5 steps to follow for successful knowledge transfer

Knowledge transfer within a company is never just a matter of goodwill: it is a project, with its own steps, stakeholders and management.

Too many organisations rely on informal arrangements: an improvised pairing, a few weeks of handover before someone leaves, only to discover, once the expert has gone, that most of the know-how left along with them.

More than 50% of employees feel that their company does not place enough importance on knowledge transfer.¹

At TAKOMA, we support leadership teams who want to build a genuine knowledge transfer program.

Our 5-step method for structuring knowledge

Step 1: identify critical knowledge and who holds it

Not all knowledge carries the same weight: the aim is to identify, through a targeted audit focused on a narrow scope (a team, a role, a production line), the knowledge whose loss would have a real operational, commercial or strategic impact.

Each piece of critical knowledge has a holder, sometimes several, but they still need to be identified explicitly rather than assuming that “someone already knows”.

A simple question helps to identify them: what do you do, in your role, that no one else really knows how to do?

Step 2 : formalise, moving from tacit to explicit

Formalising knowledge is not about writing it down once and for all: it means progressively extracting the tacit knowledge held within a practice and turning it into explicit reference points (procedures, frameworks, reference cases) that can be shared widely.²

Knowledge transfer often fails for a simple reason: the knowledge holder and the recipient don’t quite speak the same language. Differences in experience, mental models and learning pace hold back genuine uptake of the knowledge if the program doesn’t account for them.

Step 3 : choose the right approach for the type of knowledge

Senior-junior pairing remains the most effective route for practical know-how and hands-on skills, provided dedicated time is set aside for it, not just goodwill.

Knowledge transfer does not have to run in one direction only: at Airbus or EDF, reverse mentoring programmes let junior staff contribute their own skills in return, particularly digital ones.³

For the most tacit knowledge, such as a hazardous task or a sensitive environment, virtual reality allows the learner to be fully immersed without putting the expert or production at risk, at a time when around 30% of retirements in 2026 involve holders of critical know-how.⁴

Step 4 : engage and recognise those who pass on knowledge

An expert cannot properly pass on their knowledge in their spare time, squeezed between operational emergencies: the time given over to knowledge transfer must be treated as a workload in its own right.

Recognition, career progression, sometimes a bonus: valuing the role of knowledge holder turns it into a driver of engagement rather than a burden, particularly towards the end of a career.⁵

Step 5 : manage it over the long term

A programme that is not monitored loses momentum. A simple dashboard (knowledge covered, knowledge holders involved, level of embedding among new holders) is enough to track progress objectively.⁶

Three factors keep recurring in successful initiatives: the time allocated, the resources made available, and genuine oversight from leadership.⁷

Conclusion

Building an effective knowledge transfer program doesn’t happen by itself. It takes a method: identifying critical knowledge, formalising it, choosing the right format, engaging those who pass it on, and managing it over the long term.

At TAKOMA, we support leadership teams in designing and deploying these programs, from the initial analysis through to long-term management. Discover our Knowledge Management Consulting offer, backed by our recognised expertise as Knowledge Engineers, especially for industry-based organisations.

Has your organisation already identified who, tomorrow, will know how to do what your experts do today?