For a number of years, we were warned about a talent shortage that would occur as baby boomers left the workforce. The challenge for workplace learning professionals was how to keep knowledge in the organization. In our current economic climate, the crisis of keeping knowledge in the organization is here. The crisis is emerging because of massive job cuts. How is your organization responding? Too often organizations eliminate jobs from a financial aspect without considering in depth how the organization will fill the knowledge gaps. You can assume that knowledge remains in the organization, that someone else will pick up the slack, at you own peril.
Here is the dilemma and challenge for training professionals. How do you encourage collaboration? How do you get the remaining workers to play nice in the sandbox and share knowledge? Although it seems like a time when workers would pull together, typical compensation strategies tend to favor individual accomplishments. Think about it? Why should employees share their knowledge when “what they know” may be their only form of job security? Please share your thoughts.