Transitional Workforce

In the U.S. we are faced with potentially devestating transitional workforce issues. This situation is effecting organizations both commercial and government, large and small. So what is the basis of the transitional workforce issues? We are speaking of the retiring and rotational personnel and the tacit and explicit knowledge that many organizations will loose when this personnel is no longer available. In Knowledge Management one of the major challenges is finding methods to capture (and perhaps codify) this knowledge before it leaves the organization and make it available for others to access, leverage and maintain.

Across the military BRAC (Base Closure and Realignment Commission: http://www.brac.gov/) movements are fueling the transitional workforce issues within DoD. To capture this valuable knowledge from personnel not willing to move as their jobs transition I have utilized the Eclipse Process Framework Composer (http://www.eclipse.org/epf/) to build a knowledge base centered around the role/position, task/activity being performed, and the work products being produced. Along with specific guidance (lessons learned, tips and techniques, guidelines, templates, workflows, etc.) creates a repository that can be accessed and leveraged across the enterprise.

Although I have used the Eclipse Process Framework for military personnel transitions, it can be utilized anytime there is a potential loss of personnel knowledge within your organization. If transitional workforce issues are a concern for your organization I invite you to contact me for additional information about leveraging the Eclipse Process Framework Composer and other tools/methods for tacit and explicit knowledge capture.