Organizations restructure operations, streamline processes, and reduce workforces every year. Employees get sick or leave. Have you ever had to handle this type of transition for your company?
Let’s meet Anisha. Anisha is the director of talent development for a regional conglomerate of healthcare providers. One of the locations that delivers specialized care is not meeting revenue goals, so corporate decided to reorganize that location and reduce headcount by nine employees during the next three months. Anisha knows who they are; she is working closely with the finance and legal divisions to prepare the employees’ exit packages under strict confidentiality. These nine employees are the keepers of critical knowledge for the location. The business needs their knowledge, yet it does not have a formal knowledge transfer process. Anisha has three options:
Which option would you choose? Businesses need to have formal knowledge transfer and cross-training programs in place before transitions arise. These programs must consider situations such as the following: Jake, an hourly employee who is the only one who knows the password to release federal funds that support several child care centers. He receives phone calls to access the system and enter the password when he is on leave. If he does not answer, the funds are not released. Millicent, an hourly employee who knows how to prepare the three most critical financial reports for the end-of-year closing. She is getting tired of not being able to visit her family during the holidays, and she is considering leaving the workforce. Andrew, a car dealership employee who is the only one who knows the combination that opens the key vault. Without him, the dealership cannot open for business. Naomi who handles accounts receivable and Herbert who handles accounts payable. They have accounting backgrounds but cannot perform each other’s roles because of the specialized nature of these functions and the intricacies of the company’s operations. Regina, the only project manager for the most important project of the company. Regina is not happy with the long hours and pressure. Her salary and benefits are good; nevertheless, she has been commenting about having personal issues at home. Are you ready to let these employees go? Are you ready for their transition out of your company? Cross-training and knowledge transfer efforts to prepare backups for employees like Jake, Millicent, Andrew, Naomi, Herbert, and Regina have to be fully documented and available for deployment on a short notice to meet business needs. Learning and development has to be proactive and work in partnership with other departments so the company is ready for employee transitions. The beginning of a new year is a good time to start taking the right steps to prepare for the unexpected. These questions will help get you started. Step 1: Get a snapshot of your company’s current state.
Step 2: Benchmark your current practices against those of other similar companies.
Step 3: Define what knowledge and skills your company will need in the future.
Step 4: Examine the difference between your company’s current and future states.
Step 5: Design your knowledge transfer and cross-training efforts. Based on the answers to all of the above questions, you will be ready to establish priorities and design a knowledge transfer and cross-training approach to meet your company’s needs. We recommend that your company:
*originally publish on ATD LINKS, January 2018
1 Comment
10/15/2022 08:47:27 pm
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AuthorNorma Dávila Archives
July 2020
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