Mitigate Key IT Employee Knowledge Loss

Transfer IT knowledge before it’s gone.

EXECUTIVE BRIEF

Executive Summary

Info-Tech Insight

Seventy-four percent of organizations do not have a formal process for capturing and retaining knowledge which, when lost, results in decreased productivity, increased risk, and money out the door.1

1 McLean & Company, 2016, N=120

Stop your knowledge from walking out the door

Today, the value of an organization has less to do with its fixed assets and more to do with its intangible assets. Intangible assets include patents, research and development, business processes and software, employee training, and employee knowledge and capability.

People (and their knowledge and capabilities) are an organization’s competitive advantage and with the baby boomer retirement looming, organizations need to invest in capturing employee knowledge before the employees leave. Losing employees in key roles without adequate preparation for their departure has a direct impact on the bottom line in terms of disrupted productivity, severed relationships, and missed opportunities.

Knowledge Transfer (KT) is the process and tactics by which intangible assets – expertise, knowledge, and capabilities – are transferred from one stakeholder to another. A well-devised knowledge transfer plan will mitigate the risk of knowledge loss, yet as many as 74%2 of organizations have no formal approach to KT – and it’s costing them money, reputation, and time.

84%of all enterprise value on the S&P 500 is intangibles.3

$31.5 billion lost annually by Fortune 500 companies failing to share knowledge. 1

74% of organizations have no formal process for facilitating knowledge transfer. 2

1 Shedding Light on Knowledge Management, 2004, p. 46

2 McLean & Company, 2016, N=120

3 Visual Capitalists, 2020

Losing knowledge will undermine your organization’s strategy in four ways

In a worst-case scenario, key employees leaving will result in the loss of valuable knowledge, core business relationships, and profits.

Are you part of the 74% of organizations with no knowledge transfer planning in place? Can you afford not to have it?

Consider this:

A system failure to a mainframe could be disastrous for organizations that haven’t effectively transferred key knowledge. Now think past the mainframe to key processes, customer/vendor relationships, legal requirements, home grown solutions etc. in your organization.

What would knowledge loss cost you in terms of financial and reputational loss?

Source: 1 Big Tech Problem as Mainframes Outlast Workforce

Source: 2 IT's most wanted: Mainframe programmers

Source: 3The State of the Mainframe, 2022

Case Study

Insurance organization fails to mitigate risk of employee departure and incurs costly consequences – in the millions

INDUSTRY: Insurance

SOURCE: ITRG Member

Forward thinking organizations use knowledge transfer not only to avoid risks, but to drive IT innovation

IT knowledge transfer is a process that, at its most basic level, ensures that essential IT knowledge and capabilities don’t leave the organization – and at its most sophisticated level, drives innovation and customer service by leveraging knowledge assets.

Common obstacles

In building your knowledge transfer roadmap, the size of your organization can present unique challenges

How you build your knowledge transfer roadmap will not change drastically based on the size of your organization; however, the scope of your initiative, tactics you employ, and your communication plan for knowledge transfer may change.

How knowledge transfer projects vary by organization size:

Capture both explicit and tacit knowledge

Knowledge transfer is not a one-size-fits-all project

	No formal knowledge transfer program exists; knowledge transfer is ad hoc, or may be conducted through an exit interview only. 74% of organizations are at level 0.1
	At level one, knowledge transfer is focused around ensuring that high risk, explicit knowledge is covered for all high-risk stakeholders.
	Organizations have knowledge transfer plans for all high-risk knowledge to ensure redundancies exist and leverage this to drive process improvements, effectiveness, and employee engagement.
	Increase end-user satisfaction and create a knowledge value center by leveraging the collective knowledge to solve repeat customer issues and drive new product innovation.

1 Source: McLean & Company, 2016, N=120

Assess your fit for this blueprint by considering the following statements

I’m an IT Leader who…

This blueprint can help you build a roadmap to resolve each of these pain points. However, not all organizations need to have a knowledge culture. In the next section, we will walk you through the steps of selecting your target maturity model based on your knowledge goals.

Case Study

Siemens builds a knowledge culture to drive customer service improvements and increases sales by $122 million

INDUSTRY: Electronics Engineering

SOURCE: KM Best Practices

Info-Tech’s approach

Five steps to future-proof your IT team

The Info-Tech difference:

1. Successfully build a knowledge transfer roadmap based on your goals, no matter what market segment or size of business.
2. Increase departmental efficiencies through increased collaboration.
3. Retain key IT knowledge.
4. Improve junior employee engagement by creating development opportunities.

Use Info-Tech tools and templates

Info-Tech’s methodology to mitigate key IT employee knowledge loss

Blueprint deliverables

Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

IT Knowledge Transfer Project Charter Establish a clear project scope, decision rights, and executive sponsorship for the project.		IT Knowledge Transfer Risk Assessment Tool Identify and assess the knowledge and individual risk of key knowledge holders.
IT Knowledge Identification Interview Guide Extract information about the type of knowledge sources have.		IT Knowledge Transfer Roadmap Presentation Communicate IT knowledge transfer recommendations to stakeholders to gain buy-in.

Key deliverable:

IT Knowledge Transfer Plan

Track knowledge activities, intended recipients, and appropriate transfer tactics for each knowledge source.

Blueprint benefits

Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

DIY Toolkit

“ Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”

Guided Implementation

“Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”

Workshop

“We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.”

Consulting

“Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

Guided Implementation

What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization. A typical GI is five to six calls.

Workshop Overview

Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

Phase #1

Initiate your IT knowledge transfer project

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

• Hold a working session with key stakeholders.
• Identify your current state of maturity for knowledge transfer.
• Identify your target state of maturity for knowledge transfer.
• Define key knowledge transfer metrics.
• Identify your project team and their responsibilities.
• Build the project charter and obtain approval.

