A frequently undervalued resource in a mission critical operation is what is commonly referred to as “institutional knowledge.” This is a term describing the staff’s intangible understanding and proficiency to manage, operate, and maintain a site and associated infrastructure via knowledge gained through site specific experience. In general, it cannot be taught or acquired from outside. It is acquired through the staff’s history with the site and accumulated knowledge gained through experiences and associated lessons learned.
One example of where the value of institutional knowledge becomes obvious is when management decides to outsource facilities staff and associated duties and responsibilities, or even to change outsourced contracting firms. In most cases, many of the existing employees are retained by the new firm to prevent the loss of institutional knowledge. An extreme example is when one employee becomes a “single-point-of-failure” because he and he alone possesses some critical skill or knowledge required to maintain the site’s reliability or to perform a necessary task or activity. This can apply to both in-house employees, vendors, or contractors.