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Welcome to… Strategies for Sustaining AEC Industry
Leadership through Knowledge Management(as Baby Boomers Prepare for Retirement)
Moderator: Todd Trometer, Black & Veatch
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Maj. Kevin Kaufman, Verizon / USAR / UMUC (Scholar-Practitioner)o Principal Client Service Manager (Program Manager), Verizon
o Combat Engineer / Civil Affairs / Government-Military Functional Specialist for Technology & Telecommunications
o Adjunct Assistant Professor for UMUC-Europe MBA Program
o Regional Vice President AFCEA International – Central Europe Southwest
o Doctor of Business Administration (Leadership)
PLEASETAKE NOTE
of the EXITS
in case of an EMERGENCY
SILENCE
PLEASE!
Please Silence Your
Mobile Phones.
Learning Objectives: Sustaining Leadership through Knowledge Management
Objective 1: Understanding of how knowledge gaps can affect sustainability of leadership and
operational excellence.
Objective 2: Understanding of knowledge management best practices across multiple generations.
Objective 3: Understanding of how internships, mentoring, and professional development can
support sustainability of excellence.
Objective 4: Understand how to meet future technological challenges as demands in the AEC
industry increase.
Knowledge Gaps
Institutional knowledge can be lost during generational handover.
Succession plan for talent – HR responsibility!
Succession plan for knowledge – LEADERSHIP responsibility!
What is the potential financial liability?
HR Costs = turnover, recruitment, replacement, development, training
lost knowledge = lost customers
lost customers = lost revenue
Solution: Knowledge Management
Knowledge Gaps In The Construction Industry
(local and national government perspectives)
• vital in developing societal resilience to disasters
• researchers & practitioners reduce risk through resilient buildings,
spaces, and places
• capacity for modern design, planning, construction, and maintenance
that are inclusive, inter-disciplinary, and integrative
• Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015:
Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters
• Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
2015-2030 (4 Priorities)
Vecteezy.com
Knowledge
Management Model
Focused on the
Millennial
Generation
2018 IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Conference
(TEMSCON), 28 June-1 July 2018, Evanston, IL, USA
(Authors: Miguel Ángel Valdés Hernández ; Virginia Guadalupe López Torres)
Illustration by Kris Mukai
Chowing Down On Boomers’ Brains
• senior managers train junior employees
• coach as opposed to direct
• knowledge-transfer-programs
• educational training and mentorship
• diversity / talent officers
• action plans
“Millennials bring data and analytics, but boomers have experience
they can rely on when the data isn’t sufficient.” (Vikram Ravinder, Deloitte Consultant)
“Many large, older companies are caught up in a tsunami of
baby boomers retiring and are unaware of how much tribal knowledge they are taking
with them.” (Dorothy Leonard, Harvard Business School Professor)
COSENTiAL eBook
• 4 generations working side-by-side
• 50 years of age difference
• attraction and retention against tech jobs
• transfer and document deep knowledge
• Seller-Doer model
• the “way of doing business”
• dedicated Business Development
• advanced tools to track opportunities (CRM)
• protect “loyalty”
• highly competitive market
• technology is your friend
• understand generations & understand market shift
How to Knowledge Transfer Effectively Across Generations
1. Courses 8. Involve senior leaders
2. Reciprocal mentoring 9. Intergenerational teaming
3. Infographics 10. Podcast
4. Video recordings 11. Culture of learning
5. Coaching 12. Leader vlogs
6. Shadowing 13. Leader onboarding
7. Screencasts
Example: knowledge-transfer groups at BAE; $120-180K savings/project;
engaged learning manager
Ryan Jenkins, Inc.com
Passing the Torch: Transferring Knowledge from Baby
Boomer Employees to the Next Generation(s)
• “graying” workforce
• start sooner than later
• not “exit-interviews” strategy
• org-wide effort
• build long-term knowledge continuity
• culture, values, and intergenerational relations
• encourage knowledge transfer
• knowledge transfer methods
• workspace layout – gathering places
• recognize and rewards effortsDiane Thielfoldt, The Learning Cafe
3 Recommended Steps:
1. Build an explicit strategy for maintaining institutional memory.
2. Identify a few key things that you want every member of your team to know
or be able to do.
3. Use technology to create a process by which your team continually
captures and curates institutional knowledge — to make it a living and
evolving body of useful information that is accessible to people as they come
into the organization.
Ron Ashkenas, Harvard Business Review
My Recommendations:
Establish mentoring program for senior managers & junior employees
Develop internal knowledge-transfer-programs
Use CRM or other knowledge storage system
Support educational training and development
Identify diversity & talent officers and establish action plans
for handling attrition
Develop well-defined Succession Plans
Leverage professional organizations for coaching, networking, and
learning opportunities (e.g., SAME)
References:
Ashkenas, R. (2013, March 5). How to preserve institutional knowledge. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/03/how-to-preserve-
institutional
Cosential. (2018). Addressing Generational Handover in the AEC Industry [eBook]. Retrieved from
https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2287635/Cosential_Master/eBooks/Addressing-Generational-Handover-in-the-AEC-Industry.pdf?
Green, J. (2016, January 25). Chowing down on boomer’s brains. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 4460, 19-20. Retrieved from Business Source Complete (Accession
Number 112385952)
Jenkins, R. (2017, October 2). How to Knowledge Transfer Effectively Across Generations. Inc.com. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/ryan-jenkins/how-to-
knowledge-transfer-effectively-across-gener.html
Keenmon, K. (2018, September 7). 10,000 baby boomers retired today. Here’s why AEC firms should care [Blog]. Retrieved from https://blog.cosential.com/10000-
baby-boomers-retired-today.-heres-why-aec-firms-should-care
Pena, A. (2014, February 14). When knowledge left the building. Workforce. Retrieved from https://www.workforce.com/2014/02/14/when-knowledge-left-the-
building/
Thielfoldt, D. (2014, February 1). Passing the Torch: Transferring Knowledge from Baby Boomer Employees to the Next Generation(s). Retrieved from
https://insulation.org/io/articles/passing-the-torch-transferring-knowledge-from-baby-boomer-employees-to-the-next-generations/
