Transmitting critical skills is a major challenge for organisations in the face of the wave of forthcoming retirements. The absence of a formal framework for centralising tacit know-how and facilitating the onboarding of new recruits increases the risk of losing key capabilities. The Korn Ferry consultancy highlights that the skills shortage in France could result in €175 billion in lost revenue by 2030. This article offers a framework for identifying knowledge not covered by conventional training and anticipating its transmission.

Why Do Some Skills Become Critical Without Being Visible?

The invisible knowledge within organisations is indispensable for the effective collaboration of frontline teams and the overall performance of the organisation. It encompasses sector-specific knowledge, technical skills specific to a particular field and certain informal know-how. Their loss can lead to execution delays and a drop in the productivity of frontline teams.

The Silent Erosion of Informal Know-How

In their report on talent management in French organisations, the ANDRH and FéFaur consultancy highlight that talent management is critical for 63% of the organisations surveyed. Tacit skills are generally neither formalised nor officially recognised. Unlike formal knowledge, they are implicit and acquired through observation and experience. These characteristics make them difficult to detect and quantify.

The silent disappearance of these capabilities is also explained by the continuous training practices prevalent in the manufacturing, hospitality and retail sectors. Operational employees are not always aware of the extent of their own informal skills, as they consider them to be self-evident.

Retirements, Mobility and Technological Change

The largest generation in French history will pass the age of 65 in 2030. With it, thousands of technicians, engineers and skilled workers will retire with invaluable technical know-how. In the nuclear industry, the departure of this entire generation of experienced engineers poses several risks to the viability of future projects: 70% of the needs for pipe fitters, welders and boilermakers are not met in France.

Talent mobility also complicates the transfer of informal knowledge. Technological upheavals such as the IoT and artificial intelligence, combined with organisational restructuring, are driving a rapid evolution in skills needs that tends to render certain informal knowledge obsolete.

What Conventional Training Does Not Cover

Conventional training is oriented towards the acquisition of theoretical knowledge. It has limitations in terms of hands-on experience, adaptability and the development of skills specific to certain contexts or professions. The needs related to real-world practical scenarios, differences in learning styles and technical skills specific to operational roles are not always taken into account.

The tendency to value academic qualifications and formal knowledge can also marginalise informal knowledge, hence the importance of actively identifying and structuring it.

A Framework for Identifying Knowledge at Risk

Rare skills are held by few individuals or rarely used in the course of day-to-day activity. Critical skills refer to any capability essential to the continuity of service or the overall performance of the organisation. This distinction structures the approach to identifying and transmitting key competencies.

Identifying Knowledge at Risk

Identification focuses on the skills that are essential to the effective functioning, capacity for innovation and competitiveness of the organisation. These skills may be managerial, technical or relational. Four methods make it possible to identify them: analysis of key processes and the skills required; interviews with subject-matter experts to understand the nature and importance of their knowledge; risk analysis relating to the potential loss of know-how specific to each role; and skills mapping by employee and by position.

Assessing the Criticality of Each Skill

Five criteria allow the criticality of each identified skill to be assessed: the rarity of the knowledge, the difficulty of acquiring and mastering it, vulnerability in the face of staff movements and departures within the organisation, the indispensability of the knowledge for one or more key processes, and the financial impact associated with its loss. Establishing a scoring scale makes it possible to determine the level of criticality in a structured and comparable way.

Capitalisation Strategies, Transfer and Management Plans

Documenting at-risk knowledge formalises and disseminates it within the organisation. Learning & Development functions would be well advised to conduct an audit of training and experience sharing practices (meetings, workshops, communities of practice) in order to establish sustainable strategies that include the transfer of informal knowledge.

The approach also includes anticipating future needs for key skills and putting in place mobility and recruitment plans to address departures. A critical skills management plan defines the objectives, actions, measurement indicators and responsibilities associated with each skill. It is deployed in two stages: implementation of the planned actions, followed by regular reassessment to adapt it to the evolving needs of the organisation.

Anticipating Disappearance and Organising the Transfer of Critical Skills

The transfer of critical skills rests on two complementary levers: human support frameworks and the documentary structuring of knowledge.

Mobilising Tutoring, Mentoring and Communities of Practice

The transfer of critical skills can be organised at two levels. At the individual level, several formats are effective: integration tutoring, expert sponsorship, classic mentoring from a senior profile to a new recruit, reverse mentoring from a young talent to an experienced colleague, and skills pairing in the context of a shared project.

At the collective level, process mapping and best practice sharing groups create structured exchange spaces between knowledge holders and new recruits.

Structuring Documentation and Establishing Targeted Learning Pathways

Onboarding documents benefit from being concise, clear and accessible. Formalising procedures through tutorials and knowledge bases organised by category, theme or project facilitates both consultation and updating. Online learning platforms (LMS) and skills management tools optimise the transmission and monitoring of modules.

Learning pathways dedicated to critical skills draw on measurable, relevant and time-bound objectives. Managers and employees at different levels are involved in identifying needs in order to define objectives that are as close as possible to operational reality. Short, targeted modules facilitate skills development and progress monitoring, complemented by regular assessments to measure the acquisition of knowledge and adjust pathways where necessary.

Sources: Next Gen RH, Profil d'Info, USBEKETRICA, L'Express, Wayden