Desde HBR

Create a “Knowledge Cascade” to Capture Institutional Memory

Every business has subject-matter experts who are the keepers of critical information or who serve as the firm’s institutional memory. How do you ensure that they pass their knowledge on to the next generation, especially if you don’t want to burden the person with training lots of people? Try using what experts call a knowledge cascade, where the specialist shares the information with a small group of people, who are then responsible for teaching the next level down. In its simplest form, this might be a “pay it forward” model, where the expert trains someone, who then directly teaches or mentors others. Or you might try convening a “campfire” meeting where the expert presents lessons to a group of less experienced individuals, and they then discuss and expand on those lessons to generate new knowledge. Or you could think creatively about preserving the expert’s knowledge, for example, interviewing them for a podcast that future employees can listen to. By formalizing a process, you’re ensuring that you’re not only preserving essential information, you’re multiplying its impact for the future.

This tip is adapted from “How Your Organization’s Experts Can Share Their Knowledge,” by Dorothy Leonard and James Martin