What to do when sushi stops tasting good?

I got this question on a visit to Japan. To understand the relevance of this question for IT service organisations and consultancies, let me first set the scene. A few months earlier, in my company (which was a major IT services company) I hosted a visit of a Japanese delegation to the UK, which was part of a UK-Japan Trade mission organised by the UK government.

At this Trade mission visit, I met a VP of a Japanese Telecom organisation and it was arranged that my company would run a 2 months’ program, which would provide experience and insight to 3 Japanese consultants (of the Telecom company) in the way we managed and implemented major system integration projects.

After this 2-month training period, I was invited to visit this VP in Tokyo. When I visited him, he told me that his consultants were very impressed and that he would like to hire some of our consultants. This came somewhat unexpected and I excitedly I said Yes, great! What type of consultants and how many would you like?

Well, he said, before I answer your question, I would like to know what would happen if after 4 weeks your consultants don’t like Sushi food anymore? I thought for a moment about this and replied that I would send new people who would absolutely love sushi food.

Ah, he said, but what will happen to the knowledge of your consultants who travel back to the UK? Do I need to pay again for these new people to gain the same level of knowledge? And how do I know that the people you sent me have knowledge of all the major system integration projects which your company have delivered?

So, a simple question about sushi food led to extremely important knowledge management questions. These questions are in my opinion so important for IT services companies and consultancies. And yet, in my career, customers rarely asked questions about these in my eyes such important issues. How do you share knowledge in large organisations?

Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in how I answered his questions and what knowledge management systems you can have in place to deal with those questions.