How to foster a culture of knowledge sharing in your organization

Knowledge sharing is used throughout the workforce as a shared network of accessible information. While this business buzzword may seem self-explanatory, facilitating knowledge sharing within a company can be tricky. Here are some ways to encourage knowledge sharing within your company and amongst teams.

1. Knowledge sharing creates a sense of belonging. 
Knowledge sharing promotes a sense of belonging for those in your company. With an organizational structure that allows everyone to be heard, ideas will be more diverse, allowing more effective solutions to shine through. Encourage more introverted employees to share their opinions and facilitate opportunities for everyone to share their best ideas. Employees feel valued in their position when they contribute to changes, which translates to more passionate work. 

Take action 
‍Institute a suggestion box, have a weekly New Ideas meeting, and engage in after-work dinners or one-one coffee chats with employees. Take advantage of communication platforms like Slack and create open forum channels that allow free-flowing thoughts or ideas to stimulate inspiration among your employees. 

2. Knowledge sharing facilitates best work practices. 
‍Everyday work functions should not have to feel like a puzzle, and knowledge sharing can help employees maintain a clearer sense of projects and role responsibilities. Knowledge sharing also provides transparency on a company's values and expectations for the team to embody. When employees have the proper tools and direction, their success will skyrocket.

Take action  
‍The proper onboarding process is vital to facilitate best practices. Teach new employees the basics of everyday work functions and clarify the responsibilities. Outline your company's fairness and social justice practices, so employees see you hold them in the highest regard. Finally, utilize platforms like Driveway that allow a more straightforward onboarding process through customizable guides for commonly used remote working software.

3. Knowledge sharing allows for more customer understanding. 
‍Customers are the best resource when improving or expanding your company's operations. Communication with customers allows employees to aid the company's overall success by pivoting individual work efforts. Allow customer preferences to be easily accessible within your company. As employees work as a team, knowledge sharing on customer insights will aid in effective company growth. 

‍Take action 
‍Create Google Forms to gain customer feedback and share insights with employees. Build a shared Google Sheet that outlines customer concerns, compliments, or recommendations. Encourage communication among departments to better understand customer needs from all facets of your company.

4. Knowledge sharing transforms half-baked ideas.
‍Accommodate free-flowing creativity and encourage employees to think of imaginative projects and innovative solutions. Provide platforms that allow for creativity and teamwork. Ideas often need a joint effort to transcend past half-baked, and collaboration can reshape partly done projects into final products.

‍Take Action 
‍Have weekly brainstorming sessions to stimulate creativity among your team. Use platforms like Figma that provide employees with a synergistic interface for building projects and creating goals. Institute a Slack channel, Google Folder, or Notion page that accommodates unfinished projects and encourages combined employee effort.  

5. Knowledge sharing helps employees retain information. 
‍Turnover is inevitable; however, knowledge sharing can also aid in the turnover of information for an employee stepping into a new position. New team members may be frustrated when trying to solve a problem or think of an idea without the proper tools or instructions. Viewing a predecessor's current projects and comprehending a role's nuances can help a role's successor settle their responsibilities more efficiently. 

‍Take Action 
‍The use of progress trackers can help employees pick up where others left off. With Driveway, employees can have a smoother ramp-up process using how-to guides from previous team members that cater to their specific roles. New hires will retain more information during their onboarding process with practical support and a thorough understanding of their new position.

6. Knowledge sharing creates comfortability with collaborative tools. 
‍In the hybrid and remote work environment, collaborative tools are critical to a company's everyday functions and communication. Employees should be encouraged to use and build comfort with sharing tools. Instituting knowledge-sharing practices helps to speed up this process. 

‍Take Action 
With Driveway, employees can make how-to guides on commonly used software Like Slack, Hubspot, Notion, and many more that provide guides on standard collaboration tools. Driveway will also work with your company to build principles based on your employees' needs for a fully customizable experience that ensures the best knowledge-sharing experience.