Avoiding Brain Drain

A distinction must be made between codified and implicit knowledge. Codified knowledge includes all factual knowledge contained in books, databases and the internet. This knowledge remains intact when an employee leaves the organisation; it is still just as accessible as before.

Implicit knowledge, however, is different: this refers to what is known as experiential knowledge. It comprises the entirety of a person’s skills, knowledge and experience and is highly individualised. In normal circumstances, this knowledge can only be accessed directly through the person who already possesses it or through gaining experience oneself. The primary goal of knowledge management is to detach this knowledge from the individual knowledge holder and make it accessible to colleagues. This is often not easy, as it goes beyond facts and includes a person’s experience and intuition.

To find out how severely your organisation would be affected by a so-called “brain drain” if a key person were to leave, you should conduct a risk analysis. By answering the following six questions, you can carry out an initial assessment of the brain drain risk within your organisation:

• Would it be acceptable if a key person left your organisation?
• Do you have a succession plan to keep critical business processes running?
• Are your processes well documented and easily accessible to employees?
• Are there internal training programmes for important procedures?
• Do you evaluate your business processes every 12–18 months to determine whether they are efficient?
• Are your business processes (largely) automated to reduce expenditure?

If you answer one or more of these questions with “no”, it is a sign that you should improve knowledge management in your organisation. How exactly the solution looks will differ from organisation to organisation. We have put together five tips to help establish a strong foundation for knowledge management in your organisation using a Social Intranet.

The following tips help you make knowledge available to everyone who needs it. This is the only way to protect yourself against the loss of valuable implicit knowledge when employees leave.

1. Develop a culture of mutual support

If your organisation fosters a culture of collaboration and mutual support, implicit knowledge will be shared automatically. Lead by example by offering help and giving colleagues insights into how you work. This attitude will spread naturally through your role model function and ensure that implicit knowledge is shared with colleagues who can benefit from it at any time. You can also use your Social Intranet to ask about experiences in handling specific processes or projects. When others ask for such experiences, it helps to acknowledge these questions (for example with an “Interesting” reaction), as this shows you value the approach.

2. Provide checklists for work processes

Document important recurring processes and make them available in the Social Intranet. This way, new employees do not have to figure out how to carry out the process themselves but can start directly with a proven procedure. Checklists also prevent processes from remaining incomplete after certain colleagues leave, because everyone can look up exactly how the workflow should run.

3. Give learners time to apply new knowledge

Learning new skills and gaining experience takes time. Signal to your employees that it is acceptable to take this time. Only then can you ensure that what is learned is truly internalised. A Social Intranet can support learning by providing helpful learning materials. A list of experts whom learners can contact with questions is also beneficial.

4. Provide the right tools

Knowledge management can only succeed if you have good software and sensible processes for managing knowledge. A Social Intranet is the perfect tool for knowledge management, as materials (such as checklists and learning content) can be stored clearly in the file module. In posts, colleagues can ask others for help. This way, all collected knowledge – including questions and answers – is bundled in one place. Introduce documentation rules (especially for work processes) which specify how workflows must be documented and how often these should be updated.

5. Test your workflows

Whenever new processes or software are introduced, problems can initially occur. Thoroughly test all new knowledge management measures. It is advisable to start with a small group before involving the entire workforce. This ensures that the changes are understood and implemented by everyone.

No matter how good knowledge management is: a certain amount of implicit knowledge will always leave the organisation with the people who hold it. The aim is to avoid brain drain wherever possible. Through the analysis presented here and the resulting measures, this loss can be significantly reduced. A Social Intranet supports you in this process, as it functions as the organisation’s collective memory.