Introduction
Knowledge is one of an organisation’s most important assets. Each employee contributes their own knowledge, skills, ideas and experiences to help the business succeed. However, knowledge sharing within an organisation ensures that employees can pass on their knowledge, learn from each other and apply knowledge to their day-to-day roles. In turn, knowledge sharing means organisations can resolve issues quickly, improve productivity, increase innovation and maintain consistency. If knowledge isn’t shared then important information can be held within individuals meaning it will be difficult to perform their role.
Knowledge sharing is becoming an increasingly important aspect of the workplace due to organisations being in a competitive and ever-changing environment. Employees are continually faced with new challenges, technologies, customer requirements and processes. By sharing knowledge effectively, employees can avoid spending time working on issues alone as they can learn from their colleagues and come up with improved solutions. Knowledge sharing will also ensure organisations retain valuable information from experienced employees. By creating a culture of knowledge sharing in the workplace, knowledge can be turned into an organisational asset.
What is Knowledge Sharing?
Knowledge sharing in the workplace is when a team, department or management share information, experiences, skills and ideas with employees. This can be done formally through training, mentoring, workshops and documentation. Informal knowledge sharing can be done through colleagues answering questions, showing how to complete tasks, discussing issues and helping with projects. Knowledge sharing can relate to technical information and processes but can also include practical knowledge, problem solving techniques, customer knowledge and learning from past successes and failures.
Explicit and tacit knowledge are the two main types of knowledge found in the workplace. Explicit knowledge can be easily documented and shared. This can include employee handbooks, project reports, processes and technical information. Tacit knowledge relates to personal knowledge, judgement and skills gained from completing your role. For example, a senior customer service rep may know how to handle difficult conversations with customers even if it isn’t included in company guidelines. Effective knowledge sharing can be achieved by ensuring both explicit and tacit knowledge is well managed.
Why is Knowledge Sharing Important?
1. Encourages Innovation
Innovation can often be developed through combining different experiences, knowledge and ideas to solve issues. Knowledge sharing enables knowledge to be shared between different departments and professionals. This means you can utilize the knowledge of your marketing team (who know what your customers want) and your product development team (who know technical limitations). This can help develop products and services that meet the needs of customers. Employees who are open to sharing their experiences can identify inefficiencies and suggest improvements. Your organisation will benefit from utilising the knowledge of all your employees.
If your organisation encourages employees to ask questions, suggest ideas and discuss new ways of doing things, innovation can become part of everyday processes. Employees will be more likely to suggest ideas as they know their opinions will be valued. Knowledge sharing helps reduce the amount of time spent finding solutions as employees can learn from past experiments. Organisations that encourage collaboration can identify opportunities to improve products, customer experience, processes and strategies. This constant flow of ideas will help your business adapt to changing markets.
2. Improves Consistency
Consistency is when an organisation can continue with key activities despite any unexpected issues. Businesses rely on employees knowing how things work within the organisation, relationships with customers, technical knowledge and what their role entails. If important information is only known by certain individuals this can cause issues if they aren’t available, move roles or leave. Knowledge sharing ensures important information is known by other suitable employees. By documenting processes, providing cross training and mentoring you can ensure multiple people know how to complete important tasks.
For example, if there is only one employee who knows how to manage an important reporting system and they aren’t available, your organisation may struggle to complete reports and make important decisions. However, if they regularly document processes and train colleagues, other members of the team will be able to take over. This will avoid any unnecessary delays and reduce reliance on individuals. Consistency can be improved by ensuring departments know how their role links to other areas of the business. By sharing information about what they do, deadlines, systems and processes you can ensure a smooth workflow.
3. Develops employees
Knowledge sharing helps employees develop new skills, improve their skills and increase their confidence. Often employees won’t gain the knowledge they need through education or training. Most knowledge will be learnt through experience. By having experienced employees share their knowledge, less experienced employees can understand complex tasks quicker. Mentoring, peer learning, shadowing and regular team discussions will help employees develop professionally and improve relationships.
Knowledge sharing can also help with career development. For example, if an employee works in administration they may learn some basic data analysis skills from their finance colleague. This can help improve their current performance and prepare them for future opportunities. This will benefit your organisation as they will be more adaptable. Employees who take part in knowledge sharing will often develop their communication, leadership and problem solving skills. By making learning a regular part of the workplace, your organisation can create a more knowledgeable workforce.
