The departure of Baby Boomers will leave an enormous gap in the workplace. Managers should be worried because specialized knowledge and skills will be walking out the door. Younger workers are looking forward to increased opportunities, though perhaps with some anxiety because their mentors will no longer be around to consult. By working together and planning ahead, we can reduce the impact of the departure. Similarly, some STC Chapters struggle to recruit new members, especially members who actively work to support Chapter activities. The leadership worries what will happen when older active members stop participating.
Beyond the Scientific Method for Career SuccessYSF-2015
Presented by Gregory Quarles,
EdgeLight Incorporated – Tucson, AZ
Board Member of Optical Society of America, at the Workshop of Opportunities, the satellite meeting of the International Young Scientists Forum on Applied Physics YSF-2015
PERCEPCIÓN DE LOS ESTUDIANTES DE MEDICINA CON RESPECTO AL IMPACTO DE LAS APL...Ricardo Romero
Diapositivas con respecto al articulo ¨PERCEPCIÓN DE LOS ESTUDIANTES DE MEDICINA CON RESPECTO AL IMPACTO DE LAS APLICACIONES MEDICAS EN SU PRACTICA CLÍNICA ¨
Beyond the Scientific Method for Career SuccessYSF-2015
Presented by Gregory Quarles,
EdgeLight Incorporated – Tucson, AZ
Board Member of Optical Society of America, at the Workshop of Opportunities, the satellite meeting of the International Young Scientists Forum on Applied Physics YSF-2015
PERCEPCIÓN DE LOS ESTUDIANTES DE MEDICINA CON RESPECTO AL IMPACTO DE LAS APL...Ricardo Romero
Diapositivas con respecto al articulo ¨PERCEPCIÓN DE LOS ESTUDIANTES DE MEDICINA CON RESPECTO AL IMPACTO DE LAS APLICACIONES MEDICAS EN SU PRACTICA CLÍNICA ¨
Combining Technologies for Class-Integrated Assessment -- Linda Miles -- CIT ...lmileslibrarian
The planning and implementation of a formative assessment initiative for a program of one-shot library workshops, customized via collaboration between a librarian and the classroom faculty teaching First-Year Seminar courses. Covers design of assessment measures tied to learning objectives, integration of two online tools to embed assessment into the workshop experience, impact on ongoing instructional design, program sustainability, and potential applicability beyond library instruction.
Workshop presentation given at LISDIS 2016. Learn the reasons to conduct workplace research, the benefits to your career and potential pitfalls to avoid. This workshop also talks you through creating your own research plan in seven simple steps.
HR Webinar: Unraveling HR Investigations: They don’t have to be a mysteryAscentis
One of the core HR functions is investigating employee misconduct. We investigate harassment, employee misconduct, and even poor bathroom habits. So, what’s the best way to conduct an investigation? How do we determine who to interview? What technology should we review? Can we tell people to keep quiet about an investigation? Hear from an experienced investigator on what makes a good investigation, when to find someone else to do the investigation, and what to do after an investigation.
How to think about the future: a guide for non-profit leadersjvcsun
A guide to integrating future purpose thinking into non-profit strategy development. Including process, tools and concepts to get started and see immediate benefits for you and your team.
Go to www.futurepurpose.org for video version of this presentation and more tips, tools and guidance.
August BPN - Professional Development: Using Your Skills to Get Ahead and Hel...VolunteerMatch
As a corporate responsibility professional, you understand the importance of focusing on complex social issues and creating social change. But what about creating positive change in yourself to gain a wider and deeper perspective of your role and the overall work of your company? Learn how to step out of your comfort zone to gain professional development and how pro bono volunteering can be the answer for employee volunteerism.
In this month’s Best Practice Network (BPN) Webcast, hosted by ACCP, we’ll hear from two thought-leaders in volunteerism and professional development. Katherine Campbell, Executive Director at Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (CCVA), manages professional credentialing programs for leaders of volunteers. Amanda MacArthur, Vice President of Global Pro Bono & Engagement at PYXERA Global, designs and implements corporate social responsibility programs for the public and private sector focused on skills-based volunteerism. Both have extensive backgrounds in designing volunteer programs that benefit the organization, company, and individual. Register now!
