Every organization has a “Jim.”
Jim is who everyone turns to when a process stops making sense, a customer needs something specific, or nobody can quite remember why something gets done a certain way. He’s been around long enough to know the details and the answers that aren’t written down anywhere.
Teams lean on Jim every day, and rightly so. But what happens the day he isn’t there?
In a new article for CanadianSME, Intranet Connections CEO Rob Nikkel looks at something that rarely gets talked about: how much institutional knowledge lives in the heads of the people who carry it and what happens when it’s no longer accessible.
What Happens to Institutional Knowledge When an Employee Leaves?
Most organizations do a good job documenting the essentials: policies, procedures, formal processes. The everyday knowledge people build over years on the job is harder to pin down. It lives in conversations, inboxes, informal workarounds, and the memories of people who know how things really get done.
When that knowledge isn’t easy to find or share, teams end up depending on a handful of people. New employees take longer to get up to speed. Customers get different answers depending on who they happen to reach. And a normal transition turns into a small crisis.
How Can Technology Help Organizations Retain Knowledge?
It can, but only if the official system is the easiest place to get an answer. When updating information is a hassle, people stop doing it, and they go back to asking Jim.
Even AI has its limits here. It can help surface what an organization already knows, but it can’t retrieve what was never captured. Think of it as an enablement layer on top of good habits, not a replacement for them.
How Can Organizations Make Knowledge Easier to Share?
Protecting institutional knowledge isn’t about replacing the experience people bring to their roles. It’s about getting what they know out of one person’s head and into a place the whole team can find, so people spend less time hunting for answers and more time on the work that matters.
That includes Jim, who deserves his time back too.
Rob’s point is a practical one: build an organization where important knowledge doesn’t walk out the door when someone does.
Read Rob Nikkel’s full article in CanadianSME: What Happens to Institutional Knowledge When “That” Employee Leaves
Rob Nikkel is the CEO of Intranet Connections, helping organizations strengthen workplace connection and make information easier to access and share.
