Knowledge management is an increasingly popular term, which means programs and ways of distributing knowledge within a company. In human terms, it is about transferring knowledge between employees and between departments. How to do it effectively?
First and foremost, it is important to emphasize that passing on knowledge is always a big challenge. Robert A. Heinlein, the American writer, wrote: "When one teaches, two learn." When it turns out that according to 40% of college graduates have not prepared them to work, finding the right professionals in the IT job market becomes very difficult. Equally important is the continuous development of employees.
Gartner's research shows that adequate knowledge management reduces the time it takes to train a new person by 35%, which is not all the benefits of effective knowledge sharing.
81% of employers indicated that the main motivator for knowledge management is the development of employee competencies, 63% cited accelerated action, 50% increased customer satisfaction, and 44% indicated cost reduction.
This shows that knowledge is worth sharing. Unfortunately, this is not always easy.
barriers
Knowledge sharing does not seem particularly difficult when there are high-level professionals in the team, but in practice it can be a big problem. This is because in many IT companies there are various barriers that effectively limit learning within the team.
There are personal issues - some great developers lack self confidence, do not know how to propose new knowledge, or do not know what other employees should know.
And there is a fear of too much effort that will not be rewarded.
Such an employee does not see the benefit of his knowledge transfer. We also have barriers at the team level - the manager can not motivate the transfer of knowledge and manage it accordingly. Internal competition among employees is of no importance. With regard to exchanges between different divisions, there may be a desire to retain good practice in divisions or lack of time to train other staff.
If the company has not developed a suitable organizational culture, employees will treat their knowledge as a bargaining chip: they will want to be irreplaceable in the company, and learning will "lower" their value. The lack of trust among employees, the rivalry between experienced and new employees, and the creation of a "young-old" division may also be a barrier.
Trouble is also the lack of training, lack of research into their effectiveness, and the fact that they do not have the opportunity to use the new knowledge in practice. Sometimes the superintendent does not reward his knowledge and can not stop the important employees who leave with valuable knowledge. Most of these barriers, however, can be overcome.
How to effectively share knowledge?
Introducing the habit of sharing knowledge requires a lot of effort, but it is invaluable in the long run. Companies have different ideas. Below we will describe some that may inspire you to implement them in your own company.
Building a system of corporate knowledge bases in which employees describe their responsibilities and share solutions to problems related to software development.
Of course, the involvement of managers, who will not only encourage knowledge sharing, but also account for their employees (eg every quarter). However, if an employer requires knowledge sharing, it should set the working time needed to create the bases.
You can not forget about the motivation of your employees - it is important to reward those who are most willing to share their knowledge. Some companies organize special contests and reward the most knowledgeable employees. The award ceremony usually takes place during a ceremonial gala. This rivalry is often very good. Of course, the problem is the use of the knowledge accumulated in the company's databases. The manager must ensure that employees, especially young people, use such facilities. Otherwise, the project will quickly fall - no one will see the point in preparing the sources of knowledge that no one is using.
At first, it is worthwhile to accumulate knowledge in databases from one area or technology, and in time expand them to new topics. You can prepare a thorough database creation guide and use various applications for this purpose.
Databases do not exhaust the ideas of practical sharing of knowledge. Building corporate know-how can be implemented within different programs and utilizing the expertise of the hired experts.
Mentoring programs are good for example.
The problem, however, is that the mentoring culture needs to be built step by step, it is not a quick process. However, the mentor-student relationship is an advantage for both parties. The mentor can refresh his knowledge of certain issues and develop his coaching skills in practice. On the other hand, a person who wants to gain knowledge has the opportunity to directly look at the work of a specialist, perfect in solving various problems. Here you can use the programming in pairs we recently wrote an article (the learner is sitting at the keyboard, the mentor is supervising). Of course, mentors also need to develop and expand their skills and knowledge. This is often the elitist solution, proposed to the best employees who want to go higher. Before this happens, an employee should first benefit from more traditional solutions such as training. Other ways of sharing knowledge are, for example, the various types of Meet Up, which should be organized regularly. Often they include discussions between participants and, at the same time, an opportunity to integrate employees.
How do you know it works?
All efforts will be in vain if we can not judge whether employees actually learn from each other.
How to check it? A great opportunity is the shortage of personnel and recruitment. Then you can really tell whether there is an employee within the organization who can be promoted, or if you need to find the right skills outside the company.
If we have to bring people from outside, it is a warning signal that knowledge transfer may not be effective.
Another test of effective knowledge sharing in an organization may be the ability of a company to stop an employee. When professionals leave and do not do it for financial reasons, it's an alarm that you have to act. Perhaps the employer has not provided them with adequate conditions for development.
Effective sharing of knowledge in a company is not always easy. It is often necessary to actively act on the part of managers and convince employees that it pays to the company, the team, and the person who communicates the knowledge. It is important to ensure that the transfer of knowledge becomes part of the company's development and is permanently integrated into its organizational culture.