Amanda MacArthur & Katherine Campbell are authors in VolunteerMatch’s new book Volunteer Engagement 2.0: Ideas and Insights Changing the World. They are just 2 of the 35 volunteer engagement experts sharing their knowledge on what’s next in volunteer engagement.
Book details: http://bit.ly/1HsI5tQ
Combining Technologies for Class-Integrated Assessment -- Linda Miles -- CIT ...lmileslibrarian
The planning and implementation of a formative assessment initiative for a program of one-shot library workshops, customized via collaboration between a librarian and the classroom faculty teaching First-Year Seminar courses. Covers design of assessment measures tied to learning objectives, integration of two online tools to embed assessment into the workshop experience, impact on ongoing instructional design, program sustainability, and potential applicability beyond library instruction.
Workshop presentation given at LISDIS 2016. Learn the reasons to conduct workplace research, the benefits to your career and potential pitfalls to avoid. This workshop also talks you through creating your own research plan in seven simple steps.
HR Webinar: Unraveling HR Investigations: They don’t have to be a mysteryAscentis
One of the core HR functions is investigating employee misconduct. We investigate harassment, employee misconduct, and even poor bathroom habits. So, what’s the best way to conduct an investigation? How do we determine who to interview? What technology should we review? Can we tell people to keep quiet about an investigation? Hear from an experienced investigator on what makes a good investigation, when to find someone else to do the investigation, and what to do after an investigation.
How to think about the future: a guide for non-profit leadersjvcsun
A guide to integrating future purpose thinking into non-profit strategy development. Including process, tools and concepts to get started and see immediate benefits for you and your team.
Go to www.futurepurpose.org for video version of this presentation and more tips, tools and guidance.
August BPN - Professional Development: Using Your Skills to Get Ahead and Hel...VolunteerMatch
As a corporate responsibility professional, you understand the importance of focusing on complex social issues and creating social change. But what about creating positive change in yourself to gain a wider and deeper perspective of your role and the overall work of your company? Learn how to step out of your comfort zone to gain professional development and how pro bono volunteering can be the answer for employee volunteerism.
In this month’s Best Practice Network (BPN) Webcast, hosted by ACCP, we’ll hear from two thought-leaders in volunteerism and professional development. Katherine Campbell, Executive Director at Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (CCVA), manages professional credentialing programs for leaders of volunteers. Amanda MacArthur, Vice President of Global Pro Bono & Engagement at PYXERA Global, designs and implements corporate social responsibility programs for the public and private sector focused on skills-based volunteerism. Both have extensive backgrounds in designing volunteer programs that benefit the organization, company, and individual. Register now!
Amanda MacArthur & Katherine Campbell are authors in VolunteerMatch’s new book Volunteer Engagement 2.0: Ideas and Insights Changing the World. They are just 2 of the 35 volunteer engagement experts sharing their knowledge on what’s next in volunteer engagement.
Book details: http://bit.ly/1HsI5tQ
The slide presents the content of the "HEAR" part of Human-Centered Design Process, given in a multidisciplinary collaborative innovative design course hosted by drhhtang and Mike Chen. Participants are composed of about 14 design students and 21 IT students, working together to finish APP for underprivileged users. The course started from February to Jun 2013. The lecture room was E2-324 in National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. The expectation for the final results is working APP that solves an important problem for users.
The keynote is the teaching material for the UOID + AHMI course in 2013. It is an multidisciplinary course for the cooperation between NTUST design and NTU IT students. The course is held on NTUST. The purpose of the course is creating assisting or supportive APPS that are needed and appropriate for underprivileged people in Taiwan. The lectures are drhhtang and Mike Chen. The content of the slide is describing the process of human-centered design process and the design brief for 2013.
