Rothwell - Invaluable knowledge: securing your companys technical expertise

INVALUABLE
KNOWLEDGE

Securing Your Companys Technical Expertise

William J. Rothwell

AMACOM
American Management Association

New York Atlanta Brussels Chicago Mexico City San Francisco
Shanghai Tokyo Toronto Washington, D.C.

Bulk discounts available. For details visit:
www.amacombooks.org/go/specialsales
Or contact special sales:
Phone: 800-250-5308
Email: specialsls@amanet.org
View all the AMACOM titles at: www.amacombooks.org

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rothwell, William J.
Invaluable knowledge : securing your companys technical expertise / William J. Rothwell.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8144-1639-6
ISBN-10: 0-8144-1639-X
1. Manpower planning. 2. Information technologyManagement. 3. Knowledge management. 4. EmployeesRecruiting. 5. Employee retention. I. Title.
HF5549.5.M3R66155 2011
658.3 01dc22 2010023451

2011 William J. Rothwell.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019

About AMA
American Management Association (www.amanet.org) is a world leader in talent development, advancing the skills of individuals to drive business success. Our mission is to support the goals of individuals and organizations through a complete range of products and services, including classroom and virtual seminars, webcasts, webinars, podcasts, conferences, corporate and government solutions, business books and research. AMAs approach to improving performance combines experiential learninglearning through doingwith opportunities for ongoing professional growth at every step of ones career journey.

Printing number
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Talent management has emerged as a topic of importance. Many organizational leaders are aware that baby boomers around the globe are nearing retirement age. The only thing preventing many of them from retiring now is the long-term influence of fluctuating stock prices. While much attention has been focused on preparing managers for promotion as waves of these baby boomers leave the workforce at some future time, less attention has been devoted to the unique issues associated with losing knowledge workersthat is, technical and professional workers whose knowledge is critical to the long-term competitive success of their organizations. Technical and professional workers are essentially knowledge workers whose special training, skills, abilities, and experience provide their organizations with competitive advantage.

This book focuses on the unique issues associated with what I call technical talent managementthat is, the process of attracting, developing, and retaining technical workers (such as engineers, IT professionals, accountants, and finance and investment analysts, whose performance centers on the acquisition and application of knowledge), as well as transferring their knowledge to less experienced workers.

This book consists of nine chapters. , the final chapter, offers predictions of challenges that organizations will face in attracting, developing, and retaining this talent, and in transferring the knowledge of workers whose value to their organizations stems from their special expertise.

The book ends with three appendixes. The first consists of case studies to illustrate how organizations have met the challenges of technical talent management. The second appendix is an assessment instrument to help decision makers compare their organizations to best practices for establishing a strategic framework that can support a technical talent management program. The third appendix is an assessment instrument to help decision makers measure how well managers are supporting a technical talent management program on a tactical (that is, daily) basis.

I would like to thank my wife, Marcelina, and my daughter, Candice, for just being there for me. Although my son is far awayout there in the cornfields of IllinoisI have not forgotten Froilan Perucho, either.

Thank you to my training session participants, both in the United States and in many other nations, who have shaped my thinking on this topic. A special thanks to my friend Gem Ong at Salvo in Singapore, and to participants in Hong Kong, where I first presented on the topic of this book, and to the many participants in the United States and in many other nations who have participated in my workshops on technical succession planning, technical talent management, and related topics. They helped me hone the ideas and realize just how critical is the need for talent management programs distinctly focused on people who possess invaluable knowledge.

I also wish to thank people who reviewed this book in early drafts and offered advice.Thanks to my graduate assistant, Aileen Zabellero, who helped secure the necessary copyright permissions for this book and to others who contributed in some way, such as my students Naseem Sherwani and Smitri Raj.

A special thank-you to Christina Parisi, my editor at AMACOM, for her support and patience in helping this book reach the press.

INVALUABLE
KNOWLEDGE

How well do your organizations leaders attract, develop, and retain its technical and professional workers? And how well does the organization transfer their knowledge to succeeding generations of workers?

Review the following Advance Organizer pretest before you read this book. Use it to help you identify topics of special interest so that you can jump right to the subject that will best address your organizations problems.

Read each item in the pretest that follows. Circle T (true), N/A (not applicable), or F (false) in the left-hand column, next to each item. Spend about 20 minutes on this organizer. Be honest! Think of how your organization manages the individuals who possess special knowledge of the work, work processes, customers, technology, and other matters of critical present and future competitive value to your organization. When you finish, score your results, and interpret those results using the instructions at the end.

Then, be prepared to share your responses with others in your organization. Use the results as a starting point for improving the way your organization conducts its talent management for technical and professional workers such as engineers, IT professionals, research scientists, research and development (R & D) workers, and others who possess special knowledge that is invaluable to your business. To learn more about each item on the pretest, refer to the chapter number in the right-hand column, where the subject is discussed in detail.

Has your organization established each of the following, geared specifically to technical or professional workers whose knowledge is critical to the organizations present and future success?