Transmitting Institutional Knowledge

We are not going to be in our companies forever.

If we want to have an impact that lasts past our retirement parties, we need to share our knowledge, wisdom, and experience with younger professionals.

Mentor throughout your career. Choose to mentor now, and to mentor going forward. Share what you know long before you plan to sail off into retirement. Don’t wait until the last 12 months or 6 months to start sharing how you do what you do.

Make a plan for emergency situations. In our company, we call it the “hit by a bus” plan (you might prefer a less-dark name like the “suddenly win the lottery” plan). But the idea is that, if something suddenly took you (a key member of the team) out of the organization without warning, make sure the remaining people know how to keep things going.

Create a web of competence throughout the organization. Ideally, have key people train at least two other people to do what they do. Have those more junior people shadow the senior people on client calls and build relationships with those clients. Train people to use the important (and secondary) systems and show them where the important documents are.

Make sure more than one person knows the combination to the office safe and the wi-fi password. Make sure your backup people know the names and have the contact info for important professionals (e.g., the company’s lawyer, accountant, landlord, bank, credit card provider, etc.).

Give people a chance to spread their wings. Leave them in charge of the team for the week you want to take off this summer, and do a debrief when you return, so that you can build them up in areas where they felt unsure.

(image generated using Midjourney)