Resumes, Cover Letters, and Applying OnlineBruce Bennett
This webinar showcases resume styles and the elements that go into building your resume. Every job application requires unique skills, and this session will show you how to improve your resume to match the jobs to which you are applying. Additionally, we will discuss cover letters and learn about ideas to include. Every job application requires unique skills so learn ways to give you the best chance of success when applying for a new position. Learn how to take advantage of all the features when uploading a job application to a company’s applicant tracking system.
MISS TEEN GONDA 2024 - WINNER ABHA VISHWAKARMADK PAGEANT
Abha Vishwakarma, a rising star from Uttar Pradesh, has been selected as the victor from Gonda for Miss High Schooler India 2024. She is a glad representative of India, having won the title through her commitment and efforts in different talent competitions conducted by DK Exhibition, where she was crowned Miss Gonda 2024.
NIDM (National Institute Of Digital Marketing) Bangalore Is One Of The Leading & best Digital Marketing Institute In Bangalore, India And We Have Brand Value For The Quality Of Education Which We Provide.
www.nidmindia.com
Exploring Career Paths in Cybersecurity for Technical CommunicatorsBen Woelk, CISSP, CPTC
Brief overview of career options in cybersecurity for technical communicators. Includes discussion of my career path, certification options, NICE and NIST resources.
Want to move your career forward? Looking to build your leadership skills while helping others learn, grow, and improve their skills? Seeking someone who can guide you in achieving these goals?
You can accomplish this through a mentoring partnership. Learn more about the PMISSC Mentoring Program, where you’ll discover the incredible benefits of becoming a mentor or mentee. This program is designed to foster professional growth, enhance skills, and build a strong network within the project management community. Whether you're looking to share your expertise or seeking guidance to advance your career, the PMI Mentoring Program offers valuable opportunities for personal and professional development.
Watch this to learn:
* Overview of the PMISSC Mentoring Program: Mission, vision, and objectives.
* Benefits for Volunteer Mentors: Professional development, networking, personal satisfaction, and recognition.
* Advantages for Mentees: Career advancement, skill development, networking, and confidence building.
* Program Structure and Expectations: Mentor-mentee matching process, program phases, and time commitment.
* Success Stories and Testimonials: Inspiring examples from past participants.
* How to Get Involved: Steps to participate and resources available for support throughout the program.
Learn how you can make a difference in the project management community and take the next step in your professional journey.
About Hector Del Castillo
Hector is VP of Professional Development at the PMI Silver Spring Chapter, and CEO of Bold PM. He's a mid-market growth product executive and changemaker. He works with mid-market product-driven software executives to solve their biggest growth problems. He scales product growth, optimizes ops and builds loyal customers. He has reduced customer churn 33%, and boosted sales 47% for clients. He makes a significant impact by building and launching world-changing AI-powered products. If you're looking for an engaging and inspiring speaker to spark creativity and innovation within your organization, set up an appointment to discuss your specific needs and identify a suitable topic to inspire your audience at your next corporate conference, symposium, executive summit, or planning retreat.
About PMI Silver Spring Chapter
We are a branch of the Project Management Institute. We offer a platform for project management professionals in Silver Spring, MD, and the DC/Baltimore metro area. Monthly meetings facilitate networking, knowledge sharing, and professional development. For event details, visit pmissc.org.
2. Issues with the brain drain
• Losing history
• Losing accumulated knowledge
• Very few articles on the tech comm aspects
of the issue
3. People who have been working a
long time know a lot
• Some of the
knowledge is in
their heads
• Some is lessons
learned
4. From a management point of view
• Analyze the prospective retirees and their key
skills
• Enable older workers to work fewer hours
while they train and mentor younger workers
5. Management point of view
Strategy:
• Analyze your workforce/Appraise them
• Refine your retention strategy
• Indentify the keepers: make it attractive for
boomers to stay
• Prepare senior and emerging leaders
6. For a person with an eye on the
retirement clock
• Start prepping early, just in case (health,
family issues)
• Document historical reasons for the way
things are done
• Analyze where changes can and should be
done
• Tips and tricks that are intuitive, subjective,
and contextual
7. For a person with an eye on the
retirement clock (continued)
• Share information on people,
o who is who
o who used to be who
o who do you ask
• How to prioritize
• communicating with SMEs in general and
advice on specific people
8. For coworkers with years to go
• Learn/document the history
• Analyze procedures and find out if there are
new ways to do the time-consuming tasks
and why not to do them
• Learn/observe things that older colleagues do
from sheer experience and instinct
11. Blogs and wikis
• Encourage blogging to capture thoughts as
they occur.