This phase involves the following participants:

• IT Leadership
• Other key stakeholders

Step 1.1

Obtain Approval for Your IT Knowledge Transfer Project

Activities

1.1.1 Hold a Working Session With Key Stakeholders

1.1.2 Conduct a Current and Target State Analysis.

1.1.3 Identify Key Metrics

1.1.4 Identify Your Project Team

1.1.5 Populate an RACI

1.1.6 Build the Project Charter and Obtain Approval

Initiate Your IT Knowledge Transfer Project

The primary goal of this section is to gain a thorough understanding of the reasons why your organization should invest in knowledge transfer and to identify the specific challenges to address.

Outcomes of this step

Organizational benefits and current pain points of knowledge transfer

Hold a working session with the key stakeholders to structure the project

Don’t build your project charter in a vacuum. Involve key stakeholders to determine the desired knowledge transfer goals, target maturity and KPIs, and ultimately build the project charter.

Building the project charter as a group will help you to clarify your key messages and help secure buy-in from critical stakeholders up-front, which is key.

In order to execute on the knowledge transfer project, you will need significant involvement from your IT leadership team. The trouble is that knowledge transfer can be inherently stressful for employees as it can cause concerns around job security. Members of your IT leadership team will also be individuals who need to participate in knowledge transfer, so get them involved upfront. The working session will help stakeholders feel more engaged in the project, which is pivotal for success.

You may feel like a full project charter isn’t necessary, and depending on your organizational size, it might not be. However, the exercise of building the charter is important regardless. No matter your current climate, some level of socializing the value and plans for knowledge transfer will be necessary.

Meeting Agenda

1. Short project introduction

Led by: Project Sponsor

• Why the project was initiated.
2. Make the case for the project

Led by: Project Manager

• Current state: What project does the project address?
• Future state: What is our target state of maturity?
3. Success criteria

Led by: Project Manager

• How will success be measured?
4. Define the project team

Led by: Project Manager

• Description of planned project approach.
• Stakeholder assessment.
• What is required of the sponsor and stakeholders?
5. Determine next steps

Led by: Project Manager

1.1.1 Key Stakeholder Working Session

Identify the pain points you’re experiencing with knowledge transfer and some of the benefits which you’d like to see from a program to determine the key objectives By doing so, you’ll get a holistic view of what you need to achieve.

Collect this information by:

1. Asking the working group participants (as a whole or in smaller groups) to discuss pain points created by ineffective knowledge transfer practices.
• Challenges related to stakeholders.
• Challenges created by process issues.
• Issues achieving the intended outcome due to ineffective knowledge transfer.
• Difficulties improving knowledge transfer practices.
2. Discussing opportunities to be gained from improving these practices.
3. Having participants write these down on sticky notes and place them on a whiteboard or flip chart.
4. Reviewing all the points as a group and grouping challenges and benefits into themes.
5. Having the group prioritize the risks and benefits in terms of what the solution “must have,” “should have,” “could have,” and “won’t have.”
6. Documenting this in the IT Knowledge Transfer Charter template.

Examples of Possible Pain Points

1.1.2 Conduct a Current and Target State Analysis

Identify your current and target state of maturity

How to determine your current and target state of maturity:

1. Provide the previous two slides with the details of the maturity assessment to the group, to review.
2. Ask each participant to individually determine what they think is the IT team’s current state of maturity. After a few minutes, discuss as a group and come to an agreement.
3. Review each of the benefits and timing for each of the maturity levels. Compare the benefits listed to those that you named in the previous exercise and determine which maturity level best describes your target state.
4. Discuss as a group and agree on one maturity level.
5. Review the other levels of maturity and determine what is in and out of scope for the project (hint: higher level benefits would be considered out of scope). Document this in the IT Knowledge Transfer Project Charter template.

IT Knowledge Transfer Project Charter Template

Info-Tech’s Knowledge Transfer Maturity Model

Depending on the level of maturity you are trying to achieve, a knowledge transfer project could take weeks, months, or even years. Your maturity level depends on the business goal you would like to achieve, and impacts who and what your roadmap targets.

Info-Tech Insight

The maturity levels build on one another; if you start with a project, it is possible to move from a level 0 to a level 1, and once the project is complete, you can advance to a level 2 or 3. However, it’s important to set clear boundaries upfront to limit scope creep, and it’s important to set appropriate expectations for what the project will deliver.

Knowledge Transfer Maturity Level: Accidental and Stabilize

Knowledge Transfer Maturity Level: Proactive and Knowledge Culture

Select project-specific KPIs

Use the selected KPIs to track the value of knowledge transfer

You need to ensure your knowledge transfer initiatives are having the desired effect and adjust course when necessary. Establishing an upfront list of key performance indicators that will be benchmarked and tracked is a crucial step.

Many organizations overlook the creation of KPIs for knowledge transfer because the benefits are often one step removed from the knowledge transfer itself. However, there are several metrics you can use to measure success.

Hint: Metrics will vary based on your knowledge transfer maturity goals.

Metrics For Knowledge Transfer

Creating KPIs for knowledge transfer is a crucial step that many organizations overlook because the benefits are often one step removed from the knowledge transfer itself. However, there are several qualitative and quantitative metrics you can use to measure success depending on your maturity level goals.

Stabilize

• Number of high departure risk employees identified.
• Number of high-risk employees without knowledge transfer plans.
• Number of post-retirement knowledge issues.

Be Proactive

• Number of issues arising from lack of redundancy.
• Percentage of high-risk knowledge items without transfer plans.
• Time required to get new employees up to speed.

Promote Knowledge Culture

• Percentage of returned deliverables for rework.
• Percentage of errors repeated in reports.
• Number of employees mentoring their colleagues.
• Number of issues solved through knowledge sharing.
• Percentage of employees with knowledge transfer/development plans.

