A couple of posts ago I was talking about subscription-based e-learning and training services. The gist of that post was simply that “yes those options have their place,  but by their nature they aren’t very good at addressing a need for turning tribal knowledge into effective training.” (More or less…you can find that post here.) 

This is a challenge that presents itself to organizations frequently,  and while not much of a stretch to accept, the question then becomes “how?”.  If you acknowledge that yes, we have a need to capture our tribal knowledge and then make it accessible to and train others on within the organization,  you probably understand all too well that this is not something you are going to be able to purchase off-the-shelf. Therefore the next step is determing how to get it done.

The “how” depends greatly on the organization. A large company equipped with an internal training group may have access to tools, personnel, and budgetary resources that a smaller, mid-market manufacturing company does not. The challenge is the same, but the approach can be vastly different.

I call out this differential in organizational size for a reason. Again, the challenge to capture and make use of tribal knowledge is similar, but the problem can be more difficult for the mid-market company. Their business is manufacturing; most of the organization is dedicated to making product. They often lack the resources of a larger organization, so the requirement to not only solve the problem, but to do so in a way that has a minimum impact on the budget and sans dedicated internal training resources. Which is not to say that any of these suggested tips would not be beneficial for the larger organization as well; I just feel it’s important to acknowledge the often overlooked and unique challenges that the mid-market faces.

Here’s some tips to keep in mind as you develop your own program to capture and train on tribal knowledge:

1. Acknowledge the need. Well, duh. Seems obvious, but you can’t develop a plan to capture the tribal knowledge that exists within your organization until you’ve assessed that there is a need.

2. Make a clear business case that shines a spotlight on the need and will help win support for the initiative.  Is a good percentage of your workforce of retirement age? Are organizational silos preventing the exchange of critical business process information? Make a list and write down the specific reasons why developing a system to capture and train on tribal knowledge will benefit the organization. The process of writing down and working through the “why” will help shape and hone the eventual “how”. This can be a long and drawn out process; be prepared to remind everyone why you’re undertaking this effort, especially in those times where it gets difficult and progress seems slow at best.

3. Implement a workflow process that encourages sharing. Sounds pretty vague, but the basic idea here is that you need to shift away from the old way of communicating. This will no doubt be very difficult, but instead of sending an e-mail to Joe down the hall to ask about a specific process that needs to be documented for training, send him a link to a intranet or web page where he can enter the information. Done the old way, Joe believes he’s told someone how something is done, but that’s part of the problem, he’s told someone. Really take the time to think about how you can facilitate a collaborative method of capturing knowledge. This way, even in-process, the information that will eventually be developed into some type of formal training program can be accessible and useful to others. We’ve seen greater frequency of the use of internal wikis that can be incredibly useful in this regard.

4. Go talk to people, but don’t hassle them. Not everyone in the organization, especially in a manufacturing environment, will have access to the company intranet. Therefore, you’re going to have to go talk to those people that often times, know “the real story” about what makes your company tick. Be smart about it though, you’ll get little cooperation if you just hang around and randomly appear to pick their brains. Instead, make a plan of what information needs to be captured. Identify those individuals that are likely to be the most knowledgeable by talking to the person responsible for maufacturing operations. Schedule time to meet with those people and have a clear agenda of the type of information you need to capture before sitting down with them.

5. Determine how you will present the training information and make it accessible.  As a manufacturer, you may not have the staff resources or know-how to develop an effective training program, but don’t panic. The good news is that there are numerous options available these days to help with the technology side of your training program. Break the technology requirements into pieces that correspond with specific goals rather than trying to find one application that will do everything.  In this way, you can focus on tools that are right for your specific requirement, rather than pay for a single service or suite of tools that are more than what you really need. 

• Composing the content. Widely reviled by training experts everywhere, there’s a good reason Power Point remains prevalent. Organizations exactly like mid-market manufacturers already have it, and most everyone knows or can figure out how to use it. There is no shame in using PowerPoint, especially now that there are many training development applications that will allow you to directly import .ppt files. Is it the best or most capable application in which to develop training? No, not by a long shot. However, if software selection is the obstacle preventing  you from starting the process of formalizing captured training content, by all means fire up Power Point.

• Distributing the training. Your company intranet is an obvious, simple way to start. Share Point is particularly well-suited to the delivery of training materials. Or, you could create a simple HTML-based portal to display links to the training content. Microsoft and Adobe also offer applications that allow group collaboration that can be useful for hosting real-time instructor-led training directed to a group of people. Dedicated learning management systems sure offer some great functionality, but don’t let that stop you from finding other ways to distribute your content.

• Measuring retention. How do you know if someone has actually acquired the knowledge you’ve attempted to pass along? You’ll want to develop quizzes, tests, or practical hands-on skill evaluations. These can be accomplished in many different ways. Be sure to think about not only the format of these retention-measuring devices, but how they will need to be managed as well. What adminstrative requirements will there be?  Most professional training development software, like Adobe Captivate for instance, integrate the ability to add quizzes and tests into the training course, as well as allow for the  delivery of these results. However, get creative and see what low-cost or free services are out there as well. These may not be permanent solutions, but a Google search for “develop online quizzes” should get you started and perhaps thinking outside the software box as well. Again, when cost is a primary concern, try to identify simple services to meet specific requirements for each major function of your training course.

6. Be realistic and patient. Most of us can appreciate really great training when we see it, and most of us always want to create the best we can. However, understand that all the bells and whistles have some cost associated with them. It might be nice to have an interactive, exploded view of equipment for the maintenance technicians, but how realistic is that today? Think of your tribal knowledge capturing and training project as a living one. True that the 3D animation of a process might make it easy for some learners to visualize, but it’s not worth stalling out the development of your training. You may have to settle on a handful of static images or engineering drawings for now, but that’s ok.  As the organization as a whole recognizes the importance of and progress made on capturing and delivering tribal knowledge training, these things will come. It is far more important now, during the first stages of formally developing this training that something gets done as opposed to nothing at all.

Granted, this is not the sum total of the concerns you’ll be dealing with as you take the first steps towards developing your own tribal knowledge training program, but I hope you find these items useful as guidelines.

Good luck, drop us a note here if you’d like further information or need some help.