Every organization has employees who seem to know everything.
They know which customer requires something slightly different. They remember why a process was changed five years ago. They know what to check when a machine starts behaving strangely. They understand which supplier problems occur repeatedly and which warning signs usually appear before something goes wrong.
This knowledge can be extremely valuable.
It can also represent a significant organizational risk.
What happens when that person retires, resigns, transfers to another department, or simply goes on extended leave?
ISO 9001 addresses this issue through the concept of organizational knowledge. Yet it is an area that can easily receive much less attention than procedures, training records, equipment, or other more visible parts of a quality management system.
Organizational Knowledge Is More Than Documentation
A common assumption is that if processes are documented, organizational knowledge has been addressed.
Documentation certainly plays an important role, but knowledge exists in many forms.
It may include:
- Technical knowledge and experience
- Lessons learned from previous problems
- Understanding of customer-specific requirements
- Knowledge of equipment and process limitations
- Historical decisions and the reasons behind them
- Regulatory or industry knowledge
- Knowledge gained from failures, complaints, audits, and corrective actions
- Specialized knowledge held by experienced employees
Some of this information may be documented.
Some may exist primarily in people’s experience.
The challenge is determining which knowledge is important to the organization’s ability to operate effectively and consistently.
The “Only One Person Knows” Problem
One observation I frequently make during audits is that certain processes depend heavily on one experienced employee.
Ask how something works and the answer may be:
“You need to ask John.”
Ask what happens when John is unavailable:
“We usually wait until he comes back.”
This should raise an important question.
Is this simply valuable employee expertise, or has it become an organizational vulnerability?
Organizations do not need to document everything every employee knows. That would be unrealistic and probably counterproductive.
But critical knowledge should not disappear when one person leaves.
Where Is Your Critical Knowledge?
A useful starting point is to identify activities where loss of knowledge could significantly affect:
- Product or service quality
- Customer requirements
- Regulatory compliance
- Process continuity
- Technical capability
- Decision-making
- Problem resolution
Consider a laboratory, for example.
A senior analyst may understand subtle instrument behavior that is not described in the operating procedure. A quality manager may know the history behind accreditation decisions and previous findings. A laboratory manager may understand why certain QC limits were established or why a method was modified.
If those individuals leave without transferring that knowledge, the organization may technically retain its procedures while losing part of its actual capability.
Lessons Learned Are Organizational Knowledge Too
Organizations frequently spend significant time investigating problems.
Complaints are investigated.
Nonconformities are corrected.
Equipment failures are resolved.
Audit findings are addressed.
Corrective actions are implemented.
But what happens to the knowledge gained from those experiences?
Sometimes the problem is closed and everyone moves on.
Several years later, a similar problem occurs and another group of employees investigates it from the beginning.
A mature quality management system should be able to learn from its own history.
Corrective action records, technical investigations, management reviews, project reviews, audit results, process changes, and lessons-learned discussions can all contribute to organizational knowledge.
The important part is making useful knowledge accessible when it is needed.
Knowledge Changes
Organizational knowledge is not something that can be identified once and forgotten.
Processes change.
Technology changes.
Customers introduce new requirements.
Experienced employees leave and new employees join.
Regulations and standards evolve.
Organizations therefore need to consider not only the knowledge they currently possess, but also the knowledge they may need in the future.
For example, implementing new equipment may require new technical expertise. Entering a regulated market may require knowledge the organization does not currently possess. Introducing new software may create dependence on employees with specialized system knowledge.
Recognizing these needs early gives the organization time to obtain or develop the necessary knowledge.
Knowledge Transfer Does Not Always Mean Writing Another Procedure
When organizations identify a knowledge risk, the automatic response should not necessarily be:
“We need another procedure.”
Depending on the situation, knowledge may be preserved or transferred through:
- Cross-training
- Mentoring
- Job shadowing
- Technical meetings
- Work instructions
- Checklists
- Databases or knowledge libraries
- Lessons-learned records
- Succession planning
- Recorded troubleshooting guidance
- Team-based problem solving
- Planned handovers when employees change roles
The appropriate approach depends on the importance and complexity of the knowledge.
Sometimes a two-page troubleshooting guide may preserve more useful knowledge than a 30-page procedure.
Questions to Consider
Organizations can start by asking:
- Which activities depend heavily on one or two individuals?
- What knowledge would be difficult to replace if someone left tomorrow?
- Are lessons from previous problems retained and accessible?
- How is technical experience transferred to newer employees?
- Do employees know where to find information when experienced personnel are unavailable?
- Are future knowledge needs considered when technology, processes, or requirements change?
- Do we repeatedly solve problems that the organization has already solved before?
The answers can reveal risks that may never appear on a training matrix or document register.
Key Takeaway
Organizational knowledge is not about documenting everything people know.
It is about recognizing the knowledge necessary for the organization to operate effectively, preserving critical knowledge, making it available where needed, and preparing for changing knowledge needs.
A quality management system should not depend entirely on someone’s memory.
Conclusion
Experienced employees are one of the most valuable resources an organization can have.
The problem occurs when their knowledge belongs only to them.
ISO 9001 encourages organizations to think beyond procedures and training records and consider the knowledge required to operate processes and consistently deliver conforming products and services.
A useful question for management is:
“If one of our most experienced employees left tomorrow, what knowledge would leave with them?”
The answer may identify one of the organization’s most overlooked risks.