Twenty percent of the Service’s employees that work within the Refuge System are expected to retire by 2014; nearly 45 percent are expected to leave by 2020. Such an exodus will create a critical need to transfer the intellectual capital of today’s leaders to those who follow.
Managing knowledge and information effectively will guarantee a skilled and efficient workforce for the future. In many cases, effective data sharing and management can eliminate redundancy and lead to economies of scale. Improved knowledge management systems must be developed to allow for more timely and effective sharing of scientific information, accomplishments, and needs both internally and with our external partners.
The disciplines required to manage the Refuge System can be viewed as a microcosm of all the various functional and scientific practitioners of the Service or really any conservation organization such as biologists, modelers, communicators, or managers. They represent topical “communities of practice” or groups of specialists. Using updated online technologies, these communities can share information, collectively analyze successes and failures and gather virtually to maintain functional networks. Such communities of practice could help bridge knowledge gaps as many employees retire from the workforce.
Recommendation: Design a knowledge management strategy for the Refuge System that supports communities of practice open to all Service employees and other groups that are relevant and appropriate, including partners, other agencies, and interested citizens.
Recommendation: Develop and mandate system-wide leadership and position succession processes to ensure learning and knowledge is passed from the departing employee to the successor.
Comment below and/or move on to next section of Chapter 5 - Greening Wildlife Refuge Infrastructure and Operations
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Some comments:
Recommendation: Develop and mandate system-wide leadership and position succession processes to ensure learning and knowledge is passed from the departing employee to the successor.
On the job training should be more than learning about what form to fill out, it should be how everything works, whether it starts with the coffee maker in the break room, all the way up to Congressional funding process and the establishment of new refuge. Each employee should develop skills that will enable that person to not only know how to get things done, but to also train their subordinates for leadership and command. This Agency should embark on a program that places all of it’s employees in a continuous training program which develops sound conservation practice, technically excellent science and esprit d’ corps. Its a spirit that guides and fulfills us with a sense of mission. It unites us and sets us apart from other federal agencies. But beyond this, the continous training program builds confidence and certainty so that we will never ever ask the question what will we do when 45% of our current staff have retired. Knowledge management means developing a program where employees are committed to knowing what has been done in the past, what has worked and what hasn’t worked. It means that there are multiples of people who know the same thing and can communicate effectively to others, those concepts which much be retained. It also means we all must be humble regardless of position, to open our eyes to new possibilities as well as old and discarded ideas which may only need a little modification. And it also means as stewards of the land, to be effective listeners to the public and guardians of the trust placed in our duty.
We should develop a 10 year apprenticeship program that takes a recent college graduate from an inital position through a refuge management or GS-12 equivalent position. Regardless of position series, every employee should develop a thorough field experience in order to fully appreciate the service mission.
The journeyman track program should take the step into the leadership realm, providing much of the mentoring to the apprenticeship track.
And finally, the senior management track in addition to their duties should be the mentors to us all. Leading by example, developing templates for teaching and passing on strategies for achieving our goals and objectives.
NCTC is the perfect environment for classroom instruction. The very best and brightest within the Service should be allowed to teach what it is they do so well to groups in a classroom environment for at least 2-4 weeks a year. But this experience should be only an annual assignment, because the field is where our employees belong. Programs like Stepping up to leadership and Advanced Leadership Development Program should be expanded and allow more individuals to attend.
A couple of thoughts:
- I’m glad to see communities of practice mentioned again. See my comment in the previous section (or maybe the one before that).
- It is critical that you understand that a “knowledge system” is a social system that is often supported by technology – it is NOT a computer system. The primary tool of a good knowledge system is communities of practice, and the the main key to successful communities of practice is an effective “community hub” person. Richard McDermott (an early knowledge system/CoP expert) had done a lot of research on what makes a strong community and he found that the strongest communities exhibited the following key characteristics:
1. Passion – the members of the community shared at least one passion
2. Connection – the members of the community had regular, meaningful connections with each other, often facilitated by a “community network hub” person.
3. Contribution – members were able to make contributions to the community that were significant to them and recognized by the community
4. Sense of Belonging – members felt a sense of belonging to the community. The strongest communities had some sort of “rite of passage” for new members.
- One way to help retain knowledge when people retire is to encourage them to volunteer. Volunteering as a mentor (e.g. to a friends group board) would seem to be especially good.
Any chance the vision document can include the idea that passing wisdom from an experienced employee to a younger employee or acting as a mentor be included in supervisory performance plans?