1.1.3 Identify Key Metrics

Identify key metrics the organization will use to measure knowledge transfer success

How to determine knowledge transfer metrics:

1. Assign each participant 1-4 of the desired knowledge transfer benefits and pain points which you identified as priorities.
2. Independently have them brainstorm how they would measure the success of each, and after 10 minutes, present their thoughts to the group.
3. Write each of the metric suggestions on a whiteboard and agree to 3-5 benefits which you will track. The metrics you choose should relate to the key pain points you have identified and match your desired maturity level.

Identify knowledge transfer project team

Determine Project Participants	Pick a Project Sponsor
The project participants are the IT managers and directors whose day-to-day lives will be impacted by the knowledge transfer roadmap and its implementation. These individuals will be your roadmap ream and will help with planning. Most of these individuals should be in the workshop, but ensure you have everyone covered. Some examples of individuals you should consider for your team are: Director/Manager Level: Applications Infrastructure Operations Service Delivery Managers Business Relationship Managers	The project sponsor should be a member of your IT department’s senior executive team whose goals and objectives will be impacted by knowledge transfer implementation. This is the person you will get to sign-off on the project charter document.
The project sponsor is the main catalyst for the creation of the roadmap. They will be the one who signs off on the project roadmap. The Project Participants are the key stakeholders in your organization whose input will be pivotal to the creation of the roadmap. The project stakeholders are the senior executives who have a vested interest in knowledge transfer. Following completion of this workshop, you will present your roadmap to these individuals for approval.

1.1.4 Identify Your Project Team

How to define the knowledge transfer project team:

1. Through discussion, generate a complete list of key stakeholders, considering each of the roles indicated in the chart on the Key Project Management Stakeholders slide. Write their names on a whiteboard.
2. Using the quadrant template on the next slide, draw the stakeholder power map.
3. Evaluate each stakeholder on the list based on their level of influence and support of the project. Write the stakeholder’s name on a sticky note and place it in the appropriate place on the grid.
4. Create an engagement plan based on the stakeholder’s placement.
5. Use Info-Tech’s Project Stakeholder Register Template to identify and document your project management stakeholders.

Project Stakeholder Register Template

Have a strategic approach for engaging stakeholders to help secure buy-in

If your IT leadership team isn’t on board, you’re in serious trouble! IT leaders will not only be highly involved in the knowledge transfer project, but they also may be participants, so it’s essential that you get their buy-in for the project upfront.

Document the results in the Project Stakeholder Register Template; use this as a guide to help structure your communication with stakeholders based on where they fall on the grid.

How to Manage:	Focus on increasing these stakeholders’ level of support! Have a one-on-one meeting to seek their views on critical issues and address concerns. Identify key pain points they have experienced and incorporate these in the project goal statements. Where possible, leverage KT champions to help encourage support.		Capitalize on champions to drive the project/change. Use them for internal PR of the objectives and benefits. Ask them what other stakeholders can be leveraged. Involve them early in creating project documents.	How to Manage:
How to Manage:	Pick your battles – focus on your noise makers first, and then move on to your blockers. Determine the level of involvement the blockers will have in the project (i.e. what you will need from them in the future) and determine next steps based on this (one-on-one meeting, group meeting, informal communication, or leveraging helpers/ champions to encourage them).		Leverage this group where possible to help socialize the program and to help encourage dissenters to support. Mention their support in group settings. Focus on increasing their understanding via informal communication.	How to Manage:

Key Project Management Stakeholders

Ensure coverage of all project tasks

Populate a Project RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) chart

1.1.5 Populate an RACI

Populate a RACI chart to identify who should be responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for each key activity.

How to define RACI for the project team:

1. Write out the list of all stakeholders along the top of a whiteboard. Write out the key project steps along the left-hand side (use this list as a starting point).
2. For each initiative, identify each team member’s role. Are they:

Responsible: The one responsible for getting the job done.

Accountable: Only one person can be accountable for each task.

Consulted: Involvement through input of knowledge and information.

Informed: Receiving information about process execution and quality.

3. As you proceed through the project, continue to add tasks and assign responsibility to the RACI chart on the next slide.

1.1.6 Build the Project Charter and Obtain Sign-off

Complete the IT knowledge transfer project charter.

Build the project charter and obtain sign-off from your project sponsor. Use your organization’s project charter if one exists. If not, customize Info-Tech’s IT Knowledge Transfer Project Charter Template to suit your needs.

IT Knowledge Transfer Project Charter Template

Step 1.2

Identify Your Knowledge and Stakeholder Risks

Activities

1.2.1 Identify Knowledge Sources

1.2.2 Complete a Knowledge Risk Assessment

1.2.3 Review the Prioritized List of Knowledge Sources

The primary goal of this section is to identify who your primary risk targets are for knowledge transfer.

Outcomes of this step

• A list of your high-risk knowledge sources
• Departure analysis
• Knowledge risk analysis

Prioritize your knowledge transfer initiatives

Throughout this section, we will walk through the following 3 activities in the tool to determine where you need to focus attention for your knowledge transfer roadmap based on knowledge value and likelihood of departure.

1. Identify Knowledge Sources

Create a list of knowledge sources for whom you will be conducting the analysis, and identify which sources currently have a transfer plan in place.

2. Value of Knowledge

Consider the type of knowledge held by each identified knowledge source and determine the level of risk based on the knowledge:

1. Criticality
2. Availability

3. Likelihood of Departure

Identify the knowledge source’s risk of leaving the organization based on their:

1. Age cohort
2. Engagement level

This tool contains sensitive information. Do not share this tool with knowledge sources. The BA and Project Manager, and potentially the project sponsor, should be the only ones who see the completed tool.

