In November 2018 I wrote a post on this very blog titled Don’t Let Knowledge Walk Out the Door or escape through the window. At that time I was helping a startup to scale-up into an industrial manufacturing company, which was losing significant knowledge through employee turnover. November 2022, we are amid the Big Quit, Silent or Quiet Quitting or whichever name it’s named. I am again helping a company with significant knowledge loss due to turnover, e.i. quitting or retirement.

This small French company specialized in a niche production of industrial equipment was acquired by a big German corporation. Not only is there a two-way cultural shock, but the ambition to bring this small subsidiary – run like a mom-and-pop – shop to a full-fledged SME sticking to corporate standards is another challenge for many insiders.

Comes the COVID-19 pandemic and soon after the Russian-Ukraine war and most of the already confused senior staff gets another shot of confusion, while new young recruits don’t last long in the mess, if they choose to join anyway.

Now, as the experienced employees retire or leave, it becomes clear how much knowledge they take with them, simply because nothing was done previously to capture and secure it. Small companies rely heavily on their workforce, which is per se a good thing, but is also among the biggest threats for those companies. If a key person is leaving or missing, the whole activity can be jeopardized.

But even medium-sized companies remain complacent with this known but underrated risk. Once amid a crisis because of the Knowledge gone, it’s too late to react and recovery can be very painful or even impossible.

Surprisingly, despite the lessons learned from the COVID-19 lock downs and the consequences of the Big Quit, nothing really changes in terms of risk mitigation. Knowledge keeps Walking Out the Door or Escaping Through the Window…