7 ways to improve knowledge sharing across your organization

7 ways to improve knowledge sharing across your organization

Knowledge sharing—the exchange of both tacit (undocumented) and explicit (documented) information—is vital to organizational productivity, efficiency, and innovation. Employees perform better and make more informed decisions when they have easy access to insights, resources, and expertise.

Integrating knowledge sharing into your company culture yields immense benefits. Here are seven proven strategies to enhance knowledge sharing across your organization:

1. Foster a strong knowledge-sharing culture

A Forrester Study found that 36% of employees struggle to share information across teams, leading to knowledge silos. Cultivating a culture that values knowledge sharing can bridge these gaps:

• Lead from the top: Senior stakeholders must exemplify knowledge sharing behaviors.
  Intrinsic motivation: Create enjoyable work environments where employees naturally want to share.
  
  
• Normalize learning through mistakes: Encourage experimentation and frame mistakes as valuable learning experiences.
  
  
• Integrate into core values: Clearly communicate knowledge sharing as a core organizational value, especially during onboarding.
  
  
• Eliminate silos: Use a unified, user-friendly platform to centralize information.
  
  
• Recognize and celebrate: Publicly acknowledge employees who demonstrate strong knowledge-sharing practices.

2. Create dedicated knowledge-sharing spaces

Workspace design directly impacts knowledge flow. Consider these actions:

• Establish comfortable communal areas to encourage informal exchanges.
  
  
• Provide quieter collaboration zones within open-plan offices.
  
  
• Add informal gathering spots, like coffee stations or casual seating areas.
  
  
• Organize virtual knowledge-sharing events, especially important when according to a report by FlexJobs and Global Workplace Analytics, remote work grew 159% between 2005 and 2017. ​
  
  
• Adopt digital intelligence platforms for seamless remote knowledge transfer.
  
  

3. Facilitate Regular Knowledge-Sharing Activities

Promoting consistent knowledge-sharing activities enhances employee engagement and satisfaction, which is crucial as disengagement costs companies $7 trillion annually. According to Gallup's "State of the Global Workplace: 2024 Report," low employee engagement costs the global economy approximately $8.9 trillion annually, equating to 9% of global GDP:

• Offer multiple knowledge-sharing channels to suit diverse employee preferences.

• Reserve weekly time for dedicated sharing sessions.
  
  
• Host regular team retrospectives and learning round-ups.
  
  
• Leverage intelligence platforms for real-time knowledge sharing.
  
  
• Occasionally shift settings with off-site meetings or events to spark inspiration.

4. Leadership Must Model Knowledge Sharing

According to SHRM, ineffective knowledge sharing costs Fortune 500 companies nearly $32 billion annually. Leaders must set an example:

• Transparently share successes and failures.
  
  
• Emphasize collaboration over rigid hierarchy.
  
  
• Encourage leaders to demonstrate and reward knowledge-sharing behaviors consistently.
  
  

5. Empower Your Subject-Matter Experts

Subject-matter experts (SMEs) possess critical organizational knowledge. Maximize their contributions by:

• Using modern skill-mapping tools for accurate, real-time identification of expertise.
  
  
• Ensuring SMEs know their insights are valued.
  
  
• Publicly recognizing expert contributions to boost morale.
  
  
• Centralizing expert knowledge through a knowledge management platform to enhance efficiency.
  
  
• Automating knowledge distribution by integrating platforms with commonly used workplace tools.

6. Formalize Your Knowledge Management Process

An effective knowledge management strategy must be structured and well-communicated:

• Develop and document a clear, formalized process.
  
  
• Use intuitive knowledge platforms accessible across departments and locations.
  
  
• Address the issue highlighted by 35% of employees, where vital information is often undocumented and retained only by individuals.
  
  
  

“35% of employees say that most information in their organization are held by people, and not sufficiently captured and documented"

7. Adopt the Most Effective Knowledge-Sharing Tools

Traditional messaging and conferencing tools aren’t built for robust knowledge management, often wasting valuable employee time (up to one month annually):

• Implement AI-powered knowledge-sharing platforms to capture, retain, and distribute organizational knowledge.
  
  
• According to Gartner, by 2021, AI augmentation was expected to generate over €2.6 trillion in business value and recover 6.2 billion hours of worker productivity globally.
  
  
• Ensure chosen tools integrate seamlessly with everyday workplace apps to streamline workflows and boost productivity.

The Future of Knowledge Sharing

With 90% of employees eager to share knowledge, addressing the growing skill gaps and remote work challenges requires advanced solutions. AI-driven platforms provide real-time access, automate knowledge retention, and enhance organizational productivity.

Investing in robust, AI-powered knowledge-sharing tools empowers your workforce, fostering innovation, collaboration, and lasting organizational success.