Promoting a culture of knowledge sharing

We want to share knowledge within the company culture and in our daily work.

But you can’t just snoop around everything you do, because you don’t have time to do the work, so there has to be some framework for deciding when and how to snoop around knowledge, and it’s a framework that you have to develop and instill in everyone in the company.

The cultural question is complex, and culture is not going to emerge without the right tools, without the fixation of knowledge, without onboarding and so on. interaction.

If you want your knowledge to remain in the form of written artifacts / documentation, see the following: practices related to knowledge capture.

Problems solved by a culture of knowledge sharing

Measuring the effectiveness of knowledge sharing is very difficult, even with peer review, and it’s a general background that affects many aspects of the company.

Can you help us formulate more precise criteria? There is a sense that you can name those elements of culture that, if they are not, lead to very tangible and measurable problems.

Examples of what can be achieved

In the report If you don’t want to get wet, swim: voluntary-forced knowledge sharing Maria Palagina describes how she, as the head of QA, has extended a range of knowledge management techniques to the entire company to instill a culture of knowledge sharing, and how to spread this culture to other departments.

In the article How to Create a Culture of Knowledge Sharing Atlassian explains how early culture can be developed:

First, consider how your company treats information. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What is welcome: keep the knowledge gained secret or generously share it?
- Is there a policy of allowing certain staff members to participate in discussions or information?
It’s good if teams can openly share any information, such as successes and failures, test results and research in teams, successful and unsuccessful launches, then all employees benefit from collective team knowledge and develop.
Encourage and publicly thank someone for sharing knowledge, which will help employees feel involved, share their knowledge more often, and seek advice from more experienced colleagues.
Leaders should lead by example and share information and news openly.
Choose the right tools, they shape behavior.
Change the structure of meetings, making them more open and conducive to communication and exchange of information.
Space also encourages the exchange of knowledge, make more places for relaxed communication.

There are some useful exercises and practices you can try right now.