Having worked together on an exclusive new Field Service News White Paper, Kris Oldland joined Martin Knook, CEO of Gomocha, to discuss the various layers of knowledge transfer and the art of information…
In this engaging long-form discussion, the two cover a vast range of topics relating to the importance of knowledge transfer, including why developing a culture of continuous learning is critical and what technologies need to be in place to make putting the correct information where and when it is needed the most.
In this excerpt from the full-length hour-long interview, the two discuss how knowledge transfer and training need to overlap to establish a practical level of internal competence that can deliver efficiencies across the service operation. It also creates an excellent customer experience while still meeting the demands all companies face currently.
This interview is part of the FSN PRO library of premium content. It is available in FSN’s free subscription tier FSN FREE. Make sure you log in to view the complete whitepaper and videos.
Transcript
Kris Oldland: There is a distinction between knowledge transfer and the trainer. They agree that they’re two separate entities, but a better overlap between them needs to be. One should feed into the front microphone. We wanted to put a plug-in for our [FSN] stuff. But that’s exactly what we built with the education platform on Field Service News. We’re not trying to replace in many ways; we built knowledge transfer for service leaders and service managers that, as we all know, are generally recruited from the field. So they don’t have those skill gaps. I’m not trying to say, hey, we will offer you full management MBA training. Look, when you need to know something like you need to know how to solve conflict in your team, and you’ve never dealt with it. Here’s some information, a course, and we need to do the same. But these guys will still have their management training with their team. And it’s the same with engineers and techs. It’s like, okay, we can train you on this asset, or we can train you with dealing with this customer issue or leasing. But then the knowledge transfer is almost that safety packet. It’s that additional bit, when we’re there in the field. And what I find the importance of effective knowledge transfer, I was thinking specifically of the text, but in any, It’s the same with the management staff, the waiting.
You don’t know what you don’t know until you realize you don’t know it. And that’s when you need to be able to go right. I even need to be able to connect to somebody. I can do a ‘See What I See’ type thing and get some experienced eyes on this, helping out or needing to be able to look at the knowledge repository because, at that point, you need that information. Is it too late to call HR and say I need training on this asset? Because you got a customer screaming at you, they’re down. And so that’s that for me, and then it almost becomes, I could see how that could feed into training because you could see from a back-end point of view, you can see, okay, the most common topic that people are requesting information on, or the most viewed article, or the most requested issue is X. Now let’s roll out some trainers specifically around this and build it out. So there are a couple of overmatched ones on there. Are we on the same page?
Martin Knook: Absolutely. I could bring in not too specific, with a small example of how one of my customers has a pretty global operation. They have a very simplified knowledge transfer. And it’s not the only thing they do; they do many things. But it’s part of the knowledge transfer culture; they embedded a problem-solving process in the field. So there is a problem, something didn’t work out as planned. The technician is stuck and needs help with resources; they have organized everything they need to solve the problem. And they do a pretty good job of solving that problem. But they almost invited the engineer that encountered that problem to fill out a very simple card and send it to the manufacturing side. And they will place it on the ‘Innovation Board.’ And that card will sit there for, you know, a week or a couple of months, for a period of time. And what it does is it tracks the uncontrolled focus of people that are experts in that domain. And that sparked some very significant ideas on how to improve their manufacturing procedures and how to improve the asset itself. So they have a very beautiful example of how knowledge transfer is. If there’s a problem in the field, you can fix it. But you don’t extend it into a feedback loop where you can elevate your entire operation business. In that case, you will downgrade that problem solution, to that actual knowledge, which is becoming hard to distribute amongst your 2000 field service engineers because they have different levels of experience or will have a different perception of the problem. So they will have a different problem. Yeah. And I found it very creative, very simple, almost too pragmatic to believe this is a multi-billion business. But it is, and they have closed that feedback loop. And it’s just bringing those things into a culture where knowledge transfer happens.
End of Transcript
You can view the full white paper, Knowledge Transfer: The Art of Information.
This blog was originally posted on the Field Service News blog.