4. Increases Resilience
Resilience is when a business can adapt to challenges, recover from issues and still achieve their objectives. Companies will face many challenges including new technologies, financial pressure, employee turnover, changing customer requirements and unexpected issues. Knowledge sharing will increase resilience by ensuring employees have knowledge of important processes, can access the right information and know how to react in new situations. Having knowledge shared between teams will mean your organisation is better prepared for unexpected issues.
A resilient organisation will learn from their experiences. Employees should be encouraged to discuss completed projects, identify where they went wrong, share learning and suggest improvements. For example, if a team had a delay in delivering a project they can review what went wrong and document the steps they can take to avoid the same issue. This can then be shared with other departments to benefit the whole organisation. Mistakes can be seen as an opportunity to improve. This constant learning will improve decision making, problem solving and keep your organisation stable.
Formal Knowledge Sharing
Organisations can put in place systems to ensure knowledge sharing is consistent, accessible and can be measured. Formal knowledge sharing can be useful if you need to ensure important information is retained, employees are trained and processes are followed.
1. Documentation
One of the best ways to retain and share knowledge within your organisation is through documentation. You should encourage employees to document important processes, instructions, project experiences, technical information and frequently asked questions. This can be saved into shared folders, an internal knowledge base, company wiki or document management system. Well organised documentation will mean employees can easily find reliable information without continually asking colleagues. This will also help new employees understand how processes work within the organisation.
Documentation should be accurate, easy to understand and regularly updated. If instructions aren’t up to date this can cause confusion and employees will make the wrong decisions. You should ensure there is someone responsible for reviewing the important documents. Clear processes should be in place to ensure information is updated when processes change. Keep the language simple so employees can understand. This will help reduce knowledge gaps, improve consistency and ensure your organisation retains valuable knowledge.
2. Training
Training sessions can help employees learn new information, develop practical skills and understand changes to processes. Internal training sessions can be run by experienced employees showing how to complete certain tasks or explaining important processes. This can include technical skills, customer service, leadership, software, safety and project management. Interactive training will help employees understand information as they can ask questions, watch demonstrations and get instant feedback.
Training shouldn’t just be for new employees or when large changes happen. You should ensure there are regular opportunities for employees to learn. Short presentations, demonstrations and cross department training can help knowledge sharing become a regular part of the workplace. You should also evaluate how effective your training is by getting feedback from employees and seeing if they can apply the knowledge. Training that is relevant to real life issues will be more valuable.
3. Mentoring
Mentoring will pair experienced employees with employees wanting to develop certain skills. A mentor will provide practical knowledge, explain what is expected in the workplace, give feedback and help the mentee understand how to approach different challenges. This can be extremely useful if employees need to develop skills that are difficult to document. For example, a senior project manager can mentor a junior employee showing them how to manage teams, deadlines, communicate with stakeholders and deal with unexpected issues.
Coaching can also help with knowledge sharing by helping improve employee performance. Mentoring and coaching will give employees the opportunity to interact regularly. You should ensure there are clear expectations in place for mentoring. This should include what the aim is, how long it will last, what each person’s responsibilities are and how progress will be measured. Encourage employees to take part but don’t make experienced employees feel like they have extra responsibility to mentor without support. If mentoring is well organised it can help retain knowledge, improve professional relationships and prepare employees for taking on more responsibility.
4. Knowledge Management Systems
Knowledge management systems are digital systems that can help organisations store and share important information. This can include internal databases, searchable knowledge bases, collaboration systems, document storage and employee learning systems. This will make it easier for employees to find information relating to their organisation. For example, a customer service employee can use the system to find approved answers to common customer questions. A technical team can also use the system to find troubleshooting instructions and previous project reports.
An effective knowledge management system should be easy to navigate, regularly updated and easily accessible. Clear rules should be in place for creating, reviewing, categorising and maintaining the information. This will ensure there isn’t too much duplicate or out-of-date information. Ensure there is a search function, correct permissions and clear ownership of documents. Whilst technology can’t create a culture of knowledge sharing it can make the process more efficient. Employees will have access to reliable information and it will be easy for them to contribute their knowledge. If good communication is in place knowledge management systems can be a valuable source of learning.
Informal Knowledge Sharing
Not all knowledge will be shared through formal methods or technology. Many valuable learning opportunities will happen naturally.