Focus on key roles instead of all roles in IT

Identify Key Roles

Hold a meeting with your IT Leadership team, or meet with members individually, and ask these questions to identify key roles:

• What are the roles that have a significant impact on delivering the business strategy?
• What are the key differentiating roles for our IT organization?
• Which roles, if vacant, would leave the organization open to non-compliance with regulatory or legal requirements?
• Which roles have a direct impact on the customer?
• Which roles, if vacant, would create system, function, or process failure for the organization?

Key roles include:

• Strategic roles: Roles that give the greatest competitive advantage. Often these are roles that involve decision-making responsibility.
• Core roles: Roles that must provide consistent results to achieve business goals.
• Proprietary roles: Roles that are tied closely to unique or proprietary internal processes or knowledge that cannot be procured externally. These are often highly technical or specialized.
• Required roles: Roles that support the department and are required to keep it moving forward day-to-day.
• Influential roles: Positions filled by employees who are the backbone of the organization, i.e. the go-to people who are the corporate culture.

Info-Tech Insight

This step is meant to help speed up and simplify the process for large IT organizations. IT organizations with fewer than 30 people, or organizations looking to build a knowledge culture, can opt to skip this step and include all members of the IT team. This way, everyone is considered and you can prioritize accordingly.

1.2.1 Identify Key Knowledge Sources

1. Identify key roles, as shown on the previous slide. This can be done by brainstorming names on sticky notes and placing them on a whiteboard.
2. Document using IT Knowledge Transfer Risk Assessment Tool Tab 2. Input with first name, last name, department/ IT area, and manager of each identified Knowledge Source.
3. Also answer the question of whether the Knowledge Source currently has a knowledge transfer plan in place.
• Not in place
• Partially in place
• In place
4. Conduct sanity check: once you have identified key roles, ask – “did we miss anybody?”

IT Knowledge Transfer Risk Assessment Tool

Document key knowledge sources (example)

Use information about the current state of knowledge transfer plans in your organization to understand your key risks and focus areas.

Legend:

1. Document knowledge source information (name, department, and manager).

2. Select the current state of knowledge transfer plans for each knowledge source.

Once you have identified key roles, conduct a sanity check and ask – “did we miss anybody?” For example:

• There are three systems administrators. One of them, Joe, has been with the organization for 15 years.
• Joe’s intimate systems knowledge and long-term relationship with one of the plant systems vendors has made him a go-to person during times of operational systems crisis and has resulted in systems support discounts.
• While the systems administrator role by itself is not considered key (partly due to role redundancy), Joe is a key person to flag for knowledge transfer activities as losing him would make achieving core business goals more difficult.

Case Study

Municipal government learns the importance of thorough knowledge source identification after losing key stakeholder

INDUSTRY: Government

Identify employees who may be nearing retirement and flag them as high risk

Info-Tech Insight

150% of an employee’s base salary and benefits is the estimated cost of turnover according to The Society of Human Resource Professionals.1

1McLean & Company, Make the Case for Employee Engagement

Identify disengaged employees who may be preparing to leave the organization

Info-Tech Insight

Engaged employees are five times more likely than disengaged employees to agree that they are committed to their organization.1

1Source: McLean & Company, N = 13683

The level of risk of the type of information is defined by criticality and availability

1.2.2 Complete a Knowledge Risk Assessment

Complete a Tab 3 assessment for each of your identified Knowledge Sources. The Knowledge Source tab will pre-populate with information from Tab 2 of the tool. For each knowledge source, you will determine their likelihood of departure and degree of knowledge risk.

Likelihood of departure:

1. Document the age cohort risk for each knowledge source on Tab 3 of the IT Knowledge Transfer Risk Assessment Tool. Age Cohort: Under 50, 51-55, 56-60, or over 60.
2. Document the engagement risk for each knowledge source on Tab 3, “Assessment”, of the IT Knowledge Transfer Risk Assessment Tool. Engagement level: Engaged, Almost engaged, Indifferent employees, Disengaged.

Degree of knowledge risk is based on:

3. Document the knowledge type risk for each stakeholder on Tab 3, “Assessment” in the IT Knowledge Transfer Risk Assessment Tool.
• Criticality: Would the role, if vacant, create system, function, or process failure for the organization?
• Availability: Does this individual have specialized, unique, or proprietary expertise? Are there internal redundancies?

IT Knowledge Transfer Risk Assessment Tool

Results matrix

Determine where to focus your efforts

The IT Knowledge Transfer Map on Tab 5 helps you to determine where to focus your knowledge transfer efforts

Knowledge sources have been separated into the three maturity levels (Stabilize, Proactive, and Knowledge Culture) and prioritized within each level.

Focus first on your stabilize groups, and based on your target maturity goal, move on to your proactive and knowledge culture groups respectively.

1.2.3 Review the Prioritized List

Review results

Identify knowledge sources to focus on for the knowledge transfer roadmap. Review the IT Knowledge Transfer Map on Tab 5 to determine where to focus your knowledge transfer efforts

1. Show the results from the assessment tool.
2. Discuss matrix and prioritized list.
• Does it match with maturity goals?
• Do prioritizations seem correct?

IT Knowledge Transfer Risk Assessment Tool

Phase #2

Design your knowledge transfer plans

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

• Building knowledge transfer plans for all prioritized knowledge sources.
• Understanding which transfer tactics are best suited for different knowledge types.
• Identifying opportunities to leverage collaboration tools for knowledge transfer.

This phase involves the following participants:

• IT Leadership
• Other key stakeholders
• Knowledge sources

Determine knowledge transfer tactics

Determine tactics for each stakeholder based on qualities of their specific knowledge.

