The knowledge they possessed was not written down. It was of such a nature that it could not be written down. They had developed this knowledge over time, through trial and error, and it was largely based on experience and intuition. When these people would retire, the knowledge would simply walk out the door and be lost for Xerox. It was of such a crucial nature, that losing it would jeopardize the continuity of the organization. Fortunately, Xerox identified this challenge in time, allowing them to do something about it.

All about ink

As you can imagine, knowledge about ink is crucial for Xerox. Ink is one of the prime ingredients of their copying machines, fax machines and printing devices. It has characteristics of which many are hard to make explicit, for instance viscosity, color, absorption by different kinds of paper, time to dry, stickiness, fading over time. Transfer of this knowledge is difficult and it takes years of practice to sufficiently master the basics of ink.

The apprentice

So what did Xerox do? They could not keep these people for ever. They could write some of the knowledge down, but only to a very limited level and without much application. The only approach they saw fit was by going back to the Middle Ages and use apprenticeship to transfer the knowledge. They recruited a group of new employees and allowed them to spend several years with the experts to learn all there was to know about ink. This was a huge investment, but obviously at no comparison to the potential threat to the continuity of the organization.

Crucial knowledge

There are many examples of crucial knowledge. These can be product related – like recipes – and process related – like knowing how to cook. Think about the crucial knowledge in your organization. Try to assess its vulnerability. How does the organization maintain and safeguard it? Who is involved? Who should be involved? What mitigating plans does the organization have in the event that the knowledge walks out the door? Because it does not necessarily take retirement for your employees to leave the organization…