Thursday 1 March 2018

What would it take, to get you to share more of your knowledge?

"What would it take, to get you to share more of your knowledge



Image from wikimedia commons
This was a question Shell asked in an internal survey, several years ago, in order to understand the incentives and barriers for knowledge sharing. The top 6 answers were as follows

  1. More time 
  2. More feedback on use of the knowledge 
  3. Recognition from peers 
  4. Knowing that it made an impact 
  5. An easier way to do it 
  6. Thank you from colleagues
What was missing from the list of answers were
  • Money 
  • Prizes
  • Badges
  • Hard incentives, and 
  • Directives from management. 

If you want people to share, then make it easy, free up some time from them, and give them feedback on the difference it made (including some "thank-you"s)

That "making a difference" piece is important, and sits behind factors 2,3,4 and 6. Make sure this is built into your Knowledge Management system, so people don't feel that they are just dropping their knowledge into a black hole, with no idea of where it's going, or who is benefiting.

If you want people to share more knowledge, show them that it makes a difference when they do.


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