In an ever moving world, effective knowledge sharing in organisations and teams is vital to a company's innovation, problem solving and growth. We share our 5 top tips for effective knowledge sharing.
1. Create a communication friendly organisational culture
If a company's culture is over focused on competition and individual results it can be difficult to persuade employees that knowledge sharing will be to their benefit. A communication friendly organisation will reward collaboration and model it through management behaviour.
2. Make each sharing experience specific and purposeful
The most effective knowledge sharing groups are made up of people to whom the purpose of the group is made explicit. Each group member should understand both the purpose and final goals of the sharing group. It is far easier to control the levels of specificity if a structured space like Noddlepod is used, rather than a more general enterprise communication platform.
3. Give group members defined roles
Whilst roles should not be overly restrictive, participants can be encouraged to join in more effectively if they understand their specific purpose in a task. This can be laid down at the start but roles may also emerge as sharing progresses. Examples would be a chairperson to keep the group on task, mentors to encourage new members and industry experts to share from their specific knowledge base.
4. Think like an onion
You would usually peel an onion from the outside, right? This is because it is the easiest part to get to and possibly the loosest. If you want a knowledge sharing group to remain specific and purposeful however, you need to think about the centre of the onion first. Start with a small group of people who have a vested interest in the group's success and productivity. By doing this you make it easier to set and maintain the right culture, purpose and context of the group. Once these key elements are established you can invite the next layer of the onion along.
5. Establish key processes
The best way to counteract employee doubt about knowledge sharing in organisations and teams is to establish ground rules and make sure that everybody involved understands expectations. These ground rules should cover types of information to be shared (fun, personal, levels of security etc.), the acceptable formats of shared information (e.g. images, blogs, social media type comments) and procedures to be followed should the group start to deviate from the task in hand. There is a balance to be struck here, rules that are too stringent will stifle the knowledge sharing process, rules that are too liberal will risk time being wasted off topic.
If you are considering ways in which technology can enhance knowledge sharing in your organisation, contact us or any of our accredited partners. We would be happy to help!