• Wikis allow for more of a group effort
.
12. How Agile can help
• Tasks focused and limited
• Team has reasons to support each other
• Format encourages senior people to assist
those with less experience
13. Final Words
In 2015, Millennials became the largest
demographic in the workforce, outnumbering
Gen X and the rapidly-departing Baby
Boomers.
Prepare yourselves.
14. For more information
• A “Brain Dump” Before The Boomer Retiree
“Brain Drain”: http://www.skilledup.com/insights/a-brain-dump-before-the-boomer-retiree-brain-
drain
• How To Pick the Brains of Your Retiring
Baby Boomershttp://www.skilledup.com/insights/pick-brains-retiring-baby-boomers
• Baby Boomer Brain Drain #Retirement
http://corporatehrgirl.com/2015/05/15/baby-boomer-brain-drain-retirement/
• Coping with the baby boomer brain drain
http://www.changefactory.com.au/our-thinking/articles/coping-with-the-baby-boomer-brain-drain//
• What Millennials Want From Work. Jennifer J.
Deal and Alec Levenson. McGraw-Hill
Education. 2016.
15. For more information
• Survey: 53% of Employers Concerned About
Retirement Plans, Brain Drain.
https://www.challengergray.com/press/press-releases/survey-53-employers-concerned-about-retirement-plans-brain-drain
• “Baby Boomer Brain Drain [Infographic]”.
https://onlinemba.unc.edu/blog/baby-boomer-brain-drain-infographic/
• “Phased Retirement”. https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/phased-retirement/
• “A Generation of Leaders.” The Hartford.
http://www.thehartford.com/sites/thehartford/files/millennial-leadership-2015.pdf.
• “BPM - A Cure for Institutional Memory Loss.”
BPMInstitute.org. http://www.bpminstitute.org/resources/articles/bpm-cure-institutional-
memory-loss
Editor's Notes
In the US, roughly 10,000 people a day reach full retirement age. And many of them are leaving the workplace, taking decades of experience and history with them. The same trend is happening in many countries. Today, baby boomers account 24.3% of the US population, with 31% of jobs in the US. Only 19% of workers over 65 are working. The same issue applies to STC capters: many of our active members are Baby Boomers.
Brain drain can slow the work process when employees lose that smart person who knows everything. Operations slow while the remaining staff figures out where to find information they need, and the right way to handle it. To help slow the loss of knowledge, skills, and experience in the U.S. government, Congress and President Obama approved the creation of a phased-retirement program that took effect in November 2014.
When you’re training someone, you need to make sure to pace the process. But When senior people are getting ready to leave, you want to capture the most important information they know.
Suggestion:
Pace the process. Encourage Boomers to record knowledge in a blog or video well in advance
Senior people should start tracking Great Truths, and identifying information and important “hostorical” information.
In a corporate environment, ask Human Resources for a report on which employees are nearing retirement, if such a report is available. One Human Resources report indicated that 24% of the companies surveyed either didn’t know or didn’t track how many of their employees were over 55.
Find out what options are available for offering reduced work hours or staged retirement for keeping valued employees.
Remember that as older workers are getting nearer retirement, they might have more appointments and commitments outside the offices, for family or health reasons. For example, they might be taking care of parents or grandchildren (or both), or have to deal with illness or a death in the family
• Reduce workload of new projects so the employees have time to document what they know and train replacements.