1. Peer Support
Peer support is when employees help each other understand tasks, solve issues or complete their role. This can include answering quick questions, explaining complex processes, reviewing work and showing how to use certain tools. This can help employees share practical knowledge without formal training. This is useful if employees face unexpected issues. Often a colleague will be able to provide helpful advice based on their experience.
You should encourage peer support by creating an environment where employees feel happy to ask questions. Managers can encourage this behaviour by recognising collaboration. Ensure employees have enough time to help their colleagues without impacting their own role. However, peer support shouldn’t be an excuse for poor documentation. If the same employee is constantly answering similar questions this should be documented or shared. This will turn individual support into organisational knowledge and reduce the chance of interruption.
2. Cross Team Collaboration
Cross team collaboration is when employees from different departments work together, share information and contribute their knowledge. This can help reduce silos within departments and help employees understand how other areas work. For example, marketing, sales, customer service and product development teams may work together to understand customer feedback and improve the quality of their products/services. Each department will have a different perspective meaning your organisation can make more informed decisions and identify issues.
Businesses can encourage knowledge sharing by working on joint projects, having meetings between departments, planning together and swapping employees around. This will help employees build professional relationships and understand how their role impacts other departments. This can also help identify knowledge that may be present outside of their team. This can be useful in organisations where important information is often lost between departments. By improving communication between teams you can reduce duplication, better manage responsibilities and develop solutions that will help the organisation as a whole.
Common Issues with Knowledge Sharing
Whilst there are many benefits to knowledge sharing, organisations will often face issues preventing effective sharing.
Understanding the issues can help create practical solutions.
1. Silos
Silos will occur when knowledge is only known by certain individuals, departments or teams. This often happens when departments don’t work together, use different communication methods and don’t co-ordinate. This means employees may not know what other teams are doing or where to find information to help them. This can cause duplication, inconsistent decisions, communication issues and missed opportunities.
You can reduce silos by ensuring there are shared communication channels, encouraging projects between departments and ensuring important information is available to the right people. Managers should encourage collaboration between departments rather than unnecessary competition for information. Regular cross functional meetings can help employees understand what is going on and where collaboration would be useful. The aim isn’t for everyone to know everything but to ensure those that need to know can access the information through the correct channels.
2. Poor Documentation
Poor documentation will make it difficult for employees to find reliable information and understand how important tasks should be completed. Some organisations rely heavily on verbal instructions, informal explanations and personal notes that aren’t shared. Other organisations may have incomplete, confusing, duplicated and out-of-date documentation. This will cause unnecessary reliance on experienced employees as colleagues will continually need to ask for explanations. This can also cause inconsistent processes.
To overcome this issue businesses should have clear standards for documentation. This should include what information should be documented, where it should be stored and who is responsible for updating it. Important processes should have clear instructions. Project teams should document key decisions and learning. Employees should also be given guidance on how to write useful documentation. Regular reviews can identify any missing information. Good documentation will make knowledge easier to transfer, reduce repeated questions and improve consistency.
3. Not Trusting and Fear of Losing Recognition
Some employees may be reluctant to share their knowledge as they feel it gives them job security, recognition and an advantage. They may feel that by teaching others how to complete important tasks their contribution will no longer be as valuable. In other situations employees may be reluctant to share ideas for fear of criticism, embarrassment and negative reactions from management. This creates an environment where information is seen as personal.
To build trust you should recognise that collaboration is an important part of employee performance. Managers should value employees who help their colleagues, document processes, mentor and suggest useful ideas. Be positive when employees ask questions or discuss mistakes. A positive environment will encourage individuals to share their knowledge without fearing their contribution won’t be recognised or used against them. You must show that by sharing your knowledge you will create opportunities for you professionally.
4. Time Pressure
While employees may recognise the benefits of having a knowledge sharing culture, they may struggle due to high deadlines, busy workloads and multiple priorities. Creating documentation, attending knowledge sharing workshops, mentoring and team discussions will take time. If employees are unable to fit this in without changing their schedule it can seem like an extra task.
Create a culture where employees have allocated time to create documentation, attend training, mentor and work collaboratively. Incorporate knowledge sharing into project timelines and recognise the efforts made by employees. Short knowledge sharing sessions can also be introduced so long meetings aren’t disrupting their workflow. Overall, this will make it easier and sustainable for employees to share knowledge as they know they have time. You will see more employees sharing knowledge when there is time, resources and support from management.
