At The Writers For Hire, we know how to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from experts to everyone else. We’ll collaborate with your change manager, HR managers, and corporate leaders to identify the knowledge you want to preserve and pass along, then get to the heart of the information by working with your SMEs. Finally, we’ll prepare physical or digital procedures, training materials, and other documents to help keep your workforce productive and accountable.
And because we know that even the best document won’t deliver results if no one can find it, we’ll help you develop the systems for information storage and access.
The end result?
You’ll ensure critical information isn’t lost when experienced employees retire. You’ll be able to leverage best practices to reduce training time and operational costs. You’ll even find it easier to develop and retain employees who are interested in growth opportunities.
It’s a win for you, your organization, and your people.
Getting at the Right Information
For some SMEs, being asked to pass on their experience and wisdom can seem more like a chore than an opportunity. Because many of our writers and editors have journalism backgrounds, they know how to prepare people for interviews that make the process pleasant, if not downright fun.
We’re pros at getting the information that will benefit your business the most, whether it’s:
- Simple or explicit, like the basic, step-by-step instructions for carrying out a straightforward task — information someone might share during a brief phone call or hallway conversation.
- Complex or detailed, the kind of knowledge that could fill a notepad (except it’s challenging to write down) or requires a demonstration.
- Implicit, meaning the kinds of things your SMEs learned through experience, “how” they got the work done.
- Tacit: the abilities and instincts honed over the years that may be difficult to put into words.
Quality, Results-Oriented Content
Knowledge transfer strategies are not a new concept, but they must adapt to current digital trends. They should also provide easy access to information that seamlessly flows from one department to another, and from one person to the next.
To get the most use from your knowledge transfer efforts, the documents you produce have to be clear, concise, practical, and useful. We’re experienced at creating content for policies, procedures, and plans — taking even the most difficult-to-understand concepts and making them easy to follow.
We can create:
Standard operating procedures (SOP) and work instructions.
Documents that tell, step-by-step, how to complete a task for greater productivity and customer satisfaction.
Case studies and whitepapers.
Effective ways to share best practices based on real-life experiences.
FAQs/help/forums.
Web pages devoted to answering the questions employees ask most serve multiple purposes: they can reduce information bottlenecks and free up time for managers and supervisors to get on with forward-thinking projects. We can build a digital help desk to address policies, procedures, and work instructions. We can even assist with community forum moderation so employees can get their questions answered more quickly.
Onboarding and training manuals, PowerPoint presentations, dialog simulations, and other employee development solutions
We can create content on nearly any topic. Your employees will come away with the knowledge and confidence they need to perform their job in the most efficient way possible.
eLearning modules
When employees have the option of learning on demand and at their own pace, the content needs to be exceptionally clear and concise. We’ll help you develop modules that are engaging and easy to follow.
Social media
Your intranet is a dynamic place where you can share and update information almost in real time. Many businesses use microblogging to share the experiences of their customers – so-called customer knowledge management or CKM —and improve service. We can develop your blog posts and help you measure engagement.
Employee newsletters
Most organizations use physical or digital newsletters to share company news and recognize achievements, but they can also be a useful part of your knowledge transfer plan. For example, something as simple as a Q&A article that captures the thoughts and experiences of your experts can deliver gems of wisdom.
Employee development plan templates.
Customizable employee and business plan templates let you outline professional growth, including skills and training objectives.
Training assessment questionnaires
Track the results of your training programs using employee questionnaires. We also develop training assessment guides and procedures for your mid-level managers, supervisors, and instructors.
Key performance indicator (KPI) planner worksheets
KPI planning provides your employees with tangible objectives, goals, and benchmarks. KPI worksheets allow managers to track key metrics such as employee progress, process efficiency, and financials.
A system for organizing, storing, and disseminating information
Capturing and documenting all relevant information is just part of a complete knowledge transfer strategy. You also have to make sure it’s at the fingertips of employees who want to learn more. We provide document support activities, including uploading into your document management system (DMS), organizing your SharePoint files, developing meta tags for document descriptions, and assisting you with DMS user interface.
Do you have a key employee who is leaving in three months and you’d like to start knowledge transfer today? Give us a call. We’re up for the challenge.
But if you have the time to plan for the longer term, we’d love to help you create a system to make knowledge transfer an ongoing part of your company culture. With time to transfer knowledge, we can opt to gather information in more comfortably sized batches. That can make it easier and often more fun for your SME, and the process more productive overall.
Starting a long-term knowledge transfer project today means:
- We can capture all major tasks on month-by-month or quarterly basis.
- We have time to find the technology that matches a SME’s communication style – screen captures, video, cloud-shared documents, Q&A forums, digital recorders, messaging / texting aps, micro-sessions, marathon workshops, in person or virtual.
- We can share knowledge as we capture it, disseminating information to the team as we learn it, versus in one big ‘brain dump.’
- We can build a knowledge library as we go, complete with screen captures, work instructions, stories, search, tips, help desk, and Q&A features.
The Writers For Hire includes writers, editors, and project managers with diverse backgrounds and extensive experience creating technical, B2B, and B2C content for companies in nearly every industry.
We understand that each project is unique and requires its own approach, yet one thing is always the same: Our technical and copywriting teams will become a seamless extension of your organization.
Our Customer Service Means Your Satisfaction
The Writers For Hire has been a valuable resource for our clients for almost 20 years. In that time, we have never compromised on our commitment to providing outstanding customer service.
Our team of writers, editors and project managers take charge whenever you delegate the responsibility to us. We have the necessary skills and experience to deliver your content consistently and within your deadlines, without any handholding on your part. We’re responsive, easy to work with, and always just a call or click away.