1. Knowledge Transfer Concepts
Presented by the Human Resources Division
Department of Administration & Information - Human Resources

2. A & I Human Resources Department
Workforce Planning
The process of ensuring that the right people are in the right place at the right time to accomplish the agency’s mission.
Workforce planning is a systematic process for identifying the addressing the gaps between the workforce of today and the human capital needs of tomorrow.
Management uses this framework to make staffing decisions and related investments based on organizational missions, strategic plans, budgetary resources, and desired workforce competencies.
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3. Why Workforce Planning?
Helps accomplish agency mission more effectively and efficiently
Helps ensure replacements are available to fill important vacancies
Provides realistic staffing projections for budget purposes
Helps agency retain institutional knowledge
Workforce planning is grounded in the benefits to managers. Workforce planning provides managers with a strategic basis for making human resource decisions.
It allows managers to anticipate change rather than being surprised by events, as well as providing strategic methods for addressing present and anticipated workforce issues.
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4. State of Wyoming Workforce Planning
State agencies are encouraged to develop a strategic view of human resource needs, including the development of a workforce plan, with the assistance of the division of personnel, to address the future needs of the state agency.
Knowledge management is critical to successful workforce planning.
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5. State of Wyoming Workforce Planning
…it is essential that managers in all state agencies anticipate and plan for the eventuality of retirement of the state’s seasoned workforce in a manner that does not undermine the state’s workforce or create morale problems among less experienced staff who are preparing for promotional opportunities created by retirement of their co-workers.
Knowledge management and knowledge transfer are key components of workforce planning and are an integral parts of strategic planning.
The knowledge transfer plan:
Identifies the knowledge that must be transferred
Describes the methods that will be used to transfer the knowledge
Identifies to whom the knowledge will be transferred (person, group)
Provides a clear time frame for the knowledge transfer process
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6. A & I Human Resources Department
Knowledge Management
A systematic approach to finding, understanding and using knowledge to achieve organizational objectives.
Consists of deciding:
What is to be shared
With whom it is to be shared
How it is to be shared
Sharing and using it
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7. Types of Knowledge: Tacit
Knowledge that people carry in their heads. It is difficult to access and most people are not even aware of what they possess or how it is of value to others. It provides context for ideas, experiences, people, and places and is not easily captured.
Examples:
Who to go to with questions about a specific topic
Where to find resources
Memory of a similar incident in the past – what worked, lessons learned
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8. Types of Knowledge: Explicit
Structured – Data elements that are organized in a particular way for future retrieval, e.g. documents, databases, spreadsheets
Unstructured – Information not referenced for retrieval, e.g. s, images, audio or video selections
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9. A & I Human Resources Department
Knowledge Transfer
The process of sharing knowledge between one person and another
If knowledge has not been absorbed, it has not been transferred
Additional information available in the NASPE workforce planning site.
The report provides information on which methods other states are using as well as the effectiveness of the methods. It also has resource information and contacts listed in the back of the report.
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10. Knowledge Transfer Tip #1
Managers may have some knowledge transfer methods already in place
Consider using those methods as the foundation for the knowledge transfer plan
If there are any you are already doing in your agency or work unit. Jot these down; they may be the beginning of the knowledge transfer plan.
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11. Knowledge Transfer / Management Strategies
Job Aids
Mentoring Programs
Process Documentation
Best Practice Meetings or Studies
Communities of Practice
Retirees on Retainer
Job Shadowing
Expert Systems
Critical Incident Reviews
Electronic Performance Support System
Storyboards
Storytelling
Double fills
Document Repositories
Job Rotation
Knowledge Fairs
Knowledge Maps
Structured On the Job Training
Many methods for knowledge transfer – these are some of the most commonly used in government
18 total
Next, we will go into the methods in more detail. Also provided are the knowledge transfer tables.
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12. A & I Human Resources Department
Job Aids
Anything that helps people perform in real time.
Knowledge can be stored in the job aid and accessed through low-tech methods by performers when the need arises.
What are some job aids that you are using?
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13. A & I Human Resources Department
Mentoring Programs
Mentors offer advice in a situation on what to do, how to do it and why it is worth doing.
A mentor is an experienced performer and rarely the mentee’s supervisor, since effective mentors should have no performance management interest in the development of another person.
This method was also reported as widely used and effective in the NASPE survey results.
