Knowledge Exit Interviews™
Prevent knowledge loss and costly disruptions.
The Problem: Critical knowledge is lost when employees leave the company, leading to business disruptions, frustration and financial impact.
One of the biggest sources of knowledge loss in companies occurs when employees leave. Whether their departure is voluntary or involuntary, these employees often hold unique institutional knowledge that isn’t effectively transferred under the traditional exit process.
The Impact of Knowledge Loss
While the main, high-visibility responsibilities are rapidly reassigned, secondary or infrequent duties can be lost in the shuffle. By the time someone realizes that nobody is handling these tasks, the disruption to the business can be severe.
One software company learned this the hard way when an overlooked task led to the loss of $1M in annual revenue.
Lack of accessible knowledge can also increase the pressure on the employees tasked with taking over, leading to frustration and burnout. In many cases, even if basic processes are documented, the context and history around them are not.
A publishing business recently experienced this when they had to spend weeks trying to recreate the logic to compile a marketing report.
Additionally, reductions in force can often lead to a lack of redundancy in key roles, making the remaining employees a massive risk for knowledge loss.
A large fintech company cut its head of compliance (among a large round of layoffs), only to have the second- and third-in line of succession for that function resign within two months.
The Solution: The Knowledge Exit Interview™
The Knowledge Exit Interview™ from Glymr is a specialized process designed to identify knowledge, context and responsibilities that might otherwise slip through the cracks when an employee leaves your organization. Catching these items before the employee’s last day gives you the opportunity to properly transition them and avoid potentially catastrophic consequences.
How does the Knowledge Exit Interview™ work?
When you identify an eligible employee, we schedule an interview with them as soon as possible. Using our extensive experience in knowledge management, we guide them through a series of questions about their duties (including infrequent activities that might be overlooked), their involvement in the the creation, management and maintenance of important systems and processes, and the extent of their documentation and knowledge transfer. Following the interview, we review our notes as well as the recording and automated interview transcript and compile a 1-2 page report that summarizes:
In just 1-2 business days from the Knowledge Exit Interview™ you get concrete guidance to save vital institutional knowledge and reduce the risk of disruptions.
We had Glymr perform Knowledge Exit Interviews for 6 outgoing executives during a recent reorganization. They were extremely helpful in many ways.
President of an 800-person services business