5. Reliance on a Few Key Staff Members
Many organisations rely heavily on a few key staff members who have a good understanding of the key systems, processes, customers or technical processes. Often this means they are the main source of information when colleagues face tricky issues. However, placing too much reliance on just a few staff members can cause issues in the organisation. If they are unavailable or leave the organisation, other employees may struggle to complete key tasks as valuable knowledge hasn’t been properly shared.
Identify any roles and responsibilities that have too much knowledge and implement knowledge sharing activities. Experienced staff can create documentation on the key processes, provide training and mentoring and help explain key decisions. Create a system to ensure more than one qualified staff member knows about key responsibilities. This will reduce the risk of relying on one person and ensure knowledge is still available.
Best Practice
Implementing a knowledge sharing culture isn’t as simple as using digital tools and having occasional training. Below are some best practice ways to create a knowledge sharing culture.
1. Encourage Open Communication
Encourage your staff to ask questions, discuss issues and suggest ideas. Managers can support this by actively listening to employees, encouraging them to contribute in meetings and rewarding them for providing constructive feedback.
Let them know asking for help is a normal part of professional development. When employees feel respected they will be more willing to share information and learn from colleagues.
2. Recognise Knowledge Sharing
Recognising employees will encourage them to share their knowledge and help others develop. Recognise those who create useful documentation, mentor colleagues, provide practical help and contribute ideas which help improve processes. This could involve positive feedback, providing opportunities for professional development, team appreciation or contributing to performance reviews.
Ensure you are rewarding quality and not quantity. This will encourage meaningful knowledge sharing and prevent competition within your organisation.
3. Integrate Knowledge Sharing
Don’t just leave knowledge sharing to training sessions. Integrate it into daily activities. Have regular reviews, team discussions, onboarding, handover sessions and problem solving sessions.
Employees can provide a brief insight into what they have learnt from completing tasks or show colleagues useful techniques. This will slowly build up a culture of learning throughout your organisation. It will also help ensure valuable information isn’t held within individual teams.
4. Provide Technology & Resources
Provide your employees with easy to access technology to help them communicate, create documentation and manage information. This can include shared documents, internal knowledge base, learning management systems and collaboration tools. Don’t just choose popular tools, think about what your organisation needs.
Ensure your employees have the correct training and know where information should be stored, how to find it and how to contribute useful information. Also ensure there are clear permissions and information security policies to keep your confidential company information safe.
5. Lead by Example
Managers and senior staff can play an important role in setting the culture within your organisation. If leaders are open with their communication, explaining decisions, sharing what they have learnt and recognising they need to learn then employees will be more likely to do the same.
Don’t create an environment where information is being withheld and employees are reluctant to ask for help. Instead encourage collaboration between departments and provide practical mentoring and training. If your leaders consistently show knowledge sharing is important to the success of your organisation then you will create a strong knowledge sharing culture.
Knowledge Networks and Informal Contributors
A key step to improving knowledge sharing is understanding how information flows in your organisation. Traditional organisational charts won’t always highlight who your employees go to for help. Within many organisations, employees who aren’t managers or senior executives play a key role in connecting colleagues, explaining complicated processes, problem solving and assisting between departments. These informal contributors may have valuable knowledge. Identifying who they are will help your organisation understand where knowledge is, how information is shared and who is helping to collaborate.
You can identify knowledge networks by looking at how employees collaborate, carrying out employee surveys, team discussions and identifying common sources of help. For example, your managers may realise that a particular colleague is often approached by employees from a few departments for technical advice or explanations. This may indicate they have valuable knowledge but should also look into whether you are relying on them too much. If you want to understand how your organisation connects and identify any hidden skills your employees have then look at HiveHR’s guide on hidden employee skills at https://hivehr.co. This will help you identify informal contributors, development opportunities and improve knowledge sharing. This should be seen as a starting point and not proof of their skills.
Identify Knowledge Bottlenecks
A knowledge bottleneck is when knowledge is being held by a certain employee, team or department. This can cause delays when others need to access it. Look at what processes often have delays, what tasks can only be carried out by certain employees and what questions often get asked to the same people. Interviewing employees, looking at workflows, project reviews and knowledge sharing surveys can give more information. For example, if several departments are often waiting for an individual to approve something or explain a technical process then this may be a potential knowledge bottleneck.
