Course Overview
Knowledge transfer is more than just on-the-job training. It is also replicating the expertise, wisdom and tacit knowledge of critical professionals into the heads and hands of their coworkers.
The Knowledge Transfer Workshop was originally called Peer Mentoring. Steve Trautman wrote it nearly 20 years ago at Microsoft for the extremely busy—and sometimes reluctant—engineers that he worked with. The workshop shows experts (mentors) how to organize their knowledge into manageable chunks, teach that material, and then make sure that the information was received as intended. It also shows them simple ways to leverage different learning styles if they aren’t naturally on the same page with their apprentices (mentees). And it teaches mentors best practices for staying in touch with apprentices and transferring their knowledge while still getting their regular work done.
The tone of our workshop is 100% straightforward, get-it-done advice that has been tested and refined in the real world; no Koosh balls, no group hugs, and no singing Kumbayah.
After training more than 30,000 people over two decades in a broad range of industries and countries, we have yet to encounter any mentor-apprentice scenarios that we can’t help you with. Download the PDF.
Uses & Benefits
- Define roles in the knowledge transfer process to clarify expectations and encourage buy in—for better coordination, prioritization, and communication between the manager, the mentor and the apprentice.
- Explain the “big picture” to mentors, apprentices, and their managers—to improve their ability to make good decisions and increase consistency in product or service delivery
- Complete and execute a Skill Development Plan—for a 50% shorter ramp-up to productivity and a way to ensure ongoing consistency within a team or division
- Transfer knowledge and improve relations across generational and learning style boundaries—so that recent hires and the most senior employees can work together more effectively
- Provide quick but rigorous verbal tests that ensure wisdom and tacit knowledge have been transferred—to measurably increase bench strength in even the most challenging technical domains
- Show how to make knowledge transfer a part of your culture—for a consistently ready workforce
Mentors, apprentices, and managers routinely leave the workshop saying that it was the best training they’ve ever taken. Independent research shows that more than 80% of students are consistently using the tools a full two months after the workshop.
Who Should Attend
This seminar is useful to all technical professionals, including their team leads and managers. It is for anyone at any level of your business who is responsible, either formally or informally, for transferring knowledge and bringing other employees up to speed while still getting their job done. Apprentices attend so they can learn how to drive their own learning and prepare to be next-generation mentors. Managers will learn ways to support their team and hold them accountable for knowledge transfer results.
The Seminar Includes the Following Topics
Attendees will learn how to better manage rapid change in the
workplace and discover clear and simple strategies and techniques
to support on-the-job training. Participants leave knowing effective,
on-the-job training skills and content that can be used immediately,
and the tools they receive will help them tailor solutions that
meet their business needs and culture:
Roles in Knowledge Transfer
- Outline job descriptions for manager, mentor, and apprentice
- Articulate the benefits of being a better peer mentor
- Provide tips for how to be a successful apprentice
- Write goals that help guide the relationship and the work
- Conduct a brief kickoff meeting to set expectations and plan for moving forward
Managing Communication
- Cover practical communication techniques for staying in touch despite a very busy schedule
- Clarify how to communicate in ways that work best for the mentor’s busy schedule (email, open door, time of day, interruptions)
- Use brief status reports to track progress over time
- Provide practical advice on how to ask for a well-thought-out, problem-solving question
Focusing on the Most Important Information
- Learn to quickly build a foundation that must be covered at the beginning, before teaching a skill
- Answer 7 questions to paint a "big picture" and provide context for prioritization and decision making
- Clearly list and prioritize the skills that the mentor will teach as well as quick test questions the apprentice can answer to confirm knowledge transfer
Telling What You Know
- Organize a one-hour knowledge transfer session in about 5 minutes
- Focus the knowledge transfer by providing the "least amount of information necessary"
- Methodically move skills and information from short-term memory to long-term memory
- Conduct an effective technical demonstration in 6 clear steps
Leveraging Learning Styles
- Define 4 different learning styles
- Consider how learning styles affect teaching styles
- Use different teaching styles with different learners, especially between generations
- Help apprentices identify their own learning style
Assessing the Apprentice’s Knowledge
- Use open-ended questions to assess what they really learned
- Figure out what they already know before starting
- Check in to make sure they are learning
- Ensure they have clear priorities before work begins
Giving and Getting Feedback
- Look for opportunities for peer-appropriate feedback
- Define the characteristics of good feedback
- Learn how to focus on the goal, not the person
- Discuss how to ask for feedback
Developing an Action Plan
- Create a skill development plan
- Identify obstacles to success
- Discuss ways to bring knowledge transfer tools back to a larger group
Download
the Full Course Outline
Plus, receive valuable takeaways. The workshop
manual supplies lots of valuable tools for you to immediately
put to use including The 5 minute Meeting Plan Agenda,
The 10 minute Status Report, and The
Test Question Menu along with valuable concept
explanations and techniques used within the course.
Some comments from past participants:
“Will save mine, and my employees and my boss's valuable
time and allow us to transfer information that matters in a
consistent way.”
“Very practical! I like the fact that it makes
a lot of stuff that I'd been dealing with abstractly, very concrete.”
"Book format gives an excellent takeaway reference.
Steve - Great Job!"
Unsure
if the Knowledge Transfer Workshop is right for you?
Take our quick 12-question needs
assessment. Find out your need level. |
The instructor for a specific class is
listed on our schedule
page.
Read the Instructor Bio: Steve
Trautman, Stacey
Dickinson,
Sherryl
Christie Bierschenk
Other courses led by Steve Trautman or
Sherryl Christie Bierschenk:
Other courses led by Stacey Dickinson:
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