This tool is built to accommodate up to 30 knowledge items; Info-Tech recommends focusing on the top 10-15 items.

1. Send documents to each manager. Include:
• a copy of this template.
• interview guide.
• tactics booklet.
2. Instruct managers to complete the template for each knowledge source and return it to you.

These steps should be completed by the BA or IT Manager. The BA is helpful to have around because they can learn about the tactics and answer any questions about the tactics that the managers might have when completing the template.

IT Knowledge Transfer Plan Template

Step 2.1

Build Your Knowledge Transfer Plans

Activities

2.1.1 Interview Knowledge Sources to Uncover Key Knowledge Items

2.1.2 Identify When to use Knowledge Transfer Tactics

2.1.3 Build Individual Knowledge Transfer Plans

The primary goal of this section is to build an interview guide and interview knowledge sources to identify key knowledge assets.

Outcomes of this step

• Knowledge Transfer Interview Guide
• Itemized knowledge assets
• Completed knowledge transfer plans

2.1.1 Interview Knowledge Sources

Determine key knowledge items

The first step is for managers to interview knowledge sources in order to extract information about the type of knowledge the source has.

Meet with the knowledge sources and work with them to identify essential knowledge. Use the following questions as guidance:

1. What are you an expert in?
2. What do others ask you for assistance with?
3. What are you known for?
4. What are key responsibilities you have that no one else has or knows how to do?
5. Are there any key systems, processes, or applications which you’ve taken the lead on?
6. When you go on vacation, what is waiting for you in your inbox?
7. If you went on vacation, would there be any systems that, if there was a failure, you would be the only one who knows how to fix?
8. Would you say that all the key processes you use, or tools, codes etc. are documented?

IT Knowledge Identification Interview Guide Template

2.1.2 Understand Knowledge Transfer Tactics

Understand when and how to use different knowledge transfer tactics

1. Break the workshop participants into teams. Assign each team two to four knowledge transfer tactics and provide them with the associated handout(s) from the following slides. Using the material provided, have each team brainstorm around the following questions:
1. What types of information can the technique be used to collect?
2. What are examples of good use cases for the technique?
3. Why would you use this technique over others?
4. Is this technique suitable for all projects? When wouldn’t you use it?
2. Have each group present their findings from the brainstorming to the group.
3. Once everyone has presented, have the groups select which tactics they would be interested in using and which ones they would not want to use by putting green and red dots on each.
4. As a group, confirm the list of tactics you would be interested in using and disqualify the others.

Knowledge Transfer Tactics:

Interviews

Interviews provide an opportunity to meet one-on-one with key stakeholders to document key knowledge assets. Interviews can be used for explicit and tacit information, and in particular, capture processes, rules, coding information, best practices, etc.

Benefits:

• Good bang-for-your-buck interviews are simple to conduct and can be used for all types of knowledge.
• Interviews can obtain a lot of information in a relatively short period of time.
• Interviews help make tacit knowledge more explicit through effective questioning.
• They have highly flexible formatting as interviews can be conducted in person, over the phone, or by email.

How to get started:

1. Have the business analyst (BA) review the employee’s knowledge transfer plan and highlight the areas to be discussed in the interview.
2. The BA will then create an interview guide detailing key questions which would need to be asked to ascertain the information.
3. Schedule a 30-60 minute interview. When complete, document the interview and key lessons learned. Send the information back to the interviewee for validation of what was discussed.

Knowledge Transfer Tactics:

Process Mapping

Business process mapping refers to building a flow chart diagram of the sequence of actions which defines what a business does. The flow chart defines exactly what a process does and the specific succession of steps including all inputs, outputs, flows, and linkages. Process maps are a powerful tool to frame requirements in the context of the complete solution.

Benefits:

• They are simple to build and analyze; most organizations and users are familiar with flow diagrams, making them highly usable.
• They provide an end-to-end picture of a process.
• They’re ideal for gathering full and detailed requirements of a process.
• They include information around who is responsible, what they do, when, where it occurs, triggers, to what degree, and how often it occurs.
• They’re great for legacy systems.

How to get started:

1. Have the BA prepare beforehand by doing some preliminary research on the purpose of the process, and the beginning and end points.
2. With the knowledge holder, use a whiteboard and identify the different stakeholders who interact with the process, and draw swim lanes for each.
3. Together, use sticky notes and/or dry erase markers etc. to draw out the process.
4. When you believe you’re complete, start again from the beginning and break the process down to more details.

Knowledge Transfer Tactics:

Use Cases

Use case diagrams are a common transfer tactic where the BA maps out step-by-step how an employee completes a project or uses a system. Use cases show what a system or project does rather than how it does it. Use cases are frequently used by product managers and developers.

Benefits:

• Easy to draw and understand.
• Simple way to digest information.
• Can get very detailed.
• Should be used for documenting processes, experiences etc.
• Initiation and brainstorming.
• Great for legacy systems.

How to get started:

1. The BA will schedule a 30-60 minute in-person meeting with the employee, draw a stick figure on the left side of the board, and pose the initial question: “If you need to do X, what is your first step?” Have the stakeholder go step-by-step through the process until the end goal. Draw this process across the whiteboard. Make sure you capture the triggers, causes of events, decision points, outcomes, tools, and interactions.
2. Starting at the beginning of the diagram, go through each step again and ask the employee if the step can be broken down into more granular steps. If the answer is yes, break down the use case further.
3. Ask the employee if there are any alternative flows that people could use, or any exceptions. If there are, map these out on the board.

Knowledge Transfer Tactics:

Job Shadow

Job shadowing is a working arrangement where the “knowledge receiver” learns how to do a job by observing an experienced employee complete key tasks throughout their normal workday.

Benefits:

• Low cost and minimal effort required.
• Helps employees understand different elements of the business.
• Helps build relationships.
• Good for knowledge holders who are not great communicators.
• Great for legacy systems.

