As a new employee is hired, another employee very frequently is on their way out. This cycle is playing out faster and faster as the baby boomers age and retire at an astounding rate. The need to employ knowledge management (KM) strategies, especially a knowledge retention strategy, is more and more pressing for two very important reasons:

Instill KM Acceptance from the Get-Go:

A new-hire is more malleable, both to a company’s expectations and to its culture, including that of KM. Knowledge Management is a potent strategy that requires everyone to “buy in” to reap substantial benefits. Starting from day one ensures that a new mind and voice is added to the chorus. This enhances the new employee’s worth to the company, his own positive sense of purpose for themselves, and helps firmly establish the precepts and processes of your organization’s KM strategy.

Knowledge Retention: Capture What’s Headed Out the Door:

Years of experience, or even a lifetime of accumulating knowledge valuable to the new hire and the company, are often lost with the passing of each baton. The tacit knowledge, deeper and less quantifiable then explicit knowledge, is the heart of the matter, essential to be passed on for the vitality of the organization. With information capture methods including interviews, videotaping, key mentoring programs, or even bringing back retirees in creative knowledge retention roles, a focused knowledge retention strategy will assist the organization to remember what it already learned, while it continues to learn and adapt.

A good knowledge retention strategy also assesses what each employee brings to the table from the point of hire. Already knowing what your new hire’s core competencies are, as well as where their faculties and future interests lie, is a key part of mapping out your organization’s knowledge, for future harvest as well as retention.

Retain the Best in KM

A robust knowledge retention strategy effectively combats knowledge attrition while continually strengthening an entire company’s KM initiative. Learn how you can help your organization retain knowledge with our KM training, workshops, and certifications.