Knowledge sharing encompasses both making information available to those who actively seek it within your organization and directly communicating the appropriate knowledge to a user who could potentially apply it for the benefit of your business. Team leaders should regularly encourage, and possibly incentivize, knowledge sharing to make it part of a culture of learning within their organization.
There are many benefits to effective knowledge sharing, both for individual employees and for your entire organization. With knowledge sharing, you can:
Knowledge sharing is a knowledge management process that makes information available to those who actively seek it, as well as directly communicates it to users who could potentially apply it for the benefit of your business. There are two types of knowledge that apply within a knowledge management system:
Learn more about types of knowledge and how we pass information to each other, as well as to individually learn, and grow.
A knowledge sharing system is a resource that allows employees to access, share, and reuse or apply knowledge stored throughout your organization. That knowledge may be documented (explicit) or housed within the mind of another employee or company leader (tacit).
A knowledge management system with intuitive search features and well-organized, tagged content ensures that employees who seek explicit knowledge can easily find it, be alerted to other relevant knowledge and share it with other members of the organization who could put it to beneficial use.
To promote the exchange of tacit knowledge, an effective knowledge management system and culture should also offer opportunities for formal and informal connections with experts and colleagues. From shadowing or mentoring arrangements and hands-on training to less-structured discussion spaces or messaging applications, these connections allow for a more free flow of information.
Continuous organizational learning allows your enterprise to evolve to meet the needs of your customers and market and helps identify new opportunities for growth. But continuous organizational learning does not happen in a vacuum. Your organization must seek and create knowledge, encourage employees to contribute new ideas and offer opportunities for employee development and discussions that may spark new thoughts and practices. It requires that you find ways to retain knowledge, so it’s not lost if certain employees depart. It also calls for knowledge sharing with the right people at the right time through intuitive searches, direct communications, and a culture that encourages regular sharing and collaboration.
You can use knowledge management tools to maximize organizational learning. These tools enable employees (with the right permissions) to collaborate on creating or updating documents, protocols and training materials; easily search for and/or share relevant knowledge materials; and connect in ways that allow tacit knowledge stored in the minds of individual employees to be more widely understood and applied (more explicit). Organizations learn and improve by sharing knowledge and acting on the insights gained from that knowledge.