10 Tips on Creating a Knowledge-Sharing Culture

We recommend changing what happens after someone asks a question instead of announcing a policy: answer where others can see it, write the answer down, and thank whoever answered by name. Prizes for sharing can backfire, because one study found that people who expected rewards were less keen to share. The tips below start with how leaders behave and end with a way to check that it is working.

• What is Knowledge Sharing Culture?
• Why Create a Knowledge Sharing Culture?
• How to Create a Knowledge Sharing Culture?

What is Knowledge-Sharing Culture?

A knowledge-sharing culture, also called an information-sharing culture, is one where people ask in the open, answers get written down where others can find them, the person who knows is not the only route to the answer, and mistakes are written up without blame. Software helps, but the behavior comes first: a team that keeps its answers in private chats has the tool and not the culture.

Why Create a Knowledge-Sharing Culture?

Healthy competition keeps people sharp, but rivalry pushes them to hoard information to stay on top. When those people move on, their knowledge goes with them, new hires spend longer learning the ropes, and they have a hard time finding someone they trust to ask.

How to Create a Knowledge-Sharing Culture?

1. Hold office hours instead of an open-door policy

An open door only helps people who are willing to walk through it first, and newcomers and junior staff, who have the most questions, are the least likely to. Turn it into a time: block one or two fixed hours a week for questions, announce them, and open each session by asking something you do not know the answer to. The open door still signals that questions are welcome, and the fixed hour is what gets used.

2. Implement knowledge sharing software

A proper cloud-based knowledge-sharing software platform, like Kipwise, lets anyone find the information they need without leaving their terminal.

Software alone doesn’t create the culture: a wiki full of stale pages trains people to stop trusting it and go back to asking a person directly, which is the habit you were trying to break. Give every important page an owner and a review date, and archive pages nobody owns; a smaller wiki people trust beats a large one they double-check.

3. Encourage knowledge sharing

Give people time to share and bounce ideas around. Some will be more excited than others, so start with the ones who are already open to sharing and let their enthusiasm carry the rest. Share your own information and upcoming projects too, so sharing runs both ways.

4. Thank people by name instead of handing out prizes

We recommend recognition over rewards. In a survey of 154 managers in 27 Korean organizations, anticipated extrinsic rewards had a negative effect on attitudes toward knowledge sharing, contrary to common belief. It is one study, so test before you spend on gift cards: start with a public thank-you that says what the shared knowledge made possible, and watch whether sharing goes up (tip 10 shows how).

5. Make mistakes safe to share, and write them down

People share ideas freely only when they know mistakes at work will not be judged or punished. Discuss what worked and, just as openly, what didn’t and why, and use both as a learning experience rather than a reason to judge.

6. Assign mentors

Hiring great talent costs time in training and in getting new hires used to a knowledge-sharing culture. Ask your more knowledgeable and experienced employees to act as mentors, someone the new hire can trust with questions or concerns. A mentor should not be the new hire’s immediate supervisor: the person who rates your work is the last one you want to admit a gap to.

7. Let new hires shadow employees

Some employees do not feel they have worthwhile knowledge, or do not know which knowledge is worthwhile. Have a new hire shadow someone who is comfortable sharing. Watching how a coworker operates shows the new hire what to ask and what is worth passing on.

8. Ask employees for their input

Do not assume people would volunteer their ideas unprompted. Ask directly how comfortable they are sharing, on a schedule such as a short survey each quarter, and act visibly on what you hear, because people stop answering surveys that change nothing.

9. Schedule social events for employees

Team bonding makes people more comfortable sharing ideas, and you can’t have teamwork without people who feel like a team. Choose events that all your employees can join, including remote teammates and people who cannot stay late.

10. Have patience, and count what changes

Employees used to a competitive environment will take time to trust a new culture, so judge progress in quarters. Once a month, take ten recent questions from your team chat and count how many were answered with a link to a page or a written answer others can reuse. The count takes ten minutes and tells you whether the habit is spreading.

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