Share Your Knowledge
How I apply the four principles in Wikinomics to preserving knowledge at work, so colleagues can use and improve what others have learned.
Tags: Business, Collaboration, Knowledge, Wisdom
The Power of Collective Wisdom
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” That choice becomes especially real when we talk about knowledge.
In a large organization, colleagues have worked through problems that no single person could have encountered alone. Ignoring their experience means repeating work they have already done. Preserving that knowledge gives someone else a place to start and a chance to improve it.
The Four Pillars of Knowledge Preservation
In chapter one of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams describe four principles of mass collaboration. I find them useful for thinking about how we preserve knowledge at work:
Openness: An organization needs an environment where ideas can move freely. People have to feel safe sharing what they know, without fearing that their generosity will cost them ownership or recognition. Father James Keller put it this way: “A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.”
Peering: Traditional hierarchies tend to slow the movement of information. A collaborative structure lets people from different levels, locations, and fields of expertise speak to one another directly. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne captured it well: “It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.”
Sharing: Ideas grow stronger when they circulate. I have watched original ideas get sharper the moment peers add their feedback, questions, and suggestions. Louis L’Amour’s analogy says it well: “Knowledge is like money: to be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value.”
Acting Globally: We can use online collaboration to connect people in different teams and countries. Preserving what they know still takes a conversation, a written explanation, or someone making time to help a colleague understand.
Your Role in Knowledge Sharing
Think of something you know that would save a colleague time or help them understand a problem. Write it down, explain it, and leave room for their questions. That gives the knowledge somewhere to go beyond your own work, and someone else a chance to build on it.