Between 2006 and 2025, developed countries are navigating the baby boomer retirement wave: a period of mass departures from the workforce, the direct consequence of the post-war baby boom, increasing life expectancy and falling birth rates. In France, this phenomenon is accompanied by a particularly low employment rate among older workers: only 38% of those aged 50 to 64 were in employment in 2009, compared with 70% in Sweden. Alongside these departures, new skills are emerging rapidly, driven by digitalisation and the "robolution" — a term describing the ongoing robotics revolution. In this context, the knowledge accumulated by experienced employees is both irreplaceable in the short term and genuinely at risk of being lost. Organising its transfer has become a condition for continuity, for both teams and the organisation as a whole.
Critical Knowledge: What Are We Actually Talking About?
Before structuring a knowledge transfer programme, it is worth establishing a clear definition. Critical knowledge extends well beyond what organisational charts and job descriptions reveal.
A Notion That Goes Beyond Formal Skills
Sociologist Carole Ibos defines critical knowledge as "a critical relationship with knowledge: rather than treating facts as pre-given, concepts as fixed, and the meaning of the world as transparent, everything is called into question." Applied to the operational context, this definition takes on a very practical dimension: critical knowledge encompasses the full range of knowledge, practices and know-how accumulated by experienced employees throughout their careers.
It includes professional reflexes, practical techniques, undocumented processes, and the client and supplier relationships built over many years. Knowledge that is often invisible in management systems, yet conditions the smooth functioning of teams and the continuity of day-to-day operations.
Why This Knowledge Is at Risk and Why Action Cannot Wait
The wave of retirements associated with the baby boomer generation creates real pressure on organisations. Every departure carries with it a body of skills that is difficult to reconstitute, frequently undocumented and rarely transferred in a structured way. This dynamic is compounded by the accelerating transformation of roles, which makes the rare expertise of experienced employees even more valuable in the short term, as it enables continuity during transitional phases.
The risk is real and quantifiable. According to a survey of business leaders cited in the work Préserver les savoir-faire critiques — Synthèse Managers, the costs associated with the loss of know-how can be "particularly high". Failing to organise this transfer means exposing the organisation to lasting losses in skills and operational effectiveness.
3 Steps for Structuring the Transfer of Critical Knowledge
Transferring critical knowledge does not require complex mechanisms. Three progressive steps provide a clear framework and allow this handover to be organised with method and rigour.
Step 1: Identify the Knowledge to Be Transferred and the Experts Who Hold It
Before any handover can begin, key competencies must be mapped and the employees who possess them identified. Experienced employees can draw up their own knowledge maps themselves, for example through workshops in which they explain and share their practices with others. This first step must also identify the learners, whether internal employees or managers, and clearly define what needs to be transferred, to whom and within what timeframe. A structured reverse timeline makes the process legible and ensures the subject is not perpetually deferred.
Step 2: Organise the Transfer Using Appropriate Formats
Once the knowledge has been defined and the key participants identified, the transfer can take different forms depending on the context and the profiles involved. Interdisciplinary workshops, in which experts share their respective knowledge and give the floor to new recruits, broaden understanding and bring fresh perspectives to established practices.
The central idea is to establish regular rituals in which experts and knowledge holders are given a platform, actively contribute to the development of learners and commit to transferring the team's skills. These rituals give the process concrete visibility and lend it legitimacy within the organisation of work.
Step 3: Validate Learning and Ensure Knowledge Endures Over Time
The transfer does not end with the exchange. It must be validated and documented to outlast the moment of handover. Several formats make capitalisation possible: videos, podcasts, reference documents and digital learning capsules produced by internal experts. These resources make knowledge accessible to employees who join after departures, well beyond the original context.
Validation involves all the relevant participants: experts, new recruits and more experienced employees share their feedback on the objectives set and the knowledge genuinely absorbed. It is also a moment for adjustment, to consolidate what needs consolidating and enrich what can be enriched.
On-the-Job Learning: A Particularly Effective Complementary Lever
Alongside formal mechanisms, one approach is gaining increasing importance in organisations: learning directly in the working situation, as close as possible to operational reality.
AFEST and the 70-20-10 Model: Learning on the Ground
AFEST (Action de Formation en Situation de Travail, or work-based training) involves organising transfer directly through practice, guided by a knowledge holder in their real working environment. It draws on the 70-20-10 model, according to which the majority of learning takes place on the ground, through contact with concrete situations rather than in formal training settings. This approach is particularly well suited to critical knowledge, which is often tacit and difficult to formalise outside its operational context.
AFEST requires specific organisation: time genuinely dedicated to knowledge transfer must be identified and protected in schedules. Without this framework, transfer remains informal and inconsistent.
Complementary Formats for Keeping Knowledge Alive Over Time
The transfer of critical knowledge is a continuous process, not a one-off event. Combining several formats, workshops, coaching, digital capsules, makes it possible to address different learning styles and reinforce the embedding of transferred knowledge. Digital capsules produced by internal experts constitute a body of skills that can be consulted at any time, structured, centralised and accessible to future employees. Without this documentation work, knowledge risks disappearing along with those who hold it.
