The main intellectual capital of all employees these days is the sharing and availability of knowledge through a knowledge sharing platform. An economy which is knowledge-based thrives on high-level skills, intellectual capital, and circumstances which can tap into these conveniently. An atmosphere where knowledge sharing is supported and encouraged is always beneficial both for the employee and the employer.
Knowledge sharing is considered the key to motivating and engaging employees. Research shows that in cases where knowledge is not actively shared within employees, their cognitive resources remain under-utilized within the team. When knowledge is not shared, not only individual performance is bound to suffer but organizational performance is also hurt. A knowledge sharing tools allows employees to share their knowledge with the whole team and thus, achieve maximum success in this way.
Benefits of Knowledge Sharing
One of the main benefits of implementing a knowledge sharing software within the organization is the direct impact on employee engagement. Knowledge management enables organizations and companies to manage and organize their knowledge assets efficiently. Knowledge management is not always a convenient job as it entails digging into the knowledge base. However, with the use of a strong knowledge sharing tool, employees can access a large knowledge base. This has a direct effect on employee engagement.
According to a Gallup survey, only 13% of the company employees surveyed were engaged. The rest of the unengaged employee population tends to switch jobs for finding places where their knowledge can be shared and they are heard. Every company’s employees want recognition and appreciation for their efforts. When their contributions are recognized, they tend to share their knowledge in a more effective way and with greater amount of enthusiasm. It is beneficial for the organization to form a knowledge base so that the requirements and needs of the employees can be responded to in time.
Now one might ask the question, why really does employee engagement matter anyway? The answer to this question is simple. Employee engagement remains a critical factor for the success of businesses. Employees consider themselves motivated and engaged when on-the-job knowledge is just a click away. This is of course only possible when an efficient knowledge sharing software is available within the company. Similarly, knowledge sharing helps increase employee engagement through three ways: increasing employee satisfaction, visibility and time saving.
Knowledge Sharing Platform: Key to Employee Engagement
Here’s how investing in a knowledge sharing tool can help boost your employee engagement:
- Satisfaction – By sharing knowledge, employees feel satisfied that they are helping others in every possible way and are making a difference to the organization on the whole. This satisfaction leads to defining of shared goals and experiencing a sense of engagement.
- Visibility – When knowledge is shared on the knowledge sharing platform, employees that share information with their peers are often considered experts in their field. This causes an increase in their confidence and brings them a sense of accomplishment and pride.
- Time-Saving – With the existence of a knowledge sharing tool, employees do not need to repeat things and explain them repeatedly. A large amount of information is already present on the platform and the employees do not feel bored of repeating the same things again and again. This naturally has an impact on the engagement of employees. They feel that everything is different and unique.
These three factors that appear as a result of using knowledge sharing application naturally increase feelings of engagement in organizational employees.
Experts provide a few tips for activating knowledge-sharing behaviors that could help motivate and engage employees. Every company that wants to increase employee engagement must create a framework which allows employees to create unique content and then share knowledge. A culture of sharing knowledge must be established within the organization where sharing of information is not considered as a special accomplishment. Rather, it should become so mainstