Knowledge Retention: An Opportunity for Something New
- Zvia Hen
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
The process of knowledge retention requires special attention to the human dimension, which is both its distinctive strength and its primary challenge. In most cases, this process involves veteran employees who are approaching retirement, to ensure operational continuity in the period following their transition out of the organization. Some employees look forward to retirement with enthusiasm and have many plans and aspirations they wish to pursue. Most, however, quite naturally, experience apprehension about the change, the need to redefine their professional identity, and the challenge of building a new routine after years in which their daily lives were largely shaped by the organization they worked for.
In both cases, employees approaching retirement are in a particularly sensitive stage of their lives. As a consultant accompanying them through the knowledge-retention process, I must demonstrate heightened sensitivity and empathy, while continuously reflecting on how to make the process a positive and empowering experience for all parties involved.
Over the past year, I led and supported two knowledge-retention projects that differed from the traditional way. The first involved an employee who had left the organization and returned after several years to an entirely new role. In this case, the purpose was to write a formal scope of his role description, based on daily assignments and future growth. The second project involved a highly talented employee, who is not expected to retire soon, but might not remain in the organization until his retirement. Here, the purpose was to capture and document the employee’s project management skills and creative thinking.
These projects reflect the dynamics of Today’s workplace and the professional development of employees. In this reality, employees often move between multiple organizations throughout their careers, acquire diverse professional skills that enable them to perform their roles in distinctive and effective ways, continuously consider their “next step,” and join organizations to shape and develop roles that did not previously exist.
Guiding these employees through the knowledge-retention process required, from my perspective, an approach that went beyond documentation and sought to create something innovative, inspiring, and sustainable over time. Moreover, the process unfolded in a positive, optimistic atmosphere, characterized by minimal reluctance to share knowledge and a sense that all parties win.
These projects led me to reflect on the possible need to adjust traditional approaches of knowledge retention and to examine the field through the lens of Simon Sinek’s framework.
This approach offers answers—partly “traditional” and partly innovative—to the following questions:
1. Why?
For example: preventing the loss of critical knowledge; adapting to the contemporary professional landscape, in which employees change jobs every few years; fostering positive attitudes and willingness to cooperate among those involved in the process; increasing the likelihood of organizational continuity; ensuring the accessibility of knowledge; and embedding knowledge retention into everyday work routines.
2. Who are the stakeholders?
For example, employees with unique expertise who are not expected to retire but may nevertheless leave the organization, and new employees occupying newly created roles within the organization.
3. Method of execution
For example: developing role portfolio applications or document management; drafting role definitions with the assistance of AI agents; and producing podcasts in areas of expertise using AI tools.
4. What to document?
As in the past, knowledge retention should focus on areas such as professional perspectives, managerial approaches, strategies, work processes, problem-solving methods, professional discoveries, and insights.
5. When?
For example: at key milestones in projects or careers, during changes and developments in roles, or in periods of role transition.
Summary
Much has been written about knowledge retention, including on our website, Rom Global.
Like other knowledge management solutions, knowledge retention will continue to rely on three fundamental pillars: people, technology, and processes. As long as the human factor remains central, knowledge-retention processes, like other knowledge management practices, will continue to change. Consequently, knowledge management professionals will need to periodically reassess these processes and implement adjustments in the spirit of the current times.
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