When it comes to the workplace, knowledge sharing is critical—and often less formalized or regimented than many aspects of HR. We usually have clear roles and responsibilities, established methods for payment and promotion, rules for how and when we show up at work. But many companies don’t take the time to get sharp on knowledge sharing. Let’s talk about what it is, why it’s important and what you can do to improve this practice at your company. 

We’ll start with the What. Simply put, knowledge sharing is defined as processes for exchanging critical information across the workforce. The benefits are myriad—efficiency, consistency, better performance, and an open and communicative culture where everyone is operating with the information they need to do their jobs well. Without a knowledge sharing strategy, an organization can experience a wide range of challenges and risks. 

Time wasted

The easier it is to find critical information, the less employees spend their precious time tracking things down or duplicating work already done. 

Frustration

When basic information isn’t available or is difficult to find, employees start to lose faith in the organization overall. “It shouldn’t be this hard,” is a common refrain. 

Single point of failure

There’s a real risk when important knowledge is centralized in a few individuals. All it takes is someone leaving (or even being sick for the day) to lose critical info.

Outdated knowledge

Without a well-managed process, people can operate from outdated information or processes, leading to quality and consistency issues. 

You get the picture. The risks—and the benefits—are clear. So how do you go about improving knowledge sharing at your organization? 

The first thing to remember is that it starts from the top. Leaders and executives must model the behavior they want to see and prioritize knowledge sharing within the organization. This includes mentoring,  training, and actively investing resources in the tools and development of processes that make it possible. Building up a healthy culture around knowledge sharing without leadership buy-in is a non-starter.

The second thing to focus on is creating time and opportunity for knowledge sharing. A common thing we hear is that people don’t have the time and energy to document their processes or schedule the shareouts that will get everyone on the same page. We have to create space for people to do this—whether it’s building buffer time into the workday or designing the work environment to facilitate in-person knowledge sharing. 

The third is to invest in a knowledge management system that centralizes information and allows everyone to easily share and access knowledge across the company. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a big expensive knowledge management platform—but it does need to be something that’s easy for people to access and use, or it’s just going to waste time. Governance is an important piece of the puzzle as well. It’s not just about the tools, but it’s about defining and communicating best practices that work for your organization. 

Knowledge sharing is such a vital piece of operating smoothly within a fast-paced, dynamic workplace. While it can take some work and some resources to invest in these processes, there’s so much to be gained, in productivity, in quality, and in the culture of your organization.