How to get started:

1. Determine goals and objectives for the knowledge transfer, and communicate these to the knowledge source and receiver.
2. Have the knowledge source identify when they will be performing a particular knowledge activity and select that day for the job shadow. If the information is primarily experience, select any day which is convenient.
3. Ask the knowledge receiver to shadow the source and ask questions whenever they have them.
4. Following the job shadow, have the knowledge receiver document what they learned that day and file that information.

Knowledge Transfer Tactics:

Peer Assist

Meeting or workshop where peers from different teams share their experiences and knowledge with individuals or teams that require help with a specific challenge or problem.

Benefits:

• Improves productivity through enhanced problem solving.
• Encourages collaboration between teams to share insight, and assistance from people outside your team to obtain new possible approaches.
• Promotes sharing and development of new connections among different staff, and creates opportunities for innovation.
• Can be combined with Action Reviews.

How to get started:

1. Create a registry of key projects that different individuals have solved. Where applicable, leverage the existing work done through action reviews.
2. Create and communicate a process for knowledge sources and receivers to reach out to one another. Email or social collaboration platforms are the most common.
3. The source may then reply with documentation or a peer can set up an interview to discuss.
4. Information should be recorded and saved on a corporate share drive with appropriate metadata to ensure ease of search.
5. See Appendix for further details.

Knowledge Transfer Tactics:

Transition Workshop

A half- to full-day exercise where an outgoing leader facilitates a knowledge transfer of key insights they have learned along the way and any high-profile knowledge they may have.

Benefits:

• Accelerates knowledge transfer following a leadership change.
• Ensures business continuity.
• New leader gets a chance to understand the business drivers behind team decisions and skills of each member.
• The individuals on the team learn about the new leader’s values and communication styles.

How to get started:

1. Outgoing leader organizes a one-time session where they share information with the team (focus on tacit knowledge, such as team successes and challenges) and team can ask questions.
2. Incoming leader and remaining team members share information about norms, priorities, and values.
3. Document the information.

Knowledge Transfer Tactics:

Action Review

Action Review is a team-based discussion at the end of a project or step to review how the activity went and what can be done differently next time. It is ideal for transferring expertise and skills.

Benefits:

• Learning is done during and immediately after the project so that knowledge transfer happens quickly.
• Results can be shared with other teams outside of the immediate members.
• Makes tacit knowledge explicit.
• Encourages a culture where making mistakes is OK, but you need to learn from them.

How to get started:

1. Hold an initial meeting with IT teams to inform them of the action reviews. Create an action review goals statement by working with IT teams to discuss what they hope to get out of the initiative.
2. Ask project teams to present their work and answer the following questions:
1. What was supposed to happen?
2. What actually happened?
3. Why were there differences?
4. What can we learn and do differently next time?
3. Have each individual or group present, record the meeting minutes, and send the details to the group for future reference. Determine a share storage place on your company intranet or shared drive for future reference.

Knowledge Transfer Tactics:

Mentoring

Mentoring can be a formal program where management sets schedules and expectations. It can also be informal through an environment for open dialogue where staff is encouraged to seek advice and guidance, and to share their knowledge with more novice members of the organization.

Benefits:

• Speeds up learning curves and helps staff acclimate to the organizational culture.
• Communicates organizational values and appropriate behaviors, and is an effective way to augment training efforts.
• Leads to higher engagement by improving communication among employees, developing leadership, and helping employees work effectively.
• Improves succession planning by preparing and grooming employees for future roles and ensuring the next wave of managers is qualified.

How to get started:

1. Have senior management define the goals for a mentorship program. Depending on your goals, the frequency, duration, and purpose for mentorship will change. Create a mission statement for the program.
2. Communicate the program with mentors and mentees and define what the scope of their roles will be.
3. Implement the program and measure success.

Creating a mentorship program is a full project in itself. For full details on how to set up a mentorship program, see McLean & Company’s Build a Mentoring Program.

Knowledge Transfer Tactics:

Story Telling

Knowledge sources use anecdotal examples to highlight a specific point and pass on information, experience, and ideas through narrative.

Benefits:

• Provides context and transfers expertise in a simple way between people of different contexts and background.
• Illustrates a point effectively and makes a lasting impression.
• Helps others learn from past situations and respond more effectively in future ones.
• Can be completed in person, through blogs, video or audio recordings, or case studies.

How to get started:

1. Select a medium for how your organization will record stories, whether through blogs, video or audio recordings, or case studies. Develop a template for how you’re going to record the information.
2. Integrate story telling into key activities – project wrap-up, job descriptions, morning meetings, etc.
3. Determine the medium for retaining and searching stories.

Knowledge Transfer Tactics:

Job Share

Job share exists when at least two people share the knowledge and responsibilities of two job roles.

Benefits:

• Reduces the risk of concentrating all knowledge in one person and creating a single point of failure.
• Increases the number of experts who hold key knowledge that can be shared with others, i.e. “two heads are better than one.”
• Ensures redundancies exist for when an employee leaves or goes on vacation.
• Great for getting junior employees up to speed on legacy system functionality.
• Results in more agile teams.
• Doubles the amount of skills and expertise.

How to get started:

1. Determine which elements of two individuals’ job duties could be shared by two people. Before embarking on a job share, ensure that the two individuals will work well together as a team and individually.
2. Establish a vision, clear values, and well-defined roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships to avoid duplication of effort and confusion.
3. Start with a pilot group of employees who are in support of the initiative, track the results, and make adjustments where needed.

Knowledge Transfer Tactics:

Communities of Practice

Communities of practice are working groups of individuals who engage in a process of regularly sharing information with each other across different parts of the organization by focusing on common purpose and working practices. These groups meet on a regular basis to work together on problem solving, to gain information, ask for help and assets, and share opinions and best practices.

