Why A Knowledge Sharing Culture Is Important
However, in case you didn't know, it's an organizational culture that encourages and allows the free exchange of knowledge, insights, and experiences between different people. Certainly, there are lots of benefits attached to encouraging a knowledge sharing culture in your company.
Furthermore, it's also worth noting that although knowledge sharing might look simple, there's much more to it than meets the eye. You need to be aware that there are lots of challenges attached to establishing a knowledge sharing culture in your organization. And since this is the case, for you to create an effective one, you must be able to overcome these issues.
In this article, we'll be sharing with you 7 things that you need to know about a knowledge sharing culture, including benefits and tips, to create an effective one in your organization.
7 Useful Tips
1. Encourages A Learning Culture
One of the benefits of establishing a knowledge sharing culture in your organization is that it helps foster a culture of learning. What does that mean? Surely, you'll agree that having an effective knowledge sharing culture in your organization means having all your employees actively participating in it.
However, getting to this stage isn't always easy. That said, if you're able to overcome all the challenges and get your employees to actively participate, the benefit of it is that it'll make learning a normal part of your organization's working day.
2. Improves Efficiency And Productivity
Another reason why you need to encourage a knowledge sharing culture in your organization is that it helps to improve employee efficiency and productivity. Since you're able to get all your employees to actively participate in the activity, what this means is that everyone stands a chance to offer and receive useful information and insight. And if that happens, the result is that it helps to improve their efficiency, making them more productive for your organization.
Interestingly, there's also an indirect benefit attached to this, it helps to reduce the amount of money needed to develop many eLearning training materials. This is because as soon as you establish an effective knowledge sharing culture in your organization, there will be less dependency on formal eLearning training.
3. Fills Knowledge Gaps
Surely, traditional employee training and formal eLearning training are two different training methods that are effective for employee development. However, it's also worth knowing that even with the two of them, employees are still likely going to miss out on some knowledge.
Well, one advantage of establishing an effective knowledge sharing culture in your organization is that you'll be able to fill the knowledge gap— those gaps that traditional training and formal eLearning often miss out on.
4. Knowledge Is Accessible To All
Another reason why you need to establish a culture of knowledge sharing in your organization is so that all employees have access to information. Unlike other forms of learning, your workers won't have to wait for the employee with specific knowledge before getting relevant answers to their questions. They can get full access to the information exactly when they need it and apply it to their job roles.
5. Improves Employee Engagement
According to a survey by Gallup, only 13% of employees globally were engaged at their respective places of work. The rest of them tend to switch jobs for other organizations, where their knowledge can be shared. By establishing an effective knowledge sharing culture in your organization, you'll be able to improve your employee engagement. Furthermore, this will directly help reduce the turnover rate at your company.
6. Encourages innovation And Creativity
Another benefit of establishing an effective culture of knowledge sharing is that it helps encourage innovation and creativity among your employees. By gaining access to the right information at the right time, your employees tend to be more creative, and that's good for your company.
7. Encourages Collaboration
One of the reasons why creating an effective culture of knowledge sharing is important is because it encourages learners to put their heads together. With this learning concept, your employees will be able to openly communicate and interact with their colleagues. The benefit of this is that it enables them to come up with new ideas.
Tips On Creating An Effective Knowledge Sharing Culture Within Your Organization
Below are some of the tips to establish a knowledge sharing culture in eLearning:
- Be sure to build a centralized online resource library;
- Recognize and reward employees who actively participate in knowledge sharing;
- Utilize a clear and transparent means of communication in your organization;
- Engage your employees via conversations, you'll be able to achieve this by creating an opportunity where they can all meet and freely communicate with each other;
- Make your employees understand that knowledge sharing is a personal benefit; and,
- Create an environment where knowledge sharing is a requirement for securing a job.
