Capturing Seasoned Employee Knowledge: A Case Study with FW Webb

It’s no secret that with hundreds of tenured employees set to retire over the next 10 years, there’s a distinct possibility that the vast knowledge they hold will go with them when they walk out that door.

Trainers recognize the need to capture seasoned employee expertise – but how? To share what members are doing to tackle this challenge, ASA University sat down with FW Webb’s Samantha Kowalski, Training & Development Manager, for an in-depth look at how they tackle this critical issue and share strategies with other members in a similar situation.

The Challenge

To take the knowledge and insight of dozens of years of personal professional experience and distill it into a format that can help future employees grow – that’s a big task! However, failure to do so will result in losing that innate knowledge that seasoned employees bring to every business interaction, simply through their deep experience. But the clock is ticking. Failure to act could indeed result in knowledge (literally!) walking out the door.

Sam had grappled with this issue since she first joined FW Webb, recognizing the incredible wealth of information of tenured Webb employees, and knowing she needed to leverage that – and quickly! Sam began to wonder how she might get at this critical information and turn it into something usable for the future of Webb’s training needs. What took shape was Sam’s master plan.

Identifying & Gaining Buy-In of Experts

Sam started by identifying her subject matter experts - or SMEs. Subject Matter Experts are exactly that – an individual that has a deep understanding of a particular subject matter and can speak as an expert on the topic. Webb’s varied product lines and business areas required Sam to work with several different subject matter experts, as each brought their own expertise to the table.

One of the initial challenges to capturing this tribal knowledge is getting buy-in from your seasoned employees. Although some individuals are naturally altruistic and enjoy helping, a fair question for several of these tenured employees is: what’s in it for me?

Sam mentions that the culture at Webb is a large part of the success she had in getting across the “why” and the buy-in for her experts. “We have made such a, a strong commitment to our Webb [Learning] University and to learning as a whole within the entire company that it’s been instilled since day one,” Sam shares, “so the leadership buy-in is crucial!”

Sam acknowledged that she was particularly lucky that the culture at Webb had cultivated this mindset within her subject matter experts. “They know the value that they have. They know the reason why we want this information, and why we want to disperse it through the company. And having that buy-in  honestly has been the key to all of this,” Sam explains.

The Process

To kick things off, Sam asked each SME to design a short slide presentation on their particular subject area, framing the ask from the perspective of a new employee coming into their role, starting at the entry/101-level and working up towards more complex concepts.

Then, her subject matter experts then actually presented these sessions to actual learners – with Sam sitting in to observe. Each subject matter expert presented a few times, to different groups, but all using the same presentation.

What Sam noticed was that even though the core presentation was the same, as different questions were asked by attendees, or tangents were explored, there was variation in the information transfer happening in the room. While observing, Sam was taking notes, observing parallels between the presentations, and seeing the macro level.

Afterwards, Sam sat down with her observations and the information in front of her, and began to reorganize, map out, and structure the content. This involved coming to an agreement about what needed to be included in the final product. Sam recalls several conversations with her SMEs that centered around “need to know” vs “nice to know”.

Then, Sam went to work building succinct bursts of education. Afterwards, she went back to her experts and had them provide feedback on the finished product. Any tweaks to the content were made with an open dialogue. Sam acknowledged that sometimes it was an uphill battle – especially when an expert felt strongly about the content they’d included.

Sam said that her strongest tool in diffusing these conversations was the power of the question, “why”. When an impasse was reached, Sam would probe deeper.  Through this tactic, eventually Sam got to the root of the “why” from the expert’s perspective and could make an informed decision.

She also said that this process involved trust on both sides. While her tenured employees were the “experts” on the business functions, Sam herself was the “expert” on how to turn this information into a palatable, approachable training at scale. Her subject matter experts had to take a leap of faith at times, relying on Sam’s expertise – just as she had on theirs.

Sam fondly recalled one subject matter expert who loved to tell tangential stories. “They were very invested in their personal experiences. And I had to gently explain that anecdotes are great for shading in colorful details, but they are not necessary, especially when you're trying to transfer knowledge,” Sam recalls. Instead, Sam would recommend turning those anecdotes into scenario or application-based activities or questions for the learner, and getting the learner involved in the story, a win/win for everyone involved.

What eventually resulted was a finely crafted, succinct, and approachable training activity that will stand the test of time. One final note to Sam’s approach was recognition of the subject matter experts who helped FW Webb achieve these goals. Each online training is attributed to the individual who helped generate the information, and at the end of the presentation, if they are still at Webb, Sam will include a direct way to access these individuals for follow-up and further conversations.

FW Webb’s story is one of many ways our members are grappling with the challenges of our ever-changing business landscape. By capturing this seasoned knowledge before it “walks out the door” ensures that future employees can benefit from their expertise, even years down the line.

For more guidance or help developing your own plan of attack, always feel free to reach out to your friendly ASA-U Advisors at education@asa.net – we’ll help get the ball rolling!

Want to tell your training story? Contact Taylor Kenney a tkenney@asa.net.