The Boomers are Leaving! – How to Create and Implement a Knowledge Transfer Program, part 2

Now that you’ve looked at your workforce (in The Boomers are Leaving! – How to Create and Implement a Knowledge Transfer Program, part 1), you’re ready to design and develop a program that retains Baby Boomers’ knowledge. But your program should do more than just capture and transfer valuable knowledge – it should also sow the seeds of a knowledge culture in the organization. More on that later. For now, let’s look at the four phases that will follow the organizational analysis you read about in Part 1. Like rungs on a ladder, each phase builds on the next, so it’s important that you consider each step as you create your knowledge retention program.

Design: During the design phase, you’ll use the workforce data you collected and focus on who holds the knowledge, the recipient, the knowledge you want to capture, and the method you want to use. Some knowledge transfer methods to consider are mentoring, social networks, Communities of Practice, After Action Reviews, and storytelling programs. From this point on, it is critical that you follow the needs of your audience. Regularly ask yourself these questions:

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About the Authors

Ken Ball is a Baby Boomer and has been tracking issues relating to aging in the workplace for several years. At TechProse, he drives business development for the consulting firm that specializes in knowledge/content management, training, and documentation for major U.S. clients. He has more than 30 years of experience in corporate sales and marketing, including years in book publishing business, working for IDG Books, publishers of the… For Dummies computer and general reference books. He has a marketing communications degree from Bradley University.

Gina Gotsill is a Gen X writer who has studied journalism at San Francisco State University and University of California, Berkeley. She is also a fellow of the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank based in St. Petersburg, Florida. Gina has covered a wide range of business topics that include keeping Boomer skills in the workplace, teaching finance to non-finance professionals, and growth and change in urban and suburban business clients.

For more information about Ball and Gotsill and Surviving the Baby Boomer Exodus (Course Technology PTR, Cengage Learning 2010), please visit their website www.survivingtheboomerexodus.com.

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