Knowledge Transfer Culture for Succession and Resilience

 

By: Benjamin Anyacho, PMP

In a world of breathtaking changes, constant and quick learning of new things, openness to new ideas, and adaptation are no longer optional, but necessary. Learn or become irrelevant! Learning agility, versatility, feedback, knowledge exchange, making meaning of our experience, and collaboration are woven into the fabric of all high performing organizations. However, the way we learn and transfer knowledge has changed forever. Any profession or organization that ignores knowledge transfer and knowledge management will slip into inconsequence and oblivion. We can’t do that! Hence, the efficacy of a knowledge transfer culture. Friends, culture eats any strategy or idea for kahuna breakfast any day.

As hyper job mobility and the aging workforce have come to stay, the test of success is succession. The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or disruptions such as the pandemic is our toughness, our resiliency. Knowledge transfer transcends handover-notes and must be intentional. You cannot force people to share or transfer their knowledge; instead, you must create the right knowledge transfer environment. Human interaction is the most significant enabler of the transfer of all human capabilities.

So, what’s the solution? A knowledge culture is one where knowledge has been identified as a significant factor of production, enshrined in the organizational strategy, celebrated, and rewarded. Knowledge transfer is not another program to be adopted, but philosophy in culture—and a way of life. Imagine,

• Organizations that are most effective at knowledge management improve project outcomes by nearly 35%—PMI 2015 Pulse of the Profession
• For the first time in our lifetime, five generations interface in the project management space!
• Millennials will job-hop up to 20 times in their career—Education Advisory Board.
• By 2029, the 76 million baby boomers retire and walk out with decades of knowledge and experience.
• Employees get 50-75% of their relevant information directly from other people—Gartner Group/CIBC World Markets.

If these statistics don’t wake us up for strategic knowledge transfer, sleep inertia must have numbed us! There needs to be a direct link or action plan to get all these five generations, including those who think they know it all, to exchange knowledge. It may be challenging, but every one of them goes to the café—hence knowledge café, which could be face-to-face or virtual.

 I will be presenting a session entitled “Knowledge Transfer: Culture for Succession and Resilience that is Pandemic-Proof” on 20 October. This fun and intriguing session unravels how to create a culture of shared knowledge for succession, have the courage for learning agility, and produce a resilient comeback!

Knowledge transfer is critical in today’s environment of multiple generations in the workplace, a move towards project-based roles, a hyper-competitive global economy, and the incredibly fast pace of technology change. So, it’s time to create the right culture and environment, activate knowledge transfer tools, incentivize knowledge workers, bring everyone that knows something to the café.

• The intangible values like knowledge are more important than the tangible capital in the factor of production.
• Yet, learning and knowledge exchange should be as simple as walking into a café. We cannot learn at the pace of tortoise in a race-car-world of the knowledge revolution.
• If we can’t keep up with footmen, what will happen when we race with automation, robotics, algorithms, and artificial intelligence (AI)? We’ll be left behind. Skilled and experienced workers are screening within.
• Everyone’s voice needs to be heard. You cannot get a high degree of participation unless there’s a breakout session, even if learning is virtual and social distancing is a new norm.
• The presentation style is being replaced with a collaboration-style of learning. A 45-minute presentation with a 15-minute breakout session/questions and answers session is a one-dimensional exchange of knowledge. It must be replaced with a 15-minute presentation and 45-minute knowledge café, where learning is two-dimensional and inclusive. Hence, a high degree of social and emotional intelligence and a new knowledge environment is coveted.

In this session, attendees will gain practical skills for creating a knowledge transfer culture, learning agility for efficiency, and resilience in the new reality.

• Gain tools for moving knowledge from the head to the hands of employees.
• Identify practical applications to manage project knowledge intelligently, become a knowledge worker, and create a knowledge culture.

Interested in learning more and furthering the dialogue? Join me on October 20, 11:25 am - 11:57 am at the PMI Virtual Experience Series event for this presentation and take part in the question and answers with me and the rest of the PM community.