 pm | swanwick: | When I did my exit interview from IBM, I was chuckling because I knew that the ideas were going nowhere, but the form. :) #KMers |
| 4:23 pm | jmcgee: | Hypothesis - if you're not doing KM well, departure is a bad place to start, if you are doing well it isn't needed #kmers |
| 4:23 pm | kmerschat: | @swanwick Shouldn't there be some sort of process in place for this? Or do you trust the people to do this themselves? #kmers |
| 4:23 pm | VMaryAbraham: | Q1: The key is 2 do the transition planning early enough so that the knowledge transfer is natural and in context. #KMers |
| 4:23 pm | swanwick: | RT @jmcgee: Hypothesis - if youre not doing KM well, departure is a bad place to start, if you are doing well it isnt needed #KMers |
| 4:24 pm | VMaryAbraham: | Agree! RT @jmcgee: Hypothesis - if youre not doing KM well, departure is a bad place to start, if you are doing well it isnt needed #KMers |
| 4:24 pm | jeffhester: | RT @jmcgee: Hypothesis - if youre not doing KM well, departure is a bad place to start, if you are doing well it isnt needed #KMers |
| 4:24 pm | rsamii: | @VMaryAbraham agree that brain dump in final days is not practical nor useful. There needs to be a plan - a mentor/mentee programme #KMers |
| 4:25 pm | rsamii: | @VMaryAbraham YES! YES! and YES! #KMers |
| 4:26 pm | swanwick: | @kmerschat Problem with process is that it does not account for the infinite variations. Best to provide guidelines. #KMers |
| 4:26 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @jmcgee However, departures R a good time 2 check quality of existing knowledge sharing. If you've got a gap, you've got a problem. #KMers |
| 4:26 pm | kmerschat: | @jmcgee Nice Hypothesis. But wouldn't a ceremonial moment of knowledge transfer and a day to take stock #KM wise help? #kmers |
| 4:27 pm | VMaryAbraham: | RT @rsamii: @VMaryAbraham agree that brain dump in final days is not practical/useful. There must be a plan - a mentor/mentee program #KMers |
| 4:28 pm | jmcgee: | If org is committed to KM, then departures are simply one more place to capture value - maybe = mark of KM maturity? #kmers |
| 4:28 pm | swanwick: | @VMaryAbraham Departures are when people take time to come up for air and think about the impact of their work/knowledge #KMers |
| 4:28 pm | kmerschat: | @swanwick Nice! But shouldn't someone be responsible for these guidelines? Is that a mngmnt/knowledge mngmnt/hr person? Or nobody? #kmers |
| 4:28 pm | Vivisimo_Inc: | RT @rsamii: @VMaryAbraham agree that brain dump in final days is not practical/useful. There must be a plan a mentor/mentee program #kmers |
| 4:29 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @kmerschat With planned departures, you can take stock. If unplanned departures, it's hard. Better 2 have robust #KM system in place. #KMers |
| 4:29 pm | swanwick: | @kmerschat Management should be responsible for helping employees make best exit possible, KM should advise. #KMers |
| 4:29 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @swanwick Agreed. However, the exit date is too late to fill in all the knowledge gaps. #KMers |
| 4:30 pm | kmerschat: | [moderator] If money and time was of no concern, what would be the best way of designing a #KM focused process on a leaving employee? #kmers |
| 4:30 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @kmerschat @swanwick Ideally, every manager shld have a gd sense of their knowledge resources & assess the impact of the departure. #KMers |
| 4:32 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @kmerschat Before departure, consider where the departing person sits in the knowledge network, ID gaps, create plan to fill gaps. #KMers |
| 4:33 pm | mneff: | @kmerschat First choice, build a community for ex-employees. Keep them engaged as longas you can with possible loop back options. #kmers |
| 4:33 pm | ithorpe: | While brain dump on leaving is far from ideal, I still think it has a value in that it encourages a moment of reflection for all #KMers |
| 4:33 pm | stangarfield: | If knowledge has not been captured while employee is at the firm, it's unlikely to be captured during a frantic final attempt #KMers |
| 4:33 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @mneff Agreed. But does any system identify weak ties adequately? #KMers |
| 4:33 pm | jmcgee: | best departure process re KM? review, annotate, elaborate on prior KM contributions, identify & hand off open loops #kmers |
| 4:34 pm | mneff: | Second choice, get people to map their critical knowledge ahead of anyone leaving and help people create succession plans for all. #kmers |
