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Change Management and Knowledge Transfer Series (4 of 4): Tools for Teaching New Roles and Ensuring Accountability
05/19/12
Posted by Steve Trautman
In this final post of my Change Management & Knowledge Transfer Series, I’d like to talk about ways to teach workers how to do their jobs or new functions after a strategic or organizational change and to test that employees have absorbed the learning clearly and consistently. These two areas—teaching what changed roles should look like and accountability—are where the rubber hits the road in change management, and where most change initiatives fall apart. Here’s how it normally goes wrong: Read More
Knowledge Transfer and the 70-20-10 Rule in Job Training—Steve Trautman’s Talk at ASTD 2012
05/07/12
Posted by Sonja Gustafson, Marketing Manager
It’s Sonja Gustafson, Marketing Manager at The Steve Trautman Co., here to let you know that Steve is giving a session today at the ASTD 2012 International Conference & Exposition in Denver. The American Society of Training & Development (ASTD) is the world’s largest organization of training professionals, and the conference focuses on development models and trends affecting workplace learning and performance. Steve was asked to speak on knowledge transfer and is sharing how our 3-step Knowledge Transfer Solution assures you will be giving your employees not only the critical knowledge they need to learn their job, but also the best structures to deliver it. He’s explaining how our process helps your organization meet the gold standard “70/20/10” rule for employee training.
Change Management and Knowledge Transfer Series (Part 3 of 4): A Tool to Expose Knowledge Silos that Could Derail Change
04/27/12
Posted by Steve Trautman
In my previous posts in this series, I explained how knowledge transfer tools are helping leaders drive through the storm of change by clarifying the big picture of a change strategy—right down to the worker level of the engineer, the lab assistant, the receptionist. Here, we’ll look another knowledge transfer tool that change managers need in their toolkit:
A major European manufacturer planned to build an oil rig as part of the company’s new strategy. This project was the first of its kind for the manufacturer, and many more oil rigs were planned for construction to follow. The company had a clear strategy and solid reasoning for why they needed to be building oil rigs—but no one on their team had actually ever built one before. My company was brought in to help this client identify and mitigate its talent risks, because it is a recipe for failure when leadership asks a workforce to make a change without clarifying employees’ new roles, setting clear standards for what new behaviors are expected, and providing a way for employees to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to the make the change. Read More
Change Management and Knowledge Transfer Series (Part 2 of 4): A Tool to Clarify the Big Picture
04/20/12
Posted by Steve Trautman
In my previous change management post I explained why knowledge transfer has proven to be a powerful way to successfully drive change at the worker level. Here—and in Parts 3 and 4 of this series—we’ll look in more detail at steps and knowledge transfer tools that show you how:
The Senior VP of Marketing for a major retailer recently came to me with a change management issue. Her company had seen huge growth in the last ten years and was still adapting to the fact that they are a 2 billion dollar business. Essentially, they were growing up—and this had introduced a number of business challenges, including the need to restructure how they did their work. In addition, they were in the midst of a top-level leadership change. Finally, there were tensions and frustrations between Marketing and their e-Commerce division due to lack of role clarification.
After spending some time identifying core problems, I told them, “Look, your people don’t get the Big Picture,” and I pointed out how catastrophic that could be to their change effort. Read More
Change Management and Knowledge Transfer Series (Part 1 of 4): A Better Way to Drive Change
03/21/12
Posted by Steve Trautman
Change management tests the leadership of every organization. I’m working with a Fortune 500 retailer right now that has been going through a couple of years of major change. Transitions within their workforce have yet to stabilize. In short, even after a lot of effort, the workers in the team who face the brunt of the change do not have role clarity and do not get the “big picture.” They still struggle with simple decisions that make it difficult for them to set priorities and make good decisions. Managers are no longer sure who to consider the “expert” in a given technical or professional area, throwing training and standard setting into question. Senior leaders have a vision for the end result—but haven’t been clear about their expectations for the behaviors, new skills, and performance needed to get the team there. Sound familiar?