Encourage the departing staff to talk aloud and explain the reason for doing something.
One approach might be to assign junior members of the team to practice interviewing subject matter experts by Interviewing senior members of the team about procedures and processes.
Prepare senior and emerging leaders. Many Millennials are interested in becoming leaders, and pick their jobs for leadership opportunities. They are also interested in learning about technologies. More junior members of the team might be looking forward to having more responsibility, or perhaps switching projects. Do some strategic grooming to help them to succeed
At some point, even very dedicated people are going to find a countdown clock. And even the best might develop “short timers disease.” This group needs to consider the good of the profession and the company, and make sure that information and wisdom they have spent a career accumulating is available for others to use.
Remember that your health or family obligations might not cooperate with your long-range plans to work until age 72, or until the mortgage is paid off, or the retirement fund reaches a particular number. And you might just reach a point where you are ready to move on.
Audit the department procedures. This might include migrating the content from an old FrameMaker file to the corporate wiki. Analyze where steps can be simplified or removed. For example, does the procedure include steps that were needed for a long-defunct version of the build software?
Document historical reasons for the way things are done. In some cases, you might add notes in files using the <draft-comment> element in DITA, or a comparable feature in another technology directly in the source files.
Update the list of tips and tricks, and again, remove the tips for software that your group no longer uses.
Check your stash of cheat sheets and copy the substance to the appropriate procedure, wiki, or blog.
Check emails for useful history or tricks (you’ll be wanting to clear that out anyway)
Big rocks, little rocks
This group is probably aware which of their colleagues are counting down the days. This group needs to make opportunities to watch and learn, and position themselves to take on more interesting opportunities.
Work with your older colleagues to update internal procedures, and identify what can be simplified
If the group is moving toward videos, practice interview techniques with the older colleagues. You get a record of the knowledge, and practice the process internally before interviewing in “prime time.”
In Millennials in the Work Place, the authors stress over and over that many Millennials, like other workers, want to take on leadership roles. They are also looking to their managers for help in getting better technical skills so they can keep themselves marketable.
They are also aware of what comparable jobs are paying, so if they aren’t getting the pay and training they want, they will leave.
In 2015, Millennials became the largest demographic in the workforce, outnumbering Gen X and the rapidly-departing Baby Boomers. Training needs to balance the techniques and technology that Boomers are comfortable with and what Gen X and Millennials will be willing to use. Fortunately, senior technical communications practitioners are likely to be comfortable with many of the tools that make sharing information easier.
Don't let them play in traffic but don't hover.
It's like filling a glass with soda pop or beer. When you pour fast, the glass fills up and might even overflow. But when you pour slowly, and let the contents settle, you can get more beer (or soda pop) in the glass.
Agile also provides some institutional memory. Morning standups can include discussions of problems, and the people with longer memories can bring up reasons why things were done in a particular way. And maybe things don’t have to be that way anymore.
Many companies are using Agile in their development process. Teams meet regularly, usually daily, to discuss how the projects are going. Most companies use tracking software to monitor the progress of stories and issues. If stories and tasks are detailed enough, they can provide additional historical support. If the team does not use a template to set up standard routines, such as release processes, encourage them to do so.
According to Millennials in the Work Place, Millennials are attunded to teams, and do better in them. If possible, have a mix of senior people and Millennials to make the mentoring and sharing more natural.
Example: Some years back, one of our products had to meet Federal guidelines for encryption. It added steps to the release process and a lot of running around at the end of the cycle because people would forget the extra steps. The product was retired, but a similar product took its place. I was the only one on the team who knew to lean on management to find out if the encryption rules still applied.
The departure of Baby Boomers will leave an enormous gap in the workplace. Managers should be worried because specialized knowledge and skills will be walking out the door. Younger workers are looking forward to increased opportunities, though perhaps with some anxiety because their mentors will no longer be around to consult. By working together and planning ahead, we can reduce the impact of the departure.