Once you have identified any knowledge bottlenecks, think about why they are occurring and how they can be resolved. Some may be caused due to a lack of documentation, unclear responsibilities, lack of training or lack of access to information. Others may be due to specialist knowledge which needs further development. This can be resolved by cross training, mentoring, creating documentation and having back up employees. You should also look at whether there is unnecessary reliance on certain individuals within your workflows. By ensuring essential knowledge is shared better, delays will be reduced, employees will be more independent and your organisation will be less vulnerable.
Protect Institutional Knowledge
Institutional knowledge is the knowledge, relationships, processes and understanding employees gain whilst working within your organisation. This can include formal knowledge such as company policies and processes but also informal knowledge gained from years of experience. If you lose experienced employees due to retirement, resignation or moving into new roles you risk losing knowledge which may be difficult or costly to replace. This can be especially challenging if they don’t have much notice or their role involves specialist processes which haven’t been documented.
Create a knowledge sharing process to ensure knowledge is shared when employees are leaving if possible. Those leaving can create documentation on their key responsibilities, explain common issues, identify key contacts and provide guidance on processes requiring specialist knowledge. Managers should organise a handover session and identify who can receive and retain this knowledge. It’s important to cross train to ensure key responsibilities are understood by more than one person. Keep your documentation up to date on essential processes and regularly review them. This will reduce the risk of losing key expertise and make it easier for new employees to maintain continuity.
Create a Sustainable Knowledge Sharing Process
Start by identifying the most important roles, processes and knowledge within your organisation. Managers can then identify any roles which are heavily reliant on individual employees and prioritise creating documentation. Decide on what knowledge sharing methods would work best for your organisation. This could include mentoring, shadowing, demonstrations, documentation and video training. Identify who can receive the knowledge and ensure they have the time to practice. Just providing information doesn’t guarantee they can do it themselves so practical assessment should be carried out.
Regularly review how effective your knowledge sharing process is. Managers can check if employees can complete key tasks without constant support, if key documentation is easily accessible and if delays have reduced. Ask for feedback from those involved to identify any gaps in knowledge or if further training is required. Knowledge sharing should be an ongoing responsibility within your organisation. Ensuring your employees are prepared, documentation is reliable and critical knowledge is regularly reviewed will help you protect your organisation’s institutional knowledge.
Measuring Knowledge Sharing Effectiveness
You should measure how effective your knowledge sharing is. Just measuring how many documents are uploaded or how many training sessions are carried out doesn’t necessarily mean your employees are learning and using the information correctly. Think about whether employees are taking part in mentoring, how accessible knowledge is, how long it takes to resolve common issues, how effective onboarding is and how many employees can carry out key responsibilities. You can also use employee surveys to help your management understand if employees are comfortable asking questions, sharing ideas and accessing information from other departments.
Another helpful way to measure effectiveness is to look at how knowledge sharing impacts your organisation. Compare how long projects take to complete, how many errors are repeated, how effective your customer service is and how much delays are caused by a lack of information before and after implementing new practices. Using feedback from employees will help you understand if your documentation is useful, training is relevant and if collaboration has improved. Be careful when measuring as there are many factors to consider which impact your organisation. The aim is to identify areas to improve and recognise what is working well.
Conclusion
Knowledge sharing is an essential part of creating an innovative, productive, flexible and prepared organisation. By encouraging your employees to share information, practical knowledge and ideas you can improve problem solving, increase collaboration, help with professional development and ensure continuity. Using formal methods such as documentation, training sessions, mentoring and knowledge management systems will help ensure valuable information is retained and shared. Informal methods such as peer support, regular communication and collaboration between teams will help employees learn from each other.
However, you should overcome barriers such as information silos, poor documentation, lack of trust, time pressure and reliance on a few experienced staff members. Create a culture where employees feel comfortable asking for help, providing help and sharing their knowledge. Map out your knowledge networks to understand where knowledge is within your organisation. Identify any key knowledge bottlenecks and create reliable processes to ensure institutional knowledge is shared when employees leave. Knowledge shouldn’t be held by individuals or certain departments. Creating a culture which regularly shares knowledge will create a workforce who are learning together, respond better to change and contribute to sustainable long-term success.