| 4:34 pm | stangarfield: | For retirees, consider allowing them to remain connected as community members as long as they can still contribute #KMers |
| 4:34 pm | ithorpe: | We are trying out a self completed end of assignment report that can b completed over a period of time rather than as a one shot deal #KMers |
| 4:34 pm | VMaryAbraham: | RT @mneff: @kmerschat 1st choice, build a community 4 ex-employees. Keep them engaged as long as U cn w/ possible loop back options. #KMers |
| 4:35 pm | mneff: | @VMaryAbraham Not a system but the people can help. Who do you talk to for what? Who talks to you for what? What relationships ... #kmers |
| 4:35 pm | ithorpe: | RT @stangarfield: For retirees, consider allowing them to remain connected as community members as long as they can still contribute #KMers |
| 4:35 pm | kmerschat: | RT @mneff: First choice, build a community for ex-employees. Keep them engaged as longas you can with possible loop back options. #kmers |
| 4:36 pm | Vivisimo_Inc: | Agreed! RT @stangarfield: If knowledge was not captured while employee is at firm, its unlikely it will b during a frantic departure #kmers |
| 4:36 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @mneff Re: mapping critical knowledge -- this could require a lot of cultural change. May be tough. #KMers |
| 4:36 pm | mneff: | Some of that can be addressed through job shadowing and a formal mentoring program. We do that for some employees but not enough. #kmers |
| 4:36 pm | kmerschat: | @stangarfield @mneff Great ideas! Do you have hands-on experience with such a community at places you work(ed)? #kmers |
| 4:37 pm | Vivisimo_Inc: | @kmerschat @mneff this may not work if they go to a competitor. And many people leave without feeling any need to maintain ties #kmers |
| 4:37 pm | mneff: | @VMaryAbraham Agree. Just identifying critical knowledge is hard for most. They don't know what they know let alone what they don't. #kmers |
| 4:37 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @mneff Ideally, move to system of #observable work. Then people disclose info & connections as they work & before they leave @jmcgee #KMers |
| 4:38 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @mneff And, they don't know how much and when what they know might be impt to someone else. #KMers |
| 4:39 pm | mneff: | @VMaryAbraham This approach is good if you can assign some ethnographers to critical resources. Again hard to map to more than a few. #kmers |
| 4:39 pm | Vivisimo_Inc: | This is the prob. RT @mneff: The real loss is tacit knowledge: how people think, patterns built over the yrs to make quick decisions #kmers |
| 4:39 pm | ithorpe: | @VMaryAbraham like the idea but I imagine there would be a lot of resistance to this since lots of work connections are also personal #KMers |
| 4:39 pm | stangarfield: | I asked 2 retirees about this. Real retiree would participate voluntarily. One who took another job would participate for $1K/year #KMers |
| 4:39 pm | kmerschat: | [moderator] Q3 Should the person leaving get a formal role during the introduction of the new employee? What are pro's and con's? #kmers |
| 4:39 pm | mneff: | @VMaryAbraham Exactly. They just know it so do not think much about it or even share it if you know enough to ask them. #kmers |
| 4:39 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @mneff Even if you can only map a few, that may be ok provided you focus on the right few. (80/20 rule) #KMers |
| 4:40 pm | mneff: | @kmerschat Nothing to share in this area yet but we have launched a new community for people that are leaving. Time will tell. #kmers |
| 4:40 pm | ithorpe: | Going against the grain here I still think there are some types of knowledge/information that can usefully be captured on exit #KMers |
| 4:40 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @kmerschat Training successor works best in amicable partings. #KMers |
| 4:41 pm | mneff: | @kmerschat This could work on a case by case basis. It depends on the nature of the person and the reason for their leaving. #kmers |
| 4:41 pm | rsamii: | @kmerschat Q2 ideally there should be an overlap period between the person leaving and the one replacing them #kmers |
| 4:41 pm | swanwick: | Q3: Yikes, CONS of having departing person mentor newbie is that they have decent likelyhood of being somewhat bitter. #KMers |
| 4:42 pm | kmerschat: | @ithorpe Could you elaborate on that? :-) #kmers |
| 4:42 pm | ithorpe: | And likewise there's some knowledge that is so personal or tacit that they can't be captured/shared at all and is lost when ppl leave #KMers |
| 4:42 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @ithorpe Ian, what kind of info can be captured reliably at exit? #KMers |
