Kate Andrews spoke to us on this topic on 24 February.  We have now uploaded a copy of Kate’s Presentation, and a related article: “Knowledge Assets – targeted knowledge transfer to mitigate risk“.

A couple of thoughts from Kate’s session that were shared on Twitter (thanks @helmitch):

• “Knowledge risk” is the risk associated with the under-utilisation or loss of knowledge that is critical to organisational performance.
• The challenge – how to tap into the knowledge that is in our heads to share – knowledge that is critical to organisational performance – and get it into the heads and hands of those who need it now.
• It’s not about ‘experts’, it’s about knowledge among and within the team.
• There is a high risk of knowledge loss where there is a high reliance on tacit knowledge, and unique problems or situations.
• It’s not about succession planning, it’s about understanding knowledge about “what” is most important to our organisation. Then we need to find where the knowledge is, and who has it.
• Prioritising knowledge risk is a business decision – understanding which knowledge is business-critical.
• If there is anyone who “can’t” go on leave (without being on call) – this is a knowledge risk person.

Kate gave an example of knowledge risk – a utility company had staff reaching retirement age with a total of 17,500 years experience in the industry.  Is this a knowledge risk? It is if a major part of that accumulated knowledge is business-critical.

Kate has also kicked off some discussion on this topic on our LinkedIn group.  If you are not already a member, you can click here to join up.

You can also now follow Kate on Twitter at @knowablekate!

 - Keith De La Rue