Think of an organization where a large percentage of its key personnel have reached the age of retirement and have indicated that they are leaving in the next two to three years. When they walk out that door on the last day of their work, they take with them countless years of knowledge that your organization no longer will have access to. Does this scenario ring true for your organization?

I had posted an article back in January of this year that spoke about the need for succession planning or succession development as I prefer to call it. My rationale for that is we can create a plan for succession but we really do need to at the same time to create a development strategy. The development strategy of the successor is really the most important part of any succession planning process. I will elaborate on that part in future articles.

The development strategy or learning plan as some prefer to call it, addresses the gaps in the successor’s competencies required to be successful in the position. One of the most important elements that need to be considered is where is all the knowledge stored that this person will need in order to be successful. Is this knowledge stored in the incumbent’s head, documented on paper, stored in the organization’s computer system, or where ever else it may be?

So if your organization is one that is looking at a lot of retirements in the next few years you need to start thinking about a knowledge transfer strategy as part of your succession planning/development strategy. Don’t wait till the knowledge leaves the building!