Benefits:

• Supports a collaborative environment.
• Creates a sense of community and positive working relationships, which is a key driver for engagement.
• Encourages creative thinking and support of one another.
• Facilitates transfer of wide range of knowledge between people from different specialties.
• Fast access to information.
• Multiple employees hear the answers to questions and discussions, resulting in wider spread knowledge.
• Can be done in person or via video conference, and is best when supported by social collaboration tools.

How to get started:

1. Determine your medium for these communities and ensure you have the needed technology.
2. Develop training materials, and a rewards and recognition process for communities.
3. Have a meeting with staff, ask them to brainstorm a list of different key “communities,” and ask staff to self select into communities.
4. Have the communities determine the purpose statement for each group, and set up guidelines for functionality and uses.

The effectiveness of each knowledge transfer tactic varies based on the type of knowledge you are trying to transfer

This table shows the relative strengths and weaknesses of each knowledge transfer tactic compared to four different knowledge types.

Not all techniques are effective for types of knowledge; it is important to use a healthy mixture of techniques to optimize effectiveness.

Very strong = Very effective

Strong = Effective

Medium = Somewhat effective

Weak = Minimally effective

Very weak = Not effective

Consider your stakeholders’ level of engagement prior to selecting a knowledge transfer tactic

When considering which tactics to employ, it’s important to consider the knowledge holder’s level of engagement. Employees whom you would identify as being disengaged may not make good candidates for job shadowing, mentoring, or other tactics where they are required to do additional work or are asked to influence others.

Knowledge transfer can be controversial for all employees as it can cause feelings of job insecurity. It’s essential that motivations for knowledge transfer are communicated effectively.

Pay particular attention to your communication style with disengaged and indifferent employees, communicate frequently, and tie communication back to what’s in it for them.

Putting disengaged employees in a position where they are mentoring others can be a risk. Their negativity could influence others not to participate as well or negate the work you’re doing to create a positive knowledge sharing culture.

Consider using collaboration tools as a medium for knowledge transfer

There is a wide variety of different collaboration tools available to enable interpersonal and team connections for work-related purposes. Familiarize yourself with all types of collaboration tools to understand what is available to help facilitate knowledge transfer.

For more information on Collaboration Tools and how to use them, see Info-Tech’s Establish a Communication and Collaboration System Strategy.

Identify potential knowledge receivers

Hold a meeting with your IT leaders to identify who would be the best knowledge receivers for specific knowledge assets

• Before deciding on a successor, determine how the knowledge asset will be used in the future. This will impact who the receiver will be and your tactic. That is, if you are looking to upgrade a technology in the future, consider who would be taking on that project and what they would need to know.
• Prior to the meeting, each manager should send a copy of the knowledge assets they have identified to the other managers.
• Participants should come equipped with names of members of their teams and have an idea of what their career aspirations are.
• Don’t assume that all employees want a career change. Be sure to have conversations with employees to determine their career aspirations.

Ask how effectively the potential knowledge receiver would serve in the role today.

• Review their competencies in terms of:
  • Relationship-building skills
  • Business skills
  • Technical skills
  • Industry-specific skills or knowledge
• Consider what competencies the knowledge receiver currently has and what must be learned.
• Finally, determine how difficult it will be for the knowledge receiver to acquire missing skills or knowledge, whether the resources are available to provide the required development, and how long it will take to provide it.

Info-Tech Insight

Wherever possible, ask employees about their personal learning styles. It’s likely that a collaborative compromise will have to be struck for knowledge transfer to work well.

Using the IT knowledge transfer plan tool

We will use the IT Knowledge Transfer Plans as the foundation for building your knowledge transfer roadmap.

2.1.3 Complete Knowledge Transfer Plans

Complete one plan template for each of the knowledge sources

1. Fill in the top with the knowledge source’s name. Remember that one template should be filled out for each source.
2. List their key knowledge activities as identified through the interview.
3. For each knowledge activity, identify and list the most appropriate recipient of this knowledge.
4. For each knowledge activity, use the drop-down options to identify the type of knowledge that it falls under.
5. Depending on the type of knowledge, different tactic drop-down options are available. Select which tactic would be most appropriate for this knowledge as well as the people involved in the knowledge transfer.

The Strength Level column will indicate how well matched the tactic is to the type of knowledge.

IT Knowledge Transfer Plan Template

Step 2.2

Build Your Knowledge Transfer Roadmap

Activities

2.2.1 Merge Your Knowledge Transfer Plans

2.2.2 Define Knowledge Transfer Initiatives’ Timeframes

The goal of this step is to build the logistics of the knowledge transfer roadmap to prepare to communicate it to key stakeholders.

Outcomes of this step

• Prioritized sequence based on target state maturity goals.
• Project roadmap.

Plan and monitor the knowledge transfer project

Depending on the desired state of maturity, the number of initiatives your organization has will vary and there could be a lengthy number of tasks and subtasks required to reach your organization knowledge transfer target state. The best way to plan, organize, and manage all of them is with a project roadmap.

Project Planning & Monitoring Tool

Steps to use the project planning and monitoring tool:

1. Begin by identifying all the project deliverables in scope for your organization. Review the previous content pertaining to specific people, process, and technology deliverables that your organization plans on creating.
2. Identify all the tasks and subtasks necessary to create each deliverable.
3. Arrange the tasks in the appropriate sequential order.
4. Assign each task to a member of the project team.
5. Estimate the day the task will be started and completed.
6. Specify any significant dependencies or prerequisites between tasks.
7. Update the project roadmap throughout the project by accounting for injections and entering the actual starting and ending dates.
8. Use the project dashboard to monitor the project progress and identify risks early.

