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 that full-length discussion, the two discuss why establishing effective knowledge transfer within a field service organization is now essential. Our industry faces many challenges, including an aging workforce crisis, challenging economic environments, and mass technological disruption.
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: When we started first having conversations, you got to know a little bit more about the culture. And yourself as well. I think one of the things that’s always come through in those conversations is that we’ll come through now. You’ve already referenced there is. There’s that understanding of A, the importance of these guys in the field, our remote workers, I find it fascinating that we didn’t have a language for this until the pandemic when we found out that they were essential workers, the guys that keep the wall turning, fixing things, they have pretty much been essential for an awful lot longer than the last few years. But equally, it’s about understanding the different components of different service businesses. I’ve always been frustrated about conversations. And that’s a nice lead into the topic today. And to give the guys in the audience a bit of an understanding, Martin and I worked on a paper together called Knowledge Transfer: The Art of Information. And this was the second paper that we worked on. They came to me and highlighted the model of goods with these different areas and were jamming around some ideas around which we realized how important knowledge transfer was. I suppose an opening gambit Martin, gives your opinion around why that topic is so important, making sure we’ve got knowledge transfer, making sure like, like we said, in the paper, the art of information, why that’s so critical for service organizations.
Martin Knook: Yeah, you know, it’s really hard to express that in a few smart sentences, right? We’re living in a world in a society where we’re constantly learning, if you like it or not; if you turn on the television, you’re picking up on something; if you’re watching a movie, you’re learning something. So, knowledge transfer is constantly happening. And what I always found so, so interesting in knowledge transfer, when it comes to our business practice, the thing that we do, we spend a lot of time on that, that we’re falling back into almost the difficulties of knowledge transfer, and the challenges that are being presented with that. And so, the most important thing to understand when it comes to knowledge transfer is creating a menu or a palette of aspects that contribute to it. And, have your team use some first kind of common language to understand the palette of aspects that come to play with it. And that is the first thing that always comes to mind when conversing about knowledge transfer. Let’s define it a little bit. So, what all contributes to it, and particularly in the light of it’s constantly happening to us. The dynamics are much more natural in our day-to-day life and need much more force in our business operations. And that’s something that, you know, always, interesting aspect. Why is it so? So, such a topic in business in business knowledge and business knowledge transfer?
Kris Oldland: Yeah, it’s interesting.
Martin Knook: If you don’t spend enough time on it, you can see the results and the negative impact immediately on the quality of service and profitability. So, the impact of not being so aware and forcing that is huge and easy to measure. That’s the first thing that comes to mind here.
End of Transcript
This blog was originally posted on the Field Service News blog.