Unfortunately, not many people are willing to share their knowledge, said Bizmod consultant Philip Yazbek. "People are hesitant to share their knowledge with others as they believe that protecting this knowledge gives them power over their colleagues or audience."
As employees, consultants and leaders become more engrossed in the organisation, they gain valuable knowledge and insights. Many then hold on to this knowledge and become selective as to who they may share it with. Yazbek believes that this is a common theme found in many organisations as their people think that withholding information is what makes them successful and gives them an upper hand. "Corporate South Africa is currently facing a skills shortage and it is vital that a culture of knowledge sharing is created within individual organisations to combat this."
The resources spent on having formally to educate teams on knowledge that should have been passed down from longer-term employees and leaders are substantial and unnecessary. The International Data Corporation developed a metric measure referred to as the 'knowledge deficit'. It captures the costs and inefficiencies as a result of intellectual rework, substandard performance and inability to find knowledge resources. The knowledge deficit among Fortune 500 companies is estimated conservatively at $12 billion annually.
"Not all knowledge gained can be, or rightfully should be, shared, but the value of sharing is plentiful. Knowledge sharing gives employees and leaders valuable insights into their business, helps to foster a trust relationship and empowers others to learn," said Yazbek.
"Knowledge is a living breathing entity and for it to live through us it needs to be sustained. If nothing is done with the knowledge gained it will become redundant. The advantages and richness of translating what we know to others and then what others share with us is invaluable."
Research by Carol Kinsey Goman entitled '5 reasons why people don't tell what they know', states that knowledge management resides with people. Organisations invest millions in technology to support knowledge management with the likes of shared portals, collaborative software, intranets and more, and formulate their strategies to include knowledge management, but the actual knowledge transfer needs to happen with people.
Goman has also found that people tend to withhold information and only disclose on a 'need to know' basis. In her research, Goman identified the following five reasons as to why people withhold information:
Seugnet van den Berg, MD of Bizmod, said that as part of Bizmod's consulting style, education and upskilling is built into the consulting process. For key resources, a competency framework or specific deliverables where knowledge sharing plays an important role is developed. This ensures that should any member of the team move on, the knowledge remains within the organisation or team.
"For knowledge sharing to become the norm it needs to become part of an organisation's culture. Leaders need to become accountable for the sharing of knowledge, they need to drive the process and only then will employees start seeing the benefits and follow their lead," concluded van den Berg.