Whether due to reorganizations or mergers, launching new strategies or major tech rollouts, rapid growth or process overhauls, organizational change can strain a workforce and confuse expectations. This leads to discouraged and less productive employees – the best of whom will leave if it doesn’t get better quickly. Knowledge transfer—with its clear processes for workforce risk management, for moving critical knowledge and skills within a workforce, and for clarity and accountability of performance standards—has proven to be a crucial element in successfully driving change at the worker level. Here’s why: Read More
“Teaching” Innovation on the Job—Steps & a Skills List for Mentoring Innovation to Workers
03/08/12
Posted by Steve Trautman
Knowledge transfer within a workforce isn’t just about a skilled professional teaching an apprentice worker a step-by-step process, like how to build a widget. It also includes getting at some of the most complex and “soft” skills that we value in our organization’s experts. One such skill in high demand with so many of my clients—from Qualcomm to Nike to Zynga—is the concept of worker innovation. For many companies, like these clients, innovation is in their DNA and their culture—and is certainly the lifeblood of their organization. They won’t succeed without people who know how to be innovative at work. But what does it really mean to “be innovative?”
I was recently on site with a client who said it like this, as he pointed across the room at a few coworkers who were looking the other way:
CLIENT: “She gets it, he gets it,… he gets it,… she doesn’t get it, and he definitely doesn’t get it.”
ME: “What is the ‘it’?”
CLIENT: “How to be innovative.”
ME: “How do you know?”
CLIENT: “Oh, I just know.”
IN THE NEWS: Agricultural Industry Deals with Retaining Aging Worker Knowledge; Trade Publication Suggests Knowledge Transfer
03/02/12
Posted by Steve Trautman
This week the agriculture industry publication, CropLife, published an article on aging workers and knowledge transfer. The authors suggested knowledge transfer as the solution to passing critical knowledge and information held by aging workers on to an organization’s future leaders. The advice was sound, and most important, the article drew attention to the risks posed by a business’s trapped knowledge and the need for a clear and simple knowledge transfer process. The article’s appearance also helps illustrate the diversity of industries that are facing this challenge of retaining the critical knowledge of retiring Boomers.
But here’s something that this article and business leaders often overlook: when it comes to unique critical knowledge siloed in one person, aging workers are not the only risk.
Why Knowledge Transfer is Neither Arbitrary Nor Academic (a brief Q&A for project leaders)
03/01/12
Posted by Steve Trautman
Successful knowledge transfer is a process—one with definable steps, practical tools, and measurable outcomes. A new manufacturing client prompted the quick Q&A below that shows why knowledge transfer does not “just happen” and why it’s utterly practical rather than theoretical:
This week my firm is in its second month of working with a team of senior leaders who are collectively responsible for building a $400 million industrial rig. Some of the leaders are in the U.S. where the project was designed; others are offshore where the project will be built. Read More
Steve Trautman is Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Montana State University’s College of Business, Feb 20 – 24, 2012
02/20/12
Posted by Sonja Gustafson, Marketing Manager
It’s Sonja today with a quick post to announce that our own Steve Trautman is this semester’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence at MSU’s College of Business. Chosen for the role by the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship for the New West and the Alderson Program in Entrepreneurship, Steve will spend this week with students and faculty, sharing his experiences and expertise earned from more than two decades of entrepreneurial endeavors.
Knowledge Transfer in Action: Everyone on the team doing their part
02/13/12
Posted by Steve Trautman
I just had to jot this quick post.
Today in my email inbox I was copied on a status report showing knowledge transfer in action. It inspired me to share with you how this is working on the ground, in just a few quick bullets. This is what we’re all about.
It is the story of a current client, with the knowledge transfer process working exactly as it should:
- A high risk silo of knowledge was identified at a major high-tech company with a team of technical writers spread between offices in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and India using our Knowledge Silo Matrix (KSM).
- A mentor and an apprentice were assigned to transfer knowledge with the goal of increasing worker consistency and leveling the workload.
Knowledge Transfer Today Blog — A source for knowledge transfer, talent management, and the practice of teaching what you know.
Steve Trautman is corporate America’s leading knowledge transfer expert. With two decades of application inside blue chips and Fortune 1000s, his pioneering work in the field of knowledge transfer and related risk management tools are now the nationally-recognized gold standard. He is known for a high energy style that combines humor, street smarts, and board room wisdom. More about Steve
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