Capitalizing on the Baby Boomer Brain Drain

You are probably well aware of the coming exodus of Baby Boomers from the workforce. You may have even heard that the first official Baby Boomer – Kathleen Casey-Kirschling – recently filed for social security benefits with the Social Security Administration, further underscoring the fast approaching departure of millions of highly trained and experienced workers from the workforce.

Does this mean that all the Baby Boomers in your organization will be retiring tomorrow or in the coming months? Of course not, but eventually they will and it is in your best interest to have an action plan in place for retaining the knowledge and expertise that they have gained in their years of loyal employment with your organization.

Have An Action Plan Ready
There are a number of approaches you may take to retain your team members’ knowledge and expertise before they retire. Some are more attractive to pending retirees than others. Remember…nobody wants to write a job manual in their final months before retirement!

The following are five methods for retaining organizational knowledge and expertise that I have found to be effective:

1. Design and implement a mentoring program – Mentoring can be an incredibly effective way to pass knowledge on from one generation to the next. As those soon to retire have likely been with your organization for some time, you should have a good idea who would be interested on taking on a younger protégé. Approach these individuals and suggest several high potential team members that they might have in interest in sharing their knowledge and expertise with before they retire.
    
2. Offer part time work – For many the promise of retirement isn’t all it was cracked up to be. The sudden abundance of free time on one’s hand can be difficult to handle for some and many end up returning to the workforce part-time. Why let them take their knowledge and skills elsewhere? Let your Baby Boomers poised to retire know that you are willing to offer part time work (perhaps half days or shortened weeks) to ease the transition into retirement if they are interested in doing so.
    
3. Invite retirees to facilitate training – In most circumstances, a retiree’s job will be filled with a new employee. Who better to provide periodic training and development of this team member than the person he or she replaced? If your organization conducts in-house training events, consider inviting recent retirees to facilitate training on topics that they are experts in. This is a great way to keep this knowledge from escaping your organization, and many retirees will enjoy this opportunity to keep in touch with former co-workers and friends.
    
4. Offer temporary project assignments – Consider giving boomers the option to stay involved with your organization’s operations on a project by project basis. This is a great way to provide senior leadership on company projects while still giving Boomers the sense of being retired.
    
5. Succession planning – One of the most important and frequently overlooked techniques for retaining organizational knowledge is succession planning. Succession planning is the process of identifying, training, and preparing the future leaders of your organization. Identify a small group of potential leaders for a given position in your organization and pair this group up with your most experienced team members to share their knowledge about the position and prepare these individuals for the new roles and responsibilities they are likely to assume.

Implementing the suggestions above will go a long way in retaining the wealth of knowledge that your most experienced team members have gained through their years of loyal service to your organization and is a critical step to ensuring your organization’s success for years to come.

You may not realize it, but there is a goldmine of knowledge and expertise within your organization that is poised to walk out the door forever in the coming years. Don’t let this valuable organizational knowledge disappear as your team members blow out the candles on their retirement cakes!

Need Management Training, But Have No Budget?

Have you ever asked management to kick in some money for the development of yourself or your staff in supervisory or leadership skills? Did you hear…”We can not afford the cost” or “ We do not have the time to spare”?

Well, you’re not alone. The management of many organizations will give similar answers, particularly when they are oriented more toward short-term vs. long-term goals. 

Management training and development are processes that must be nurtured on an ongoing basis in order to bear results.  If a senior manager sees little redeeming value in undertaking such efforts to build management teams or in the cohesion and effectiveness such development can yield, there is still an opportunity for you to change that mindset.

Here are some things you can do to help justify your need for training:

1. Start by conducting an informal audit and speaking with those individuals that may be receptive to development opportunities. Recognize that not everyone desires management development and that there is always resistance to change in favor of the status quo. 
2. Look at performance deficiencies to see where remedial efforts would most contribute to the value of the organization.
3. Prepare an informal action plan that responds to the gaps & deficiencies you have discovered.
4. Offer managers the opportunity to participate in the mini-sessions where they can discuss the problems and  initiate progress. Mini-sessions can be great because they target the normal focus time of individuals-30 to 45 minutes.  Holding sessions early in the morning, at lunch or after normal work hours can be a catalyst for development where no training budget or time is available.

Another alternative is to develop basic fact sheets for management on topics of interest and email these to participants, requesting replies with questions and comments.  You can then develop FAQs, which can then be shared with managers & supervisors, and, finally, host a mini-session on them.

As an HR professional or business owner, these alternatives will give you the opportunity to engage in interactive sessions, which can provide developmental opportunities and raise important issues and ideas. It may be management development on a shoestring, but it is still worthwhile and extremely effective. Who knows, some incremental improvement may lead to an improved management attitude toward other development opportunities!