Business can be a very frustrating experience sometimes. 
You invest a lot of time and money in your staff members - often through a mix of training, mentoring and networking - to develop their specialized knowledge.
But then it exits the door and is lost forever when they get promoted, leave for another company, retire, or, in some cases, pass away.
Then, of course, there is the little matter of their knowledge fading after not being utilized, which is hardly surprising, really, because, as humans, we do tend to forget things after a while. 
So, how can, as a management function, you best protect your investment?
The answer is by investing in knowledge retention.
Keep reading as we highlight this strategy's importance for your business's success.

What is Knowledge Retention?

Every role in your company is performed by someone who has a level of expertise that most of your other employees don’t have. This could be anything from operating certain machinery or using a particular computer program to analyze specific types of data or generating sales leads.
The concept of knowledge retention revolves around the process by which organizations attempt to keep this mastery in-house, even after the employee has vacated the role.
Usually, this is done through a system that effectively captures, centrally stores and successfully shares this information, therefore ensuring it remains accessible to any person new to the role who needs it to do the job.

Why is Knowledge Retention Crucial?

Knowledge retention is a crucial tactic for businesses to employ because, in broad terms, it helps them maintain their levels of consistency, efficiency, and innovation over time.
More specifically, knowledge retention can benefit a business in the following ways:

1. Reducing the Impact of Employee Turnover

For any business, employee turnover is an inevitable reality that they will have to deal with.
However, if your business doesn’t have a knowledge retention system in place, this expertise will be lost when the employee leaves your organization.
High staff turnover can leave you having to tackle a variety of issues, including loss of critical operational knowledge, disruption of workflows and productivity, and increased training costs for new hires.
The better the system you have for retaining knowledge, the more you will be able to minimize disruptions and ensure a smoother transition during periods of staff changes.

 
2. Allows For Continuous Improvement

If you can successfully retain the knowledge of your employees, you will have something to build on when they leave.
This will ensure that new staff members don’t have to reinvent the wheel and can build on past experiences. It also enables them to use the existing information to develop new ideas and solutions which helps to create a culture of continuous improvement.
 

3. Enhanced Customer Satisfaction

One of the critical success factors for any business is to be able to provide a consistently good level of customer service.
When knowledge is retained, employees can quickly access a wealth of information about customer preferences, past interactions, and best practices, which will help them maintain their high levels of satisfaction.
Additionally, it enables new team members to quickly get up to speed on your processes and reduce the number of mistakes and oversights that they make.
This, in turn, leads to a more reliable customer experience, which ultimately strengthens trust and loyalty among your customers.
 

4. Better Decision-Making

If you have the right information available to you at the right time, you will be able to make better decisions.
Another reason knowledge retention is crucial for business success is that it provides employees with historical data and insights that are readily available for analysis.
In addition, management can make more informed decisions based on a complete understanding of past successes and failures. They can also reduce the risk of errors when focusing on strategic planning, thanks to the information they have on hand.
Ultimately, the more robust a knowledge retention strategy your business has developed, the more accurate and timely decisions it will be able to make over the long-term.

 
5. Saves Time and Resources

It is amazing how much time can be wasted searching for information or having to re-learn a process you have forgotten if you don’t have access to a good knowledge retention system.
Thankfully, if you do, it will go a long way towards reducing redundancy and inefficiency and improving learning retention for new employees. It will also enable staff members to quickly find the information they need to perform their tasks and boost productivity overall.

How to Implement an Effective Knowledge Retention Strategy

Okay, so now you know the benefits of having a good knowledge retention strategy in place, the question that needs to be asked is how do you go about setting one up?
Well, to do this, your businesses need a clear understanding of what information, skills and insights are vital to their success. This could, for instance, include knowledge of operational processes, customer insights, or technical expertise in certain areas.
Once you have identified this, you will need to then use technologies like learning management systems (LMS), along with other knowledge bases and collaboration platforms, to store and share the information. It is a good idea to use cloud-based solutions as this will make knowledge accessible to all your employees anytime and anywhere.
Perhaps most importantly, though, even if you have a system in place for knowledge retention, you will need to create an environment where employees are motivated to share their knowledge with one another. The best way to achieve this is arguably through mentorship programs, regular training sessions, and collaborative projects.
 

Conclusion

As a business, you really have two choices; Either you implement a knowledge retention system to keep the critical information you need to effectively run your business in-house, or you don’t.
If you do, you will go a long way towards safeguarding the future of your organization, because you’ll create a bank of information that people can use to ensure its operations run seamlessly, even if you do experience a high turnover of staff.
If you don’t, you risk hamstringing yourself and constantly having to make up for lost ground due to a reduced competitive edge.
So, what will it be?

FAQS About Knowledge Retention

Here are some answers to questions many people regularly ask about knowledge retention and why it is critical for the success of a business.

What is Knowledge Retention?

The term ‘Knowledge Retention’ refers to the process of capturing, preserving, and retaining key pieces of knowledge that are critical to the long-term success of the business.

Why is Knowledge Retention So Important for Businesses?

Knowledge retention is so important for businesses because it ensures that valuable insights, expertise, and information remain within the organization even after employees leave or transition into new roles.
This retention also ensures that companies can enjoy better long-term performance and improved outcomes by reducing their hiring and training costs and minimizing the potential for lost revenue opportunities.