| 4:42 pm | rsamii: | @ithorpe but precisely the personnel connections constitute the bulk of tacit knowledge at a work place #KMers |
| 4:42 pm | stangarfield: | Often there is no one taking over for person leaving: downsizing just means more work for everyone else. #KMers |
| 4:43 pm | Vivisimo_Inc: | Q3: A nightmare waiting to happen. It really depends on the situation. #kmers |
| 4:43 pm | mneff: | @stangarfield Agree. This seems to happen more and more. It provides an opportunity to reassess all work that is being done. #kmers |
| 4:43 pm | VMaryAbraham: | This is why we need #observable work. RT @stangarfield: Often there is no one taking over for person leaving b/c of downsizing #KMers |
| 4:43 pm | swanwick: | @stangarfield spreading the work is a better scenario for KM though, at least existing folks have some shared history #KMers |
| 4:43 pm | rsamii: | @ithorpe not sure if there are examples of successful brain dumps. They end up being a chat over a cup of tea! #KMers |
| 4:44 pm | mneff: | Leads to questions like: What should we keep doing? Stop doing? Start doing? Who else can do this work? Can we do it better? #kmers |
| 4:44 pm | ithorpe: | e.g. of knowledge to share on departure: key contacts, where the main docs are and what to read, newbie pitfalls #KMers |
| 4:45 pm | swanwick: | storytelling is critical here, but pretty hard to institutionalize and certainly very hard to "dump" :) #KMers |
| 4:45 pm | ithorpe: | RT @swanwick: storytelling is critical here, but pretty hard to institutionalize and certainly very hard to "dump" :) #KMers |
| 4:45 pm | mneff: | Referring to earlier post - some do a 10 minute video of lessons learned. Nice to have but rarely accessed by others. #kmers |
| 4:46 pm | Vivisimo_Inc: | Ideally create systems that capture all emails, enable digital collaboration & knowledge share and begin capturing during tenure. #kmers |
| 4:47 pm | ithorpe: | One nice to have is why I wasn't able to get done what seemed obviously needed and straightforward to do #KMers |
| 4:47 pm | VMaryAbraham: | RT @mneff: some do a 10 minute video of lessons learned.Nice 2 hv bt rarely accessed by others < This is the probl w/ forcing tacit k #KMers |
| 4:47 pm | swanwick: | #KMers Here is a storytelling technique link. Might be helpful for those departing. http://bit.ly/4CJo8W |
| 4:48 pm | ithorpe: | @Vivisimo_Inc @vmaryabraham not sure that observing/capturing everything works since can generate a lot of data but hard to interpret #KMers |
| 4:48 pm | kmerschat: | RT @swanwick: #KMers Here is a storytelling technique link. Might be helpful for those departing. http://bit.ly/4CJo8W #kmers |
| 4:48 pm | rsamii: | @Vivisimo_Inc you can capture until you're blue in the face but what is important is to up all this into action 2 create knowledge #kmers |
| 4:49 pm | onSanity: | @ithorpe one obvious one often ignored is overlap. essential #KMers |
| 4:49 pm | VMaryAbraham: | RT @ithorpe: One nice 2 hv is why I wasnt able 2 get done what seemed needed &straightforward 2 do < Agree - gd convo starter #KMers |
| 4:49 pm | mneff: | Records and information management policies need to be considered. Need 2 delete material against a schedule that conflicts w/ KM. #kmers |
| 4:49 pm | kmerschat: | [moderator] We have 10 min. left. Are there any other things, ideas, nuggets you'd like to share related to this topic? #kmers |
| 4:50 pm | rsamii: | @swanwick storytelling should be part of organization's DNA +religiously practiced, this way you do not need exit interviews #KMers |
| 4:50 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @ithorpe @Vivisimo both approaches create a lot of data, but #observable work puts data in context. Exit interview may not. #KMers |
| 4:50 pm | elsua: | ? @jmcgee Hypothesis - if you're not doing KM well, departure is a bad place to start, if you are doing well it isn't needed #kmers / +1!! |
| 4:51 pm | rsamii: | RT @elsua: ? @jmcgee Hypothesis - if you're not doing KM well, departure is a bad place to start, if you are doing well it isn't needed #kmers / +1!! |
| 4:51 pm | elsua: | Making a mental note to check the #KMers chat transcript later on today (Stuck in between meetings), since I can't make it :-// Grrr |
| 4:52 pm | mneff: | Make it an incentive to share. If people know what you do and how to do it, it makes it easier for you to move on. #kmers |
| 4:52 pm | Vivisimo_Inc: | @VMaryAbraham Agreed. That's Y information optimization is imp. Making this info accessible, relevant, timely & eliminating digging #kmers |
| 4:53 pm | jmcgee: | #observable work also makes it easy to simply point at what streams need to move forward, be reassigned, etc #kmers #owork |
