In the first part of this series, we explored the importance of the transfer of skills to preserve a company’s knowledge capital. Now let’s move on to the second part to understand frequently encountered obstacles and discover the key factors for success in this essential practice.
The transfer of skills: not as easy as it might seem!
Even though there is everything to gain, why are skills transfer and sharing not being systematically implemented within companies? Why do they deny themselves such a powerful growth lever? The transmission of knowledge requires a little preparation before its implementation. The potential obstacles you may encounter could be technological, financial and, above all, human.
Obstacles and examples:
- Knowledge management strategy
- Difficulty converting knowledge into actions
- Lack of managerial involvement to promote skill transfer initiatives
- Knowledge segmentation
- Resources
- Lack of resources and funding
- Lack of time to research, store and share knowledge
- Technology
- Lack of knowledge transfer technology
- Lack of tools and applications knowledge
- Collaboration (team)
- Underdeveloped team spirit
- Lack of training support
- Cultural, geographic and linguistic barriers
- Employee support
- Strategy not clearly explained
- Too much effort required
- Lack of confidence (in the strategy, in governance, in oneself)
The key factors for a successful transfer of skills
A company’s intangible heritage represents its roots and, like a tree, the more it grows, the more firmly anchored these roots will be. A company’s performance and growth lies in its DNA. It’s critical to conserve and cultivate all the elements comprising your knowledge capital and company culture. As L&D professionals, you will need to internally organize the sharing of information, memory and relationship as seamlessly as possible. The loss or degradation of know-how, specific skills and company knowledge can affect a company’s competitiveness. In addition, the transfer of skills will boost your agility and competitiveness. Identify good practices and share them within your company: you will quickly start to see the benefits, both individually and across the organization. Work to obtain leadership buy-in to support these efforts.
98% of companies want to increase their ability to share knowledge (Dixon and Overton, 2017).
Read on to discover our 6-point action plan for an example of how to proceed:
- Define your skill transfer strategy: develop your knowledge capital alongside your human capital, particularly with regard to succession planning and staff retention;
- Develop a culture of training and knowledge sharing habits, both internally and externally, through varied formats;
- Invest in suitable technology to plan and organize your knowledge transfer; Use an appropriate digital platform;
- Encourage your managers and directors to act as role models by ensuring that managers and directors support skill transfer initiatives and set a good example;
- Promote learners’ engagement and motivation by implementing incentives and developing a culture of recognition for the employees and teams involved;
- Train your HR and L&D colleagues in the transfer of skills and make them aware of the stakes.
The key to the transfer of skills: combined training
To sustain an organization’s knowledge capital, it is important to readjust your training focus according to the skills to be transmitted and to combine micro- and macro-learning. The learning of soft skills requires guided and structured programs, a variety of learning activities, social interaction and clear action plans to drive long term behavioral change. Hard skills can benefit from an incremental micro-learning approach to maximize results. By working to personalize training, as well as identifying and developing high-potential employees, you will unlock powerful levers to make you stand out from the competition and optimize the performance of your teams – and that of your organization.
The transfer of skills is a powerful growth mechanism and an essential vehicle through which to consolidate a company’s knowledge capital and intangible heritage. By encouraging teams and managers to develop a skills-sharing culture, you will give your employees the opportunity to continue their development and feel valued, while also making your organization more agile and effective, within ever-changing environments.
Discover how to reinforce the skills of your key talents thanks to our new facilitated learning programs.
REFERENCES
Dixon, G. and Overton, L., Tactics for successful Knowledge Transfer, Towards Maturity, 2017.