There’s no doubt – businesses have plenty to benefit from when it comes to promoting knowledge sharing in the workplace. Are you encouraging your team members to share their knowledge, expertise, and experience with one another?
Shea’s knowledge sharing culture is one of the reasons we can offer best-in-class procedures when it comes to writing, technical writing, and training solutions. Join us as we walk you through the basics of knowledge sharing, how you can use it in your workplace, the benefits of promoting this culture, and how our team makes the most of this approach to our work.
What is Knowledge Sharing?
Knowledge sharing is the “process of exchanging information between people, teams, or organizations.” In the workplace, it usually refers to skills, information, and expertise that can be helpful in a particular role or set of roles. Knowledge can be shared through documents, procedures, or conversations driven by experience.
It’s also important to note the term “knowledge transfer” here. Knowledge transfer is the specific transfer of information (whether procedures, facts, or helpful hints) between an employee who is leaving a workplace and the employee(s) stepping into their role or otherwise responsible for ensuring that their work is done to previously established standards.
Knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer are so important to your work (and ours) because it can help your company be more agile and adaptable as time goes on. With regulation changes, software updates, hardware updates, technological advancements, and more, your team needs to be able to not only stay afloat but to stay ahead of the competition. Knowledge sharing helps ensure you thrive – even in the face of change.
What Are the Benefits of Knowledge Sharing?
Knowledge sharing among employees can bring a whole host of benefits to your team and your entire business. Some include:
- Strong connections between employees, including in-office, hybrid, and remote workers
- Development of leadership skills
- Retention of knowledge even when long-standing or experienced employees leave
- Financial savings on training and onboarding
- A positive workplace culture
- A sense of community among employees
- Lower turnover rates
- Happier, more engaged employees
- A learning environment that helps your employees feel safe and supported rather than feeling punished or shamed for not already knowing particular information
- Improved strategies that increase employee effectiveness and improve customer experience
- Increased productivity
- Company agility
- Streamlined processes and procedures
- Essential information kept within the company, ensuring that important details are not lost
What Are Examples of Knowledge Sharing?
Examples of knowledge sharing range quite a bit – from a quick conversation when an employee has a technical question for their manager or co-worker to a giant binder detailing complex processes that an employee needs to know to complete their job safely and efficiently. Here are just a few ways to share knowledge. You might already be using some of these in your workplace, or you might want to add some:
- Company chat groups
- Emails, texts, and phone calls
- Collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams
- Documentation outlining processes and procedures
- Training materials and procedures for current and new employees
- Learning and development offerings
To promote knowledge sharing, you should focus on encouraging a culture of learning and development. Offer resources to your team so they can advance their skills, stay curious, become more adaptable, and be more likely to share their own experiences and knowledge with other employees. Make it easy to share knowledge and information. Companies should also work to break down silos and ensure teams are working with one another rather than hoarding knowledge within their own department.
How Does Shea’s Team Approach Knowledge Sharing?
Many of our projects require several writers, editors, and experts to complete – which means knowledge sharing is baked into our very core. We collaborate across projects and encourage our team members to share best-in-class practices and lessons learned. This ensures that clients have a single point of contact along with a knowledgeable team as we develop their documentation and complete their project.
Check out just some examples in these screenshots of our team members sharing their knowledge and working together for the best solution for our clients:
Knowledge sharing can be a game-changer when it comes to your organization. At Shea, it is part of our core culture and promotes a learning and engaging atmosphere for all our team members. We encourage answering each other’s questions and sharing our personal experiences with scopes of work, past projects, challenges, and other work-related concerns.
Working with Shea Writing & Training Solutions means you’re getting an experienced writing team that collaborates and works together for the benefit of your project. Want to take advantage of our best-in-class procedures? Make sure to schedule a meeting with us today to get started.
