Seniors in Atlanta

Surviving the Baby Boomer Exodus: Capturing Knowledge for Gen X and Y Employees

Description

There are managers who can't bear the thought of losing longtime, skilled employees due to the "brain drain," yet it is occurring as experienced Baby Boomers retire and take with them their practical knowledge and business acumen. Despite the media coverage of Boomers and how a tidal wave of retirements could impact business, many senior managers are kicking the can down the road, putting off the job of creating a system and process for capturing knowledge. Keeping this a low priority could lead to a great deal of deep, tacit knowledge walking out the door, maybe for good. Managers can avoid this by taking some steps now to prepare for the day when key workers leave. These steps are outlined in SURVIVING THE BABY BOOMER EXODUS. This book provides a practical guide for capturing valuable knowledge, skills, and experience so it can be shared among employees of all the generations in the workplace. It examines methods for assessing a company's knowledge gaps, creating a knowledge transfer plan, and nurturing a culture that encourages knowledge sharing and collaboration. Inside you'll find scenarios, case studies, tips, templates, and checklists that will help you capture and retain your company's intellectual capital as Baby Boomers leave the workplace.

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-07-09
Summary: "A Practical Approach to a Complex Problem"

This well-researched book offers practical real-world solutions to a complex problem. And it focuses not only on the capture of knowledge from retiring Boomers, but also on the receivers of that knowledge - Gen X and Y employees.

Ball and Gotsill provide an overview of the commonalities and differences of the generations and in particular how this applies to Learning and Knowledge Transfer. They discuss different types of knowledge, and tools and processes for capturing and transferring it. They also provide ideas for making the business case for knowledge transfer, and how to structure, manage, and evaluate projects.

As a long time practitioner in this field, I especially appreciate Ball and Gotsill's objective and ego-less approach. They did a great job bringing to the table experiences, ideas, tools and insight from a great cross-section of regular people. Surviving the Baby Boomer Exodus is a well-written book that both leaders and practitioners will find useful.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-05-30
Summary: "provides practical ideas for knowledge transfer"

I appreciate this book's candid approach to providing step-by-step practical ideas for knowledge transfer. The authors have done their homework.

(I am a training liaison in the federal government)