Loss of institutional knowledge when one of your key employees leave can create lasting negative impacts to your business.
Institutional knowledge is not just your policies (employee handbook) and standard operating procedures (How to Pay a Bill, How to Approve a Vendor, How to Process Payroll). It’s also the detailed knowledge accrued over time by key employees who are intimately familiar with the work.
Far too many companies run smoothly simply because certain individuals show up to work every day. People-dependent operations such as these appear to be solid when they are actually operating on shaky ground, ready to break down when a key employee leaves.
Like many organizations, your company probably already has some institutional knowledge in writing, often in the form of standard operating procedures (SOPs). It’s also pretty likely that there are gaps, some are out-of-date, some are poorly written, and many are stored where few can access them.
When an organization prioritizes capturing its institutional knowledge in plain language and at the right level of detail within a framework that makes it easy to find, easy to use, and easy to maintain, that organization has the stability to continue running smoothly even when key employees leave.
♦️If we agree that institutional knowledge is important, why don’t more managers prioritize capturing and maintaining it as a business asset?♦️
It comes down to time, skill, and human nature.
It takes time to capture institutional knowledge.
It takes skill to know what content to capture, at what level of detail, and how to organize that content so it is easy to find, easy to use, and easy to maintain.
And, it is the nature of humans to think more about the present than the future. The future is uncertain and harder to conceptualize than the five pressing problems you need to solve today.
It is the same human nature that keeps smart people from saving for retirement or stocking up on extra food and supplies in case of an emergency.
It’s hard to think about the consequences of employees leaving because it’s stressful. It’s human nature to act like they will be here forever even though we know they won’t. And every week a key employee does not give notice, and there is no loss of institutional knowledge, the sense of urgency to capture what they know diminishes.
Unfortunately, not thinking about loss of institutional knowledge and the consequences doesn’t make it go away.
Fortunately, there are ways to capture institutional knowledge that makes it easier. And, there are ways to approach it that take time and energy but do not solve the problem. Let me start by outlining three common mistakes to avoid.
Mistake #1: Make everyone responsible for capturing their own institutional knowledge.
Sounds like: “I’ll ask everyone to write down what they do and anything important they know.”
Why this doesn’t work
Your employees lack perspective. They are in too close. They forget how much they know and make wrong assumptions about how much other people know and don’t know. They often leave out important details and context.
Capturing institutional knowledge is a skill that most people don’t have, no matter how good they are at their job. An SOP that makes sense to the person intimately familiar with the work often makes little sense to the person who doesn’t already know the job.
Institutional knowledge often crosses roles and departments. When different employees capture the same information, the result can be confusing and will eventually lead to the information getting out of sync.
Mistake #2: Cross-training as a substitute for capturing institutional knowledge.
Sounds like: “If enough people know how to do the work, we won’t need to write it down.”
Why this doesn’t work
You are still relying on people’s memory and relying on them to show up to work, rather than relying on written documents that create a shared understanding of the details, can be accessed from anywhere, can be easily shared, and easily updated.
It is entirely possible for more than one employee to give notice, retire, or be unexpectedly absent from work at the same time. It absolutely can happen.
The only way to ensure everyone understands the details is to write them down, not store them in multiple memories.
Mistake #3: Create videos rather than capture institutional knowledge in writing.
Sounds like: “I’ll just create a video of my work that anyone can watch.”
Why this doesn’t work
Making small changes and keeping them current is very time consuming and they aren’t necessarily easy to follow. However, they can provide a useful visual when explaining multi-step instructions related to software or a spreadsheet. Just be ready to re-record the entire video if anything changes.
Presentation counts. A video that is disorganized or of poor quality is not conducive to learning. It takes skill to create a succinct and clearly organized video of a procedure. You need to be good at recording the video in one go or have the editing skills to cut out mistakes or voice over a muddled audio.
Video files can be very large and cumbersome to navigate if you want to go back and watch one specific section. On the other hand, written documentation can easily include a table of contents and keywords for searching.
Now that you know what mistakes to avoid, here are three high-level tips that will make it easier for you to capture your institutional knowledge.
Tip #1: Agree on what institutional knowledge is and why you need to write it down.
For most companies, institutional knowledge is your policies, procedures, and the detailed knowledge accrued by your employees over time.
If any manager does not view institutional knowledge as a valuable asset or does not understand the importance of putting it in writing, you will eventually experience resistance. The greater the resistance, the less that will be written down, and the more you risk the pain and suffering of work interruptions and reinventing the wheel.
Do not underestimate the amount of detailed knowledge a key employee accumulates with experience. This knowledge is what makes them so valuable and you are unlikely to recover it all if you don’t capture it before they go.
Tip #2 Don’t wait to capture your institutional knowledge.
People can leave at any time without warning.
Two weeks notice is not enough time to capture the detailed knowledge an experienced employee has accumulated.
The most well-intentioned employee may agree to “be available for questions” after they go, but don’t count on it. If they retire, they will soon be ready to leave work behind them. If they quit to work elsewhere, they will be busy learning their new job, not trying to remember the details of the job they just left.
Tip #3: Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Your team simply may not have the time or the skills necessary to capture institutional knowledge in-house.
Enlisting help from someone who specializes in capturing institutional knowledge creates a partnership that not only reduces the time and effort your team spends, they will coach them on how to maintain the work over time and how to look for ways to improve your operational efficiencies.
An outside expert brings a neutral perspective that transcends office politics and existing group dynamics. They won’t be afraid to ask difficult questions and dig deep to uncover important details.
The impact to business from loss of institutional knowledge cannot be overstated. People-dependent businesses are operating on shaky ground, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you don’t have the resources to capture your knowledge in-house, help is available.
Clear Solutions specializes in helping businesses, non-profits, and academic institutions capture essential institutional knowledge from employees who are ready to retire or just moving on. I have over ten years experience working across a range of industries throughout the United States. Learn more about how Clear Solutions can help you capture your essential knowledge in plain language, at the right level of detail, and organized well so it is easy to find, easy to use, and easy to maintain. Your institutional knowledge keeps your organization running smoothly whether your employees stay or leave. But when they are ready to leave, don’t let their knowledge walk out the door when they do.
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