AS I have said time and again, the impact of retirement is not limited to one or two isolated areas. It is an issue of demographics. Fair enough, there will be some more affected than others, but the spread is pretty broad.
How interesting is this? The number of US Catholic sisters (nuns) decreased from 180,000 in 1965 to 68,600 in 2005. The worst is yet to come, as the majority are older than 70 and the younger generation shows little interest, according to Ira Wolfe’s intriguing book, The Perfect Labour Storm.
The loss of corporate knowledge is not restricted to issues surrounding design competence based on experience or the potential of an industrial disaster. How about the loss of corporate strategists, planners and, indeed, business developers?
The loss of such people is not new to companies where attrition and turnover happens, but the attitude has generally been somewhere along the lines of “we are a big, strong company; we will just go and get another one”.
So what will we do when there aren’t any to steal from the competition?
A vast array of knowledge is not easily transferred. Just writing a manual or the odd memo here and there won’t cut it; yellow sticky notes are great, but they don’t stick for long or maintain any context unaided.
Companies really need to develop ways to identify which knowledge is most critical and allowing (requiring) the holders of that knowledge to transfer it as an explicit part of the day-to-day work.
A few companies I speak to do this, and it can be very effective. And yet, for the majority, taking critical workers off projects is counter-intuitive and not good for the company in the pursuit of making more money.
Short-sighted, I would say.
Now, here is another interesting reflection – not so long ago, my wife and I were driving near to my old school. I thought (as you do) that a diversion to show her where I went seemed like a great idea, if not compulsory.
How disappointing. The old school fields where we were sent to run round to wear us out, take the kind of knocks that build you up and learn to be competitive were completely missing.
They had been sold to the highest bidder, who had built houses, so the school now lacks a playing field.
So what, you ask? Well, granted, we have just had a very successful Olympics, but where do the masses learn to be competitive?
Sadly, in my view, one of the basic and fundamental elements of growing up has gone away.
Britain has a long and successful history of being competitive in the world market, and maybe I am being melodramatic, but if we are not teaching competitive sports for all, where will we find competitive business leaders to keep us in the global marketplace as a leader where winning is critical.
And isn’t it interesting, the number of companies that have installed exercise facilities on their premises or have corporate memberships of a nearby club. It’s commonplace in Aberdeen.
Someone once said that the opposite of success is not failure, but mediocrity. Success and failure are separated so often by an almost invisible dividing line where much passion and effort are usually expended. Mediocrity is just a case of not bothering. Is this where we are heading?
Jon Glesinger is CEO of Expert Alumni
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