Leadership Excellence
Knowledge Transfer
The handing down of knowledge from parent to child, teacher to student, and expert to novice is part of the informal evolution of human learning. In the business world, however, organizations can’t rely on these informal teachings; not when the passage and preservation of knowledge is essential to the continued existence and prosperity of the organization. What’s needed is a structured and strategic transfer of knowledge.
GeoStrategy has developed a powerful methodology that enables organizations to formalize and institutionalize the transfer, management, storage, and accessibility of knowledge and intellectual assets.
An institutional knowledge base is comprised of information, data, experience, processes, and systems. Each of these individual components requires different means of transfer and preservation—some of which may be unique to your organization. GeoStrategy’s knowledge transfer methodology will help you structure the new model to transfer, collate, preserve, and grow your critical knowledge.
Knowledge Transfer Process
Senior executives nearing retirement, managers switching departments, subject matter experts moving away—the constant corporate ebb and flow—can lead to a dangerous gap or costly loss of crucial information. So we begin by conducting a thorough assessment of the areas of knowledge that need to be transferred and catalog the existing people and places where that inventory resides.
GeoStrategy then conducts knowledge transfer workshops, interviews key participants, and devises two-way mentoring programs in which the most experienced personnel prepare the newcomers and the youngest team members freshen the perspective of veterans. We then form a strategic framework for moving forward to inventory knowledge assets, prioritize value and transfer sequences, and design the knowledge management architecture.
Knowledge Management
Once the actual strategy has been formulated and agreed to, we launch the most appropriate knowledge acquisition and management initiatives, which vary depending upon the nature of the organization and the knowledge base. For example, quantitative data may be stored in a newly devised database while contact names may be cross-referenced within a very different type of archive
Specific program components may include:
- Electronic Technology-based platforms such as Wiki, to power Dedicated Communities of Interest and Communities of Practice
- Maximization of Social Networking
- Transformation to Transparency
- Organizational Mapping
- Peer mentoring
- Timing urgency and prioritization
- Development of knowledge transfer formats and processes including physical, interactive, facilitated, collective participation, and content transfer
The tangible benefits of knowledge transfer and management are obvious, but there are also many intangible benefits that accrue.
Colleagues become more collaborative within an educational environment. Newer team members quickly become more self-sufficient and knowledgeable. Every participant develops the ability to add to the existing body of knowledge. And once the new model is in place, it becomes an invaluable, self-sustainable part of the organizational structure.