Strongly encourage:
Formal mentoring program with contract (written agreement of duration, goal)
Mentor is outside chain of command / supervisory chain
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14. Process Documentation
Process documentation involves flowcharting how work is performed.
It may include special variations in what performers should do or how they should do it based on special circumstances such as deviation from norms.
Example:
Operating Procedures Manual
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15. Best Practices Meetings or Studies
Best practices meetings or studies look for different processes or systems to perform work that have had measurable success and effectiveness and are likely transferable.
Best practices are found in a variety of ways; through meetings of similar functional groups, polling employees or surveying for best practices.
Recommend:
Identify the practice to be researched up front
Keep the project achievable with clearly defined parameters and goals
Focus on gathering and sharing information rather than making decisions or taking action
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16. Communities of Practice
A community of practice is a group that comes together to share information about a common problem, issue or topic.
Such communities may meet in person or online; critical incidents or best practices are often discussed at these meetings.
Communities of Practice may meet formally, informally or both.
Can include membership in a professional organization.
Communities of Practice typically focus on gathering and sharing knowledge.
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17. A & I Human Resources Department
Retirees on Retainer
Retirees on retainer is typically having experts available to train or share specialized knowledge.
What are the State’s limitations when agencies want to re-hire retires?
The NASPE survey results showed that states were not using this method. This is more often practiced in the private sector. It can be costly and must have clearly defined goals, time frames and parameters.
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18. A & I Human Resources Department
Job Shadowing
A less-experienced performer is paired up with a veteran performer to transfer knowledge.
The veteran is asked to share knowledge (and perhaps hands-on practice) in dealing with everyday problems in addition to the most difficult situations he or she has faced on the job.
This knowledge transfer method is commonly paired with clerical and technical level positions. It can be used quite effectively, however, at the professional and managerial level.
Coaching is a key to successful knowledge transfer. The veteran performer must be competent in coaching and in knowledge transfer.
Example:
New supervisor attends veteran performer team meetings and critical incident reviews to observe technique and process.
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19. Critical Incident Reviews
A critical incident is a difficult situation.
By documenting the critical incident experiences for the organization’s most experienced performers, the organization can capture lessons for knowledge transfer.
Document difficult cases and how handled.
Also lays the foundation for an expert system.
Questions often asked:
What happened as a result of your actions?
If confronted again with this situation, what would you do?
Focuses on finding root cause or causes which are often process issues that result in performance issues.
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20. A & I Human Resources Department
Story Telling
A story is a description of what happened in a situation. If you hear “what really happened” you are hearing a story. Story telling can be a most effective way of transmitting wisdom from one person to another.
Storytelling
according to Rothwell, most wisdom passed on in an organization is through storytelling.
Storytelling is typically unstructured and informal.
A key component to story telling is the debrief process where the story is tied to the key learning point.
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21. Document Repositories
A collection of textual showrooms that can be viewed, retrieved and interpreted both by humans and by automates.
A document repository adds navigation and categorization to the information stored.
Examples:
Reading Files
Subject Files
Employee Records
Resource Libraries
Online resource pages
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22. Structured On the Job Training
Instruction takes place on the actual job site, usually involving learning skills or procedures in a hands-on manner following a defined structured learning process.
Commonly referred to as OJT.
Important that a defined process is used with clearly established learning objectives and timeframes.
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23. Knowledge Transfer Tip #2
Formalize existing processes.
Keep the Knowledge Transfer Plan effective and appropriate to the work.
Monitor and evaluate the plan to ensure the knowledge truly is transferred.
As we discussed earlier, you may already have successful knowledge transfer methods in place. By identifying and documenting them, you can lay the foundation for your knowledge transfer plan.
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24. Roles & Responsibilities
Agency Managers
Identify critical components and KSA’s
Develop Knowledge Transfer Plan
Assure Plan is accomplished
HR & A & I Consultants
Assist managers in identifying KSA’s
Assist managers in developing Knowledge Transfer Plan
Available for ongoing consultation
Briefly go over roles and responsibilities here
Then discuss knowledge management and knowledge transfer concepts
Come back to roles and responsibilities with more detail via questions and answers segment.
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25. A & I Human Resources Department
“Knowledge is the most important raw material of government; working with knowledge is its most important process; and knowledge is what citizens expect government to provide.”
Thomas A. Stewart
Editorial Director
Business 2.0 Magazine
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