How Can I Navigate Senior Employees' Resistance to Knowledge Sharing in My New HR Role?

Dear Seniors,

Recently, I was selected at a small manufacturing company as an HR professional. The management is unhappy with the senior employees as they are not transferring knowledge to new joiners. The management is planning to expand the business; however, the senior employees seem to have a strong hold over the company environment. The company is hesitant to take any action against them, fearing potential losses if they were to suddenly leave. I am about to join in 15 days to take on this challenge. How can I effectively address this issue and gain control to ensure smooth operations?

Thank you.

Dear friend, It appears that the managers or HODs have a grip on their juniors because leadership wanted a "command and control" management style of the erstwhile era. The fault might not be with HODs or managers per se but with leadership because it is leadership that has allowed the culture of this kind to foster. Who knows, leadership could also be keeping HODs or Managers in a tight grip. Therefore, check this factor first.

Nevertheless, if you wish to change the culture, check whether you have buy-in from the management. If yes, then think of introducing a culture of performance. When the performance targets are given, HODs or managers have to attain the performance targets with and through their subordinates, and they need to loosen their grip.

For further details, we may have a discussion on the telephone.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

True, it does not seem to have a culture of induction at all. I do not think that you are in a position to influence a change in the culture right now, being a new recruit. Either you should wait for the seniors to leave to bring in any change or invent your own ways of acquiring knowledge. If you spend some time, you may get to know the way things are working there and may slowly start your reforms. Remember, Rome was not built in a day, so does culture.

B. Saikumar