How To Maximize Knowledge Sharing For Small Teams

Have you ever caught yourself knowing random but valuable information you usually won’t get from your field? 

Amazing, right?

As a business grows and develops, the benefits of knowledge sharing become increasingly evident. 

A Workplace Knowledge and Productivity report shows that about 42% of institutional information is unique to individuals. This means that 42% of coworkers cannot work proficiently when there’s a workforce shortage.

Sharing knowledge with team members ensures that critical knowledge is dispersed within the company, not only a select few. It also gives the company a competitive edge, and valuable information isn’t consequently lost due to staff exits. 

Knowledge sharing is also particularly important for small teams. They are characterized by limited resources; hence every individual expertise is crucial to the overall team's success. 

This article will explore how to promote knowledge-sharing within small teams and highlight practical strategies. 

Let’s start by breaking down knowledge sharing.

What Is Knowledge Sharing?

Knowledge sharing is the process of actively disseminating tacit and documented information among team members. And it provides a means of exchanging essential information across the workforce. 

Tacit knowledge is when information is acquired from experience, while knowledge obtained from documents is explicit. 

Knowledge sharing has become the key to staying afloat as the business world evolves. Sharing knowledge with team members equips employees with resources to perform effectively, boosting productivity. 

Moreso, cultivating and maintaining a culture of knowledge-sharing in the workplace is an excellent way of improving the performance of remote teams. One major challenge virtual teams encounter is poor communication and collaboration among team members. These obstacles can be overcome by promoting knowledge sharing.

The basic principle underlying knowledge sharing in small teams and for organizations, in general, is to make crucial information readily available to employees who need it. 

Advantages of knowledge sharing include:

1. Higher employee engagement.
2. Improved employee learning and development.
3. Prevention of knowledge loss
4. Growth opportunities and innovation.
5. Better client interactions.

1. Higher Employee Engagement

In small teams, including; virtual teams, innovation teams, and project teams, knowledge sharing provides an avenue for team members to share ideas and collaborate. 

2. Improved Employee Learning And Development

Active exchange of information within the organization helps improve employees' efficiency and effectiveness. 

Generally, knowledge gained via social learning activities is retained more easily. So, it’s best practice for companies to facilitate knowledge sharing via social learning platforms.

Assembly has various knowledge-sharing strategies. Learn more here.

3. Prevention Of Knowledge Loss

When employees exit an organization, there's the risk of valuable expertise and experience being lost. Having an effective knowledge-sharing culture helps to avoid such loss. 

4. Growth Opportunities And Innovation

Routine knowledge-sharing sessions allow you to identify employees who frequently contribute impactful ideas. And these employees can train and guide their colleagues.

A knowledge-sharing culture also breeds innovation in the workplace. It enables the team to collaborate more creatively. For instance, regularly engaging employees can highlight other business areas that can be explored. 

5. Better Client Interactions

Well-informed employees translate to better customer experience. An engaged employee provides the right answers to customers. Engaged employees feel valued and strive towards improving customer relationships.

How To Improve Knowledge Sharing Within The Team

The best way to improve knowledge-sharing within the team is by applying knowledge-sharing best practices. These practices include:

1. Bridge the communication gap between employees.
2. Have knowledge-sharing sessions.
3. Incentivize knowledge sharing.
4. Formulate a knowledge-sharing plan.
   
   

1. Bridge The Communication Gap Between Employees.

Without good communication, employees feel less valued and may put in less effort at work. 

People communicate differently, and having virtual teams need intentional management. So, small teams can improve their productivity by eliminating communication barriers among team members. 

While some team members prefer speaking in public, others might share ideas via emails or documents. One way of reducing the communication gap is by creating multiple information channels. This enables employees to share ideas via channels best suited to them.

2. Have Knowledge-Sharing Sessions.

Sharing knowledge with team members can be formal or informal. What's more important is that employees share information freely without intimidation. 

During regular catch-ups, team members can talk about their current projects and highlight areas where they need help, allowing employees to help one another using personal expertise.

As a way of boosting interest and participation, use catchy names for knowledge-sharing sessions. This also improves anticipation and increases engagement.

If you need help setting up a session, Assembly is a fantastic option for setting up a seamless session. Book a demo today.

