Help! One of My Colleagues is Leaving, and I Don’t Want to Lose Any of Their Information

You’re in luck! We just released a set of two related resources for employees dealing with transition: a Knowledge Management Sustainability Tracker and a Handover Note Template. These user-friendly tools will help increase your chances of using important knowledge as staff transition.

Here are the details:

Managing knowledge is a critical element to organizational success; when processes and systems are in place to capture and use knowledge, individuals and teams are better equipped to collaborate strategically and manage adaptively. Check out the Evidence Base for Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Literature Review for more information.

The Knowledge Management Sustainability Tracker and the Handover Note Template are two tools you or your colleagues could use to capture, store, and share important institutional knowledge. The Knowledge Management Sustainability Tracker can help your team to systematically and intentionally manage the transfer of skills and knowledge in situations where your team is anticipating the departure of staff and/or looking to plan for a period of time where you will be short-staffed. Each section has a brief description of what should be recorded in it, and the tracker is intended to be updated on an ongoing basis. If you have less time before an expected departure, the Handover Note Template provides a quicker way to document and detail important information about the role.

Who should use these tools?

All staff who intend to share critical role-related knowledge in a systematic and intentional way. These tools are especially useful for staff who are in time-limited positions or secondments.

When should I use these tools?

You should use these tools throughout your tenure, but they can play a key role toward the end of your time in a particular position. Even if the document cannot be completed at the beginning of a role, the Knowledge Management Sustainability Tracker can be updated at any time during someone’s tenure, supporting a systematic and intentional approach to sustainable knowledge and skill transfer.

Have these tools been vetted?

Staff within USAID’s U.S. Global Development Lab, Bureau of Policy, Planning and Learning, and on the USAID LEARN contract have provided critical feedback on both resources and the feedback has informed subsequent iterations.

Got feedback?

If you have feedback or ideas on either resource, please reach out to [email protected].