Teach What You Know: A Practical Leader's Guide to Knowledge Transfer Using Peer Mentoring

by Steve Trautman

In the real world one can no longer hole up in a knowledge niche and only allow occasional bits of wisdom to fall out. Given the flexibility demanded by most firms wishing to compete in the global marketplace, doing so would not just be business-killing but career-killing as well. Consultant Trautman advocates using peer mentoring to quickly and efficiently transfer knowledge from person to person, generally horizontally, in which all affected are learning as apprentices from each other. He defines the roles of peer mentoring and the importance of understanding the language of management v. the language of mentoring, managing time and communication, focusing on the most important information, developing a training plan, practical techniques such as the five-minute meeting, leveraging learning styles, assessment, giving and getting feedback, peer mentoring from a distance, and setting up for practice. He includes sample training plans. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Leadership

294 pages, Hardcover

First published June 21, 2006

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good review of learning styles. No new information otherwise.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a young 20-something working for an employer where 35% of the workforce is elligible for retirement. Therefore, the idea of knowledge transfer should be ever-present in an attempt to not let all of this knowledge die when they leave. The reality is that this culture doesn't exist in a formal or beneficial way for anyone. The older employees who are truly professionals in their field with deep subject matter knowledge simply don't understand how to teach the highly motivated, tech-savvy, 20-somethings, and vice versa when it comes to the yuppies learning from the knowledgable yet old fashioned PhD's.



My boss handed me this book in an attempt to start cultivating a culture of knowledge sharing among our team (4 people over 50, and 5 people under 26). The book is a very practical guide for establishing a knowledge transfer environment. The ideas that the author proposes are not new, nor are they novel. However, many employers seem to throw their new hires into the deep end to see how they fair. Coming from technology industries, the author is able to tailor his methods in a very practical layout with the high-tech, fast-paced innovator in mind. I found the book very practical, thorough, and potentially useful so I am developing a system for peer-mentoring with my boss and my boss's boss in order to try and harness the knowledge of our senior engineers/scientists and make it available to our tech savvy 20-somethings. We'll see how it goes...

[Mike Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every day of our lives, we are involved in learning, as student, teacher, or both. I'm not talking about sitting in the classroom, learning that pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. I'm talking about the exchange of knowledge that happens when we interact with family, friends, and coworkers. The book focuses specifically on the dynamics of mentoring.

Much of the teaching in the professional workplace occurs outside of structure settings. This book teaches how we can improve the effectiveness. When I read the book, mentoring becoming a significant part of my daily work. In the five years since, I have been able to apply lessons learned to me a more effective teacher.

[Leader Summaries · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desde Leader Summaries recomendamos la lectura del libro Enseña lo que sabes, de Steve Trautman.
Las personas interesadas en las siguientes temáticas lo encontrarán práctico y útil: recursos humanos, atraer, motivar y retener a los empleados.
En el siguiente enlace tienes el resumen del libro Enseña lo que sabes, Formación de nuevos empleados a través de un plan de �mentoring�: Enseña lo que sabes

[Kiersten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect book for anyone who is tasked with being a trainer or mentor. It covers all things such as the proper ways to send an email, how people learn, and what your role is as their teacher. I loved it.

[Yoriko]

I heard about this book through a blog -- I want to read it soon.