EDITOR ’ S QUESTION

For instance , how do you handle a constant hemorrhaging of institutional knowledge out of your organisation every time an employee leaves ?

Moreover , how do you prevent burnout among those staff members who are left behind after one of their colleagues walks out the door ? And how do you get new employees trained and up to speed quickly , given the fact that the people tasked with onboarding them are already spinning more plates than usual ?

The best way for CIOs to manage this situation is to , foremost , accept the fact that this trend is actually happening .

Organisations that already have robust data management processes in place are better equipped to weather this particular storm . Here ’ s why : when the collective intelligence of the organisation is in a centralised location , there ’ s less chance of institutional knowledge vanishing into thin air or being impossible to locate .

For example , many aspects of a project , a transaction , or a client engagement are hammered out via email . These emails contain the background , the context and the details about why certain decisions were made or arrived at . The ongoing capture and contextualisation of this information means that the organisation can quickly and easily pick up from where a departed individual left off – rather than having that knowledge buried in an individual ’ s inbox where it is , practically speaking , nearly impossible for someone else to unearth . knows how to perform a particularly specialised piece of work decides to resign , there ’ s a clear path forward for others .

When all of this knowledge is more accessible , it also makes it much easier to train and onboard new hires – taking the pressure off of overburdened existing employees and making onboarding a more ‘ repeatable ’ process .

As long as the Great Resignation continues to cast a shadow on the labour market , there will continue to be higher-than-usual job churn . But looking at the technology and processes around an organisation ’ s collective intelligence in a holistic manner can help

make that churn more manageable , allowing CIOs to better navigate a challenging situation while lessening any negative outcomes for the organisation . p

Additionally , having an easily accessible task checklist or template for how to carry out a particular task , deal , or transaction means that if the only person who

PAUL WALKER , EMEA TECHNICAL

DIRECTOR , IMANAGE

www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO EUROPE 37