I remember long ago, somehow I made a barely-conscious decision to purge useless information from my brain. This was probably to make room for newer, more exciting information, such as the name of that cute girl over there or the latest interpretation of the Special Theory of Relativity.
It was a double edged strategy. I was able to process loads of new data, but the mundane, such as remembering to wear matching shoes, suffered.
I moved through life controlled by a CPU which more resembled RAM (random access, or temporary, memory) as opposed to archival hard-drive storage. But oddly, I was able to conjure up weird pieces of exhaustively researched triviata which held my rapt attention for an intense half-life until they decayed and lay abandoned on the trail behind me.
Such is the world inside my head. A place where fascination can be triggered by the profoundly mundane, held under laser and electron microscope until all secrets are revealed, only to be abandoned like a pregnant hillbilly girlfriend.
As an older fart, the strangeness of my mind-space becomes even more noticeable. Now I have old-timers disease as well as Einsteinitis. I know I should be drilling down to some essential truth, I just can't remember what it is. I may even be drilling unconsciously without even knowing it.
So here I am, like millions in my demographic, who can't remember sh*t.
I am sure I get amazing amounts accomplished, I just seem to have lost track of what these accomplishments actually are.
Which is why I was forced to develop memory workarounds. We all have them. Here are some of mine:
1. Leave things by the door so I remember to take them with me as I depart.
2. Write myself to-do lists (a no-brainer).
3. Write to-do items in my Palm(tm) calendar.
4. Write myself emails.
5. Leave out reminder objects, such as bills to pay, in conspicuous places.
In addition, I hired a really clever guy to build me what I call a "Bounceback Server". It actually returns copies of my emails to me at intervals I specify. Think of it as Ginko Bilaboa on steroids, except that it can be validated.
If, for instance, I want my email to bounce back to me in one week, I copy the email to 1w@poingo.com. One week later, when I have thoroughly forgotten the incredible urgency of the project, my email reappears to refresh my decidedly unfresh memory.
At this point I will decide whether to issue yet another emailed nudge or hock-a-chinik in some other way. If I send out a reminder email, again I will copy the Bounceback Server for whatever interval I think will make me look incredibly efficient to my nudgee.
You might be surprised at the number of emails you could send out, even in one day, which would be be candidates for this type of reminder system. I send emails to the Bounceback Server between 5 and 10 times a day. In addition, I also open emails bounced back to me from the Bounceback Server another 5-10 times a day.
My projects maintain momentum. People know I care. Progress takes place. I appear to be at the top of my game even though in truth I am operating on maybe one last badly worn but highly experienced brain cell.
I have made my Bounceback Server available to you for a pitifully low price that is less than even a small handful of bootlegged Aderals, and it won't even attack your liver. You can even send emails using up to three different email addresses, and the Bounceback Server will still recognize you as a friend. Try it before you forget.
The alarm that has been ringing in the ears of senior managers and business owners lately has become louder and more painful as they see retirements and job-hopping drain their organizational "brain power." It has become all too obvious that companies have not done a very good job of documenting and retaining the knowledge of their key personnel and subject matter experts.
Every organization can learn a lesson from British Petroleum.
In February 2006 a small leak in a quarter-inch hole in the Prudhoe Bay pipeline was discovered. By August 2006, oil spills forced a shutdown of the largest U.S. oilfield. Overnight, 8% of domestic oil production was shut down and hundreds of thousands of crude oil was spilled.
A Congressional investigation followed and it was discovered that BP's senior corrosion engineer retired just a few years earlier. The job had been left unfilled for more than a year creating a huge knowledge gap. This vacancy, and others, hindered BP's ability to maintain a strategic view of its corrosion prevention activities.
Clearly, BP did not document nor retain the knowledge of its senior corrosion engineer. But BP is not unique. Unfortunately poor knowledge management and lack of talent planning is strangling many organization's ability to execute their growth plans. Ask yourself: who is holding the knowledge in my organization that could prevent the "quarter-inch hole" from turning into a disaster resulting in catastrophic loss of customers, suppliers, employees and most important - trust.
Stop the brain drain.
To begin to capture and transfer knowledge in your organization, where do you start? I offer the following steps.
Identify your subject matter experts and super-experts. If any of these experts were to leave your organization tomorrow and on the way out the door offered to "dump their brains" along with their ID badge and key on your desk, what knowledge would you want them to leave behind? What questions must you ask if you have any chance of capturing what you need to know?
Be careful what you ask for. A corollary to this brain dump is: what do you do with this pile of knowledge left behind? Just like cleaning out your file cabinets and closets, all the information you find may not be relevant. You'll likely find that experts are mental "packrats." They keep everything because you just never know when they might need that information. After they are long gone, someone will need to decide what to keep, what to archive, and what to trash.
Identify the right recipients. If you expected that this transferred knowledge will continue to live without support, you're in for a big surprise. The receiver can't just take the "mental" boxes left at his door and file them away for safekeeping. This successor must take the information and integrate, not just file, it into his or her own knowledge base. Not everyone has the cognitive capacity, interest, or motivation to do this.
Assess the talent pool. After you identify the employees who you believe are capable of capturing knowledge, it is essential that you assess them for cognitive capacity and potential. It is not enough to identify just the smart and ambitious employees. A successful transfer of knowledge will require that the receiving employee(s) have the ability to deal with added levels of complexity, ambiguity and responsibility. If you're not sure who these recipients are, it is even more important to scan your entire workforce for successors.
Mentor, mentor, mentor. Now that you've identified your experts and successors, it is time to pair them up. Many relationships will develop naturally. Others will struggle. It takes time to build trust. Many experts have a difficult time communicating at a level that the rest of the world understands. Some will be reluctant to share their knowledge sensing their value in the organization will diminish once they reveal what they know. The mentor may need to be coached on how to mentor and the mentee how to learn. Potential personality rifts must be recognized up-front or the talk of knowledge transfer will remain just that - talk. The same employee assessments used to identify the right talent can be used to pair the right mentor with the right mentee.
Don't plan like you have a tomorrow. Start today. You can plan for retirements but you can't plan for illness, disability, and deaths of key employees or those who leave your flock for greener pastures. Knowledge transfer at the implicit level takes years, not months or weeks.
Both Mark Meshulam & Ira Wolfe are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Mark Meshulam has sinced written about articles on various topics from web development, Information Technology and Information Technology. Mark Meshulam offers the Poingo Productivity Suite, a suite of simple software programs which make your work, easier and much more fun. Bounceback Server is one such application.visit. Mark Meshulam's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.
Ira Wolfe has sinced written about articles on various topics from Internet Marketing, Latest Election News and Generation Y. As president of , Ira S Wolfe has led his workforce consulting firm to national prominence, helping organizations find and hire the right. Ira Wolfe's top article generates over 2900 views. to your Favourites.