Project Planning & Monitoring Tool

Prioritize your tactics to build a realistic roadmap

Initiatives should not and cannot be tackled all at once;

• At this stage, each of the identified stakeholders should have a knowledge transfer plan for each of their reports with rough estimates for how long initiatives will take.
• Simply looking at this raw list of transition plans can be daunting. Logically bundle the identified needs into IT initiatives to create the optimal IT Knowledge Transfer Roadmap.
• It’s important not to try to do too much too quickly. Focus on some quick wins and leverage the success of these initiatives to drive the project forward.

Populate the task column of the Project Planning and Monitoring Tool. See the following slides for more details on how to do this.

Some techniques require a higher degree of effort than others

Consider each tactic’s dependencies as you build your roadmap

2.2.1 Merge Your Knowledge Transfer Plans

Populate the task column of the Project Planning and Monitoring Tool

1. Take an inventory of all the tactics and techniques which you plan to employ. Eliminate redundancies where possible.
2. Start your implementation with your highest risk group using explicit knowledge transfer tactics. Interviews, use cases, and process mapping will give you some quick wins and will help gain momentum for the project.
3. Proactive and knowledge culture should then move forward to other tactics, the majority of which will require training and process design. Pick one to two other key tactics you would like to employ and build those out.
4. Once you get more advanced, you can continue to grow the number of tactics you employ, but in the beginning, less is more. Keep growing your implementation roadmap one tactic at a time and track key metrics as you go.

Project Planning & Monitoring Tool

2.2.2 Define Initiatives’ Timeframes

Populate the estimated start and completion date and task owner columns of the Project Planning and Monitoring Tool.

1. Define the time frame: time frames will depend on several factors. Consider the following while defining timelines for your knowledge transfer tactics:
• Tactics you choose to employ
• Availability of resources to implement the initiative
• Technology requirements
2. Input the Start Date and End Date for each initiative via the drop-down. (Year 1-M1 = year 1, month 1 of implementation.)
3. Define the status of initiative:
• Planned
• In progress
• Completed
4. The initiative owner will ensure each step of the rollout is executed as planned, and will:
• Engage all required stakeholders at appropriate stages of the project.
• Engage all required resources to implement the process and make sure that communication channels are open and available between all relevant parties.

Project Planning & Monitoring Tool

Once you start the implementation, leverage the Project Planning and Monitoring Tool for ongoing status updates

Track your progress

• Update your project roadmap as you complete the project and keep track of your progress by completing the “Actual Start Date” and “Actual Completion Date” as you go through your project.
• Use the Progress Report tab in project team meetings to update stakeholders on which tasks have been completed on schedule, for an analysis of tasks to date, and project time management.

Phase #3

Implement your knowledge transfer plans and roadmap

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

• Preparing a key stakeholder communication presentation.

This phase involves the following participants:

• IT Leadership
• Other key stakeholders

Step 3.1

Communicate Your Knowledge Transfer Roadmap to Stakeholders

Activities

3.1.1 Prepare IT Knowledge Transfer Roadmap Presentation

The goal of this step is to be ready to communicate the roadmap with the project team, project sponsor, and other key stakeholders.

Outcomes of this step

• Key stakeholder communication deck.

Use Info-Tech’s template to communicate with stakeholders

Obtain approval for the IT Knowledge Transfer Roadmap by customizing Info-Tech’s IT Knowledge Transfer Roadmap Presentation Template designed to effectively convey your key messages. Tailor the template to suit your needs.

It includes:

• Project Context
• Project Scope and Objectives
• Knowledge Transfer Roadmap
• Next Steps

Info-Tech Insight

The support of IT leadership is critical to the success of your roadmap roll-out. Remind them of the project benefits and impact them hard with the risks/pain points.

IT Knowledge Transfer Roadmap Presentation Template

3.1.1 Prepare a Presentation for Your Project Team and Sponsor

Now that you have created your knowledge transfer roadmap, the final step of the process is to get sign-off from the project sponsor to begin the planning process to roll-out your initiatives.

Know your audience:

1. Revisit your project charter to determine the knowledge transfer project stakeholders who will be included in your presentation audience.
2. You want your presentation to be succinct and hard-hitting. Management’s time is tight, and they will lose interest if you drag out the delivery. Impact them hard and fast with the pains and benefits of your roadmap.
3. The presentation should take no more than an hour. Depending on your audience, the actual presentation delivery could be quite short (12-13 slides). However, you want to ensure adequate time for Q & A.

IT Knowledge Transfer Roadmap Presentation Template

Related Info-Tech Research

Build an IT Succession Plan

Train Managers to Handle Difficult Conversations

Lead Staff Through Change

Bibliography

Babcock, Pamela. “Shedding Light on Knowledge Management.” HR Magazine, 1 May 2004.

King, Rachael. "Big Tech Problem as Mainframes Outlast Workforce." Bloomberg, 3 Aug. 2010. Web.

Krill, Paul. “IT’s Most Wanted: Mainframe Programmers.” IDG Communications, Inc. 1 December 2011.

McLean & Company. “Mitigate the Risk of Baby Boomer Retirement with Scalable Succession Planning.” 7 March 2016.

McLean & Company. “Make the Case For Employee Engagement.” McLean and Company. 27 March 2014.

PwC. “15th Annual Global CEO Survey: Delivering Results Growth and Value in a Volatile World.” PwC, 2012.

Rocket Software, Inc. “Rocket Software 2022 Survey Report: The State of the Mainframe.” Rocket Software, Inc. January 2022. Accessed 30 April 2022.

Ross, Jenna. “Intangible Assets: A Hidden but Crucial Driver of Company Value.” Visual Capitalist, 11 February 2020. Accessed 2 May 2022.