| 4:53 pm | mneff: | Do some simple checklists to help people prepare for that eventuality. What do you do? Resources you use? Suggestions for improvement #kmers |
| 4:53 pm | ithorpe: | An underlying issue I see with capturing or tapping into knowledge of departing staff is motivation. Why would they care to share? #KMers |
| 4:53 pm | kmerschat: | @rsamii Do you have storytelling in your organization's DNA? How did you come to that point? I am very interested in that topic #kmers |
| 4:53 pm | VMaryAbraham: | RT @mneff: Make it an incentive to share. If people know what you do and how to do it, it makes it easier for you to move on. /+1 #KMers |
| 4:54 pm | swanwick: | @rsamii Hard to know which stories are relevant to which audiences. We need for knowledge to be internalized in-flow. #KMers |
| 4:54 pm | jeffhester: | My advice? Plan ahead. Do a knowledge-loss risk assessment and establish a mentor/mentee program for knowledge xfer. #KMers |
| 4:54 pm | mneff: | @ithorpe Not all will. Make it easy for the people that are leaving on good terms to help. They may come back. #kmers |
| 4:54 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @ithorpe Their motivation? Perhaps to preserve their legacy? #KMers |
| 4:55 pm | orgnet: | @stangarfield Often doers of downsizing are "clueless" to the network that gets things done http://bit.ly/ckNk8P #KMers |
| 4:55 pm | ithorpe: | RT @mneff: @ithorpe Not all will. Make it easy for the people that are leaving on good terms to help. They may come back. #KMers |
| 4:55 pm | VMaryAbraham: | RT @jeffhester: My advice? Plan ahead. Do a knowledge-loss risk assessment & establish a mentor/mentee program for knowledge xfer. +1 #KMers |
| 4:55 pm | jmcgee: | must run to another meeting. Thanks to all for another stimulating chat #kmers |
| 4:56 pm | rsamii: | @kmerschat if storytelling is practiced by all + part of culture, then you just do it, ppl pick the nuggets that mean smthng to them #kmers |
| 4:56 pm | kmerschat: | Thanks for being here Jim! #kmers |
| 4:56 pm | stangarfield: | @orgnet Agree - They find out too late the impact of their actions. #KMers |
| 4:56 pm | rsamii: | @swanwick if you provide the platform 4 storytelling, ppl will take what resonates wtih them + your'e continuously sharing #KMers |
| 4:57 pm | ithorpe: | @VMaryAbraham I like it! Share what you know and help preserve your legacy. Build a statue with your knowledge. #KMers |
| 4:57 pm | mneff: | @kmerschat Thanks for hosting. These things just fly by. Some good thoughts to put into practice. Thanks all. #kmers |
| 4:57 pm | stangarfield: | If people were active in communities, they will leave behind history of their posts, replies & contributions that can still be used #KMers |
| 4:58 pm | KRCraft: | RT @jeffhester: My advice? Plan ahead. Do a knowledge-loss risk assessment & establish a mentor/mentee program for knowledge xfer. +1 #KMers |
| 4:58 pm | swanwick: | @rsamii How do u make sure that listeners only get relevant stories? How do you get tellers to take time out to do so? #KMers |
| 4:59 pm | VMaryAbraham: | @kmerschat Thanks for moderating. Thanks everyone for another thought-provoking session! #KMers |
| 4:59 pm | swanwick: | Gotta run too. Seems like we need a session on storytelling. Hopefully @weknowmore can work that into schedule for #KMers |
| 4:59 pm | KRCraft: | YES! @kmerschat 1st choice, build a community 4 ex-employees. Keep them engaged as long as U cn w/ possible loop back options. #KMers |
| 4:59 pm | kmerschat: | [moderator] Time to close the chat! Many thanks to @weknowmore for letting me use 1 of their Twitter handles. I had a great time! #kmers |
| 4:59 pm | swanwick: | @stangarfield Too true. Those are good examples of in-flow stories that get created. #KMers |
| 5:00 pm | KRCraft: | What Kind of Relationship Do You Have With Former Employees? http://tinyurl.com/33b2m7m #KMers |
| 5:00 pm | rsamii: | @swanwick ppl love to show off but need a platform to do so. need 2 inform ahead of time what will be shared 4 interested ppl 2 come #KMers |
| 5:00 pm | kmerschat: | [moderator] I learned a lot and I am motivated now to work on guidelines for my own organization! Thanks all! #kmers |
| 5:00 pm | ithorpe: | RT @swanwick: Seems like we need a session on storytelling. Hopefully @weknowmore can work that into the schedule +1 #KMers |
| 5:01 pm | ithorpe: | @kmerschat thanks for moderating a great chat, and thanks to all for their stimulating contributions #KMers |
| 5:02 pm | WeKnowMore: | Talking about the schedule: we are still looking for new moderators for twitter chats! Please DM us if interested! #KM #KMers |
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