Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/489028
EquipmentWorld.com | April 2015 94 L ast month while attend- ing the AEMP Manage- ment Conference and Annual Meeting in Or- lando, Florida, I heard a term I'd never heard before: "tribal knowledge." Google told me that tribal knowl- edge is a term used in SixSigma, which defines it as: "Any unwritten information that is not commonly known by others within a company. This term is used most when referencing informa- tion that may need to be known by others in order to produce quality product or service." When I read this I was immedi- ately reminded of all the trades- people who had refused to tell me the secrets of their craft. As one old plasterer groused: "If I told every- body how to do this, eventually I wouldn't have a job now would I?" It's a fair point. Ever since the craft guilds of the Middle Ages skilled artisans have been protect- ing their livelihoods by keeping the methods and materials secret. But in today's world where workers deal with vast amounts of information and collaborate among dozens of other stakeholders in huge companies, anybody who keeps trade secrets is harming your company. To make matters worse, there is a great wealth of knowledge often locked up in the minds of baby- boomers who are retiring in droves. When they walk out the door, all that information leaves with them. The other dimension to this problem is that a new generation, millennials mostly, born between 1989 and the early 2000s, are not likely to work alongside the experi- enced craftsmen and patiently pick up knowledge over a long period of time. At the AEMP conference two presenters Gerald Green, Caterpillar strategic development manager; and Stewart, Skoda, president, TeMeDa, made the same point about millen- nials and tribal knowledge in two separate presentations. That leads me to believe this is something on the cusp of becoming important. Skoda's point was that millenni- als grew up as latch-key kids. They came home, they played video games or got on the computer. When they had a question, when they wanted to pursue an interest, they didn't ask mom or dad, or the older teen down the block work- ing on his hot rod. They asked the Internet. Today's millennials, entry- level technicians and craft workers acquire knowledge digitally. That's a huge difference and one that has significant implications for not only managing future genera- tions, but for making sure the tribal knowledge within your organiza- tion doesn't disappear in the next few years. In it's definition of tribal knowledge, the SixSigma website also adds: "Unlike similar forms of artisan intelligence, tribal knowledge can be converted into company property." But in the digital age that means your company's training, mainte- nance records, safety standards, PM procedures and HR policies all have to be accessible with few clicks. If the millennials who work for you can't – on their tablets or mobile devices – find the process for deciphering electrical fault codes and everything else involved in the maintenance and management of equipment, you're going to be re- inventing the wheel every time one person leaves or retires. The brain drain is about to kick into high gear, but as SixSigma offers, tribal knowledge can be converted into company property. And that will be one of the most important challenges facing fleet managers and construction com- pany owners for years to come. Unless, of course, you decide you want to create an "artisanal" con- struction company. But that doesn't sound very profitable to me. final word | by Tom Jackson TJackson@randallreilly.com Tribal knowledge and the baby boomer brain drain: what you know needs to go digital " " Today's millennials, entry-level tech- nicians and craft workers acquire knowledge digitally.