3. Formulate A Knowledge-Sharing Plan.

There needs to be a plan in place to ensure the team gets the benefits of knowledge sharing. A well-detailed plan must be drawn out for obtaining and storing information in a retrievable format.

4. Incentivize Knowledge Sharing.

The team can improve knowledge sharing by rewarding employees who frequently contribute fresh insights. Rewards can be in the form of bonuses or free lunch coupons and can be given at the end of a working year or after catch-ups. 

Incentives serve as positive reinforcement. Rewarding employees who make efforts to share information and explain complex concepts keeps the team motivated. It also inspires other employees to contribute ideas. 

How To Encourage Team Members To Share Knowledge And Skills

Although there are significant barriers to knowledge sharing, there are some common limitations. They include:

1. The inability of cross-functional teams to effectively collaborate due to variance in knowledge level, mentality, and culture.
2. Intentional withholding of crucial information by employees to obtain leverage over peers or fear of negative feedback.
3. Absence of knowledge-sharing opportunities.

An organization must develop ways to encourage knowledge sharing amongst team members. These include:

1. Promoting cross-functional team collaboration.
2. Setting up a peer discussion group.
3. Mentorship programs.
4. Centralized knowledge
   
   

1. Cross-functional team collaboration.

Knowledge silos can be counteracted when teams work together. 

Collaboration is possible when a solid knowledge-sharing culture encourages employees to use their strengths and expertise to upskill one another instead of hoarding them to be judged superior to their peers.

2. Peer Discussion Groups.

Peer discussion groups are safe and conducive environments that prioritize learning as a group.

They effectively provide the team with a rich supply of productive insights. And serve to enhance the professional development of team members.

3. Mentorship Programs.

Mentoring relationships are a very effective means of facilitating knowledge sharing in a team. 

Older team members should be given the responsibility of guiding the newer members of the team. This ensures the transfer of relevant skills and experience.

4. Centralized Knowledge.

Information not stored in a retrievable format can be completely lost. 

Have a company policy that requires employees to store information that will benefit the rest of the team in shared files. These shared files are then uploaded to a central repository.

This central repository should be continuously updated with relevant information and easily accessible. Productivity increases when employees can easily access critical information when needed.

Creating central information hubs is easier with the tools such as Assembly, Google Drive, Slack, and Trello.

What Are Knowledge-Sharing Strategies?

A knowledge-sharing strategy is an action plan that clearly defines how a company intends to manage and disseminate data and information for improved productivity. Successful knowledge-sharing strategies are closely related to the organization's goals and objectives. 

A Knowledge sharing strategy helps to:

• Accelerate employee onboarding process.
• Boost employees' confidence. 
• Enable faster and well-informed decision-making.
• Improve customer service.

Strategies to enhance knowledge sharing include:

1. Enhance onboarding and training practices.
2. Establish a culture of continuous learning.
3. Appoint a knowledge-sharing champion.
4. Use top-rated knowledge-sharing tools.

1. Enhance Onboarding And Training Practices.

This implies that a company is very intentional about training new hires. During onboarding training, new hires should be informed about the knowledge-sharing culture practiced in the organization. 

In addition, they should be aware of the available knowledge-sharing platforms and admitted into the company's mentoring program.

2. Establish A Culture Of Continuous Learning.

A culture of continuous learning prevents the scarcity of ideas within the team. This enables employees to stay in touch with the latest industry trends making knowledge sharing more efficient.

Encourage team members to attend seminars, conferences, and workshops to boost their skills and knowledge.

3. Appoint A Knowledge-Sharing Champion.

Ideas and plans are mere fancy words if they aren't executed. 

A leader whose primary responsibility is building knowledge-sharing initiatives should be appointed within a team. This helps to make cross-team collaborations easier and more effective.

4. Use Top-Rated Knowledge-Sharing Tools.

The tool used significantly impacts the outcome of the process and, by extension, the organization's productivity.

You must select tools that ease workflow, enable quick storage and retrieval of information. Most importantly, use tools that facilitate collaboration.

Maximize knowledge sharing using Assembly

Every organization that intends to be successful must build a knowledge-sharing culture. According to a 2020 survey by Deloitte, approximately 75% of the companies surveyed agreed on the importance of knowledge sharing. 

Knowledge sharing is the cornerstone of innovation. And ideas don't make inventions if they aren't let out. 

Enact the process of knowledge sharing in your team using Assembly. Book a demo today.