Whenever an employee leaves a company, they take the knowledge specific to their job with them. This has the potential to impact the organization in many ways.
Any workforce becomes less efficient when they lose an employee, even if the impact is only temporary. Research indicates that an average of 42% of the expertise, skills, and knowledge needed to perform successfully in a specific position is held only by the individual in that position. This means that if they leave the company, whoever fills the role will need to learn 42% of the job before being proficient.
This reality has significant consequences on productivity. Until someone learns a new position, they may spend upwards of 200 hours asking for information, waiting for answers, making mistakes, or needlessly duplicating their predecessor’s work. This lack of efficiency can cause frustration and disrupt workflows and adversely impact productivity across the department and throughout the organization.
A 2018 survey by HR Advisor revealed that 60% of participants stated that it was difficult, very difficult, or nearly impossible to procure the information essential to their job from their peers. Respondents indicated they spent an average of 5 hours per week waiting to connect with employees with the specific knowledge they require, while 10% of respondents reported waiting 10 hours per week or more. While waiting for responses, work projects and tasks may be delayed, suspended, or not get done at all.
However, research also provides a possible solution to this frustration. Employees feel more engaged and connected if an organization proactively works to preserve and share unique knowledge company-wide.
Standard vs. Unique Knowledge
There are two primary kinds of employee knowledge – standard knowledge and unique knowledge.
Standard knowledge refers to the basics of the job position that knowledge anyone qualified for the position should understand. For instance, a marketing executive should know how social media advertising works. Standard knowledge arises from experience, training, and formal education and is more easily replicated and replaced.
However, unique knowledge is developed from personal experiences in any given profession or position. Unique knowledge is typically more self-taught than learned in a classroom. Unique knowledge is primarily the result of on-the-job learning and trial-and-error efforts to achieve efficiency and productivity. Unique knowledge is imperative to solve complex issues and unexpected challenges that employees encounter daily and is considered significantly more difficult to replicate than standard knowledge.
What is Tribal Knowledge? Tribal knowledge is related to unique knowledge. Tribal knowledge is known within a specific group of people but unknown outside of it. The term “tribe” describes is a group of people that share this common unique knowledge, such as members of a team, division, or department.
The Impacts of Lost Knowledge
When people leave a company, their unique knowledge can be permanently lost if it isn’t preserved in a way that can be shared. Without a process in place, reconstructing this knowledge is likely to be inefficient and tedious.
However, someone leaving the company isn’t the only bottleneck to knowledge transfer. Colleagues with unique knowledge and skills may be in meetings, traveling, or in another office. The knowledge they have isn’t lost but may not be readily accessible when needed – stalling productivity for short amounts of time. These seemingly minor disruptions can add up quickly, impacting not only productivity but reputation, goodwill, and revenue.
In contrast, the process of documenting your knowledge, especially for job assignments, best practices for job assignments, and unique expertise required to perform specific job functions helps to prepare a “succession plan” for all roles. This ensures each new team member has real and actionable guidance to begin their new assignments leading to a productive start for the employee and their manager.
Instead of waiting for issues to emerge, companies can both develop a culture of teaching and mentorship; and help employees to document new processes or efficient workflows properly. Whether through video presentations, online forums, or easily accessible electronic policies and procedures, your company can take steps to create a flow of knowledge that supports your productivity and success.
Call today to learn more about how KLONE can help your organization to collect, preserve and efficiently present unique knowledge to your team – both today and in the future.