Remembering what we know
retaining corporate
knowledge in the UK civil service
John Murphy, Civil Service Learning, HM Government
What we’ll cover:
The UK Civil Service and the knowledge retention challenges
Techniques for retaining knowledge
Stories
Key learning points
Discussion and questions
The UK Civil Service
400,000 people
25 Ministerial Departments
21 non-Ministerial Departments
300+ Agencies and other bodies
Some responsibilities UK-wide, some devolved in part…
The civil service is getting smaller…
0 100.000 200.000 300.000 400.000 500.000 600.000
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
525.200
439.300 Civil Servants
Work patterns are changing…
0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Part-time
Full-time
80% 75%
And civil servants are getting older…
And civil servants are getting older…
40% of civil servants were over 50 in 2015, compared to 32% in 2010
50% of ‘Senior Civil Servants’ are over 50, but up to 65% in some Departments
So what are we doing about it?
Different types of knowledge loss
Moves to other Departments
Internal moves – ‘agile’ working
Voluntary Exit Schemes
Redundancy
Departmental relocation
Retirement
Different approaches across UK Government
Handover reports
Handover interviews
‘Audience with…’
Work shadowing/parallel running
Continuous debrief
Alumni
Handover interviews
Used by some teams
Good for tacit transfer
Irregular
Manager discretion
Selective – key individuals
Handover reports
Used by most Departments
But! – irregular
Manager discretion
Limited effectiveness
Culture-dependent
Explicit information mainly
‘Audience with…’ group interviews
Used by some
Departments & teams
Can be very useful – for both knowledge transfer and morale
Need planning and time
Good for all levels of seniority
Work shadowing (‘parallel running’)
Most effective technique
Requires time
Can be expensive
Often not practical or even possible
Other techniques…
Before leaving
• Rolling handover notes
• Rotating team briefings
After leaving
• Alumni
• Communities of Interest – eg
LinkedIn groups
• ‘Witness Seminars’
Case studies
Training & Development Agency for Schools
Department of Energy &
Climate Change
Welsh Government
HM Treasury
Training & Development Agency for Schools
17 years old agency
Leaders in at beginning
Relocating 320 km
350 staff, 95% not going
One year to plan, one year
to complete move London
Manchester
Training & Development Agency for Schools
Job shadowing
Handover reports
Handover interviews
‘Audience with…’ sessions
Everything in new
document management system
Job shadowing
In many cases could ‘shadow’ for 3-6 months
Results very good – joiners up to speed quickly, few issues afterwards
Helped by having good document management system
But – in many cases no leaver/joiner overlap, so no opportunity for shadowing
Handover reports
High adoption – 80% of leavers
Aligned approach to job applications, ie using
‘competence-based stories’
Where leaver/joiner overlap – effective
But in other cases ignored by joiners
Seen as ‘not invented here’
DECC - Voluntary Exit Scheme
200 staff leaving 31 March 2016, out of 1,500
Mixed skills, seniority and experience – mostly 15 years+
Approach was to go through managers
Provided guidance plus tools – templates, etc
Key was to act early
DECC - Voluntary Exit Scheme
Detailed guidance
For managers
Copied to leavers
Handover reports used
But – in many
cases left too late
DECC – ‘Audience with…’
Director leaving after 20 years
40 team members
Two-hour meeting
Hosted by replacement
Recorded and shared
Still referred to, three years later
‘Audience with…’ senior Director
Planned well ahead
Gathered questions from
‘stayers’
Successor facilitated
Posed questions to leaver
Audience then responds to leaver’s answers
Welsh Government
Lost many staff in 2008, following financial crisis
Planned handovers, but little happened in practice
Action was voluntary, managers waited until staff due to leave
Found it was too late – staff not engaged
So made permanent changes
Welsh Government
Handover process – ‘Headstart’
Welsh Government – ‘Headstart’
Provides rationale and timelines
Tools to prioritise – ie who to focus on
Handover reports
Interview guides
Shared ‘living library’
Perf ormance level
Normal Performance level Change
occurs here
Duration Severity
Im provem ents
Change Events
• Changes in leadership
• New processes introduced
• Reallocation of duties
• Staff leave/m ove
Time Headstart m itigates
im pact
Fig 1. : Headstart mitigates the impact of change on an organisation
Perf ormance level
Normal Performance level Change
occurs here
Duration Severity
Im provem ents
Change Events
• Changes in leadership
• New processes introduced
• Reallocation of duties
• Staff leave/m ove
Time Headstart m itigates
im pact
Fig 1. : Headstart mitigates the impact of change on an organisation
Welsh Government – job shadowing
Senior people – paired with successors for months
Retiring – handovers can start 2-4 years before, included in annual appraisals
Supported and expected by leaders
Can be very effective
HM Treasury
Use fixed-term assignments, 18-24 months
High turnover – 30% leave or move out each quarter
High risk of knowledge loss
Strong investment in routine handover processes
HM Treasury – handover process
Driven by leadership
Emphasis on leaver and manager
Assessed by joiners after 3 months
Monitored, measured, reported to leadership
Culture – seen as ‘bad thing’ if not done
80%+ compliance
Assessed by joiners after 3 months
Monitored, measured, reported to leadership
…and on the Intranet
Key learning points
Act as early as you can
Get leadership commitment
Focus on the audience
Use a range of approaches
Be proactive – follow-up
Support managers – give them the tools
Act as early as you can!