Workshop "Reducing Risk and Enhancing Value by Capturing and Exploiting Critical Knowledge"

This workshop is part of a series: "Achieving Purposeful Collaboration & Effective Knowledge Flows"

It is commonplace to hear leaders say after a crisis ‘we will learn lessons’. How often can those ‘lessons’ be traced back to a failure when relocating to pass on knowledge of a process or a way of working? How often are people hired back as consultants because the organisation faces a ‘burning platform’ issue and they are the prime source of knowledge on how to tackle it?

Yet most organisations focus on ‘Knowledge Capture in a hurry’ (a last minute effort when people leave) and often fail to make use of the knowledge of staff that have been seconded and then return ‘…don’t forget the returnees’.

Effective knowledge retention starts when a new member of staff joins: they bring fresh ideas and in many cases experience that can be valuable additions to an organisation’s corporate memory. It continues throughout their tenure (when they are involved in projects, have to make decisions, handle difficult situations, engage with stakeholders, develop policy, etc.) and beyond the time they leave to become part of an alumni network.

Today firms across the globe are grappling with these issues:

• ensuring new joiners hit the ground running in the shortest time possible by equipping them with the knowledge and information they need to do their job
• transitioning staff into new roles so that when they are reassigned they have sufficient time and access to the knowledge and information they need
• capturing experience and knowledge from staff close to retirement, completing a project assignment, whose job might be disappearing or leaving to pursue another career so that their knowledge (and networks) are not lost.

To be effective, Knowledge Capture, Retention & Exchange should become ‘the way we do things around here’ and part of a continuous process that encompasses all phases of the employee life cycle.

"When, after a 25 year career in financial services in the City of London, I left to embark on a portfolio career, my aim was to help people and organisations make smarter decisions using the knowledge I'd gained working with an array of global clients.

Today, some 15 years on, I lecture (on Knowledge & Innovation Management) run masterclasses, provide advice to businesses looking to move on from start up and undertake consultancy with organisations with a need to make better use of what they (and their networks) know.

As the former Managing Partner of a successful change and communications consultancy, Chairman of one of the oldest golf clubs in England, and founding Knowledge Trustee of a UK Charity, I have seen at close hand the importance of stakeholder engagement and tackling the 'what's in it for me' in order to effect sustainable change.

I am currently co-authoring a book on proven knowledge capture and retention and advising a Lisboa based business that specialises in the treatment of autism."