After finding the 46 people who had this specialized experience, Cadas set up a program that allowed younger, recently hired engineers to interview the older experts. The engineers met and went through a questioning process that enabled the younger employees to learn about supersonic technology and then to put that knowledge into a repository for future reference. "This was a double win for us," Cadas says. He adds that while in many cases older employees typically need some sort of incentive to participate, this time they were "falling over themselves" to teach the younger employees about the technology because they were proud of their accomplishments and were eager to see their knowledge retained for future use.

The experience at Rolls Royce illustrates an urgent situation in which a cutting-edge technology risks becoming obsolete. But the death of certain skills isn’t always a cause for mourning. For example, few would complain that they can’t find a typewriter repairman in the phone book. However, organizations must carefully analyze whether a technology or skill might be needed in the future. "Companies need to ask themselves, What can we not afford to lose?" says Melissie Rumizen, senior knowledge strategist at consultancy SAIC and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Knowledge Management.

KM Can Aid in Succession Planning

Some companies turn to software to help predict future departures and determine crucial knowledge. Succession planning or talent management software can give organizations a good picture of who is working for them, how they are performing and how long they’ll be around. With retirement on the horizon and new management positions to fill last year, automotive chain Pep Boys started using succession planning software from SuccessFactors to give it a clear picture of all employees at the company’s 584 retail and service centers. "The risk of knowledge loss will always be there because there will always be unexpected departures," says Liviu Dedes, Pep Boys’ director of training and organizational development. "But if you have a solid process to map out who is in your leadership pipeline, you’ll be better prepared to fill job openings, retain top-performing employees and prepare for retirement."

Dedes says that the software lets him check how many employees are near retirement age and how many might be leaving soon for other reasons. Another way to get a visual picture of human interaction and pinpoint the go-to people in an organization is to do a social network analysis (SNA), which often involves interviewing employees and managers to see who is working with whom, and whom employees go to most often for help. SNA software can help organizations map out relationships and get a clear picture of who has the most knowledge and experience in a specific area (for more on SNA, see "Who Knows Whom, and Who Knows What?" at www.cio.com/061505). The next step is to work on retaining those people, says Mohl at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. "You need to focus on helping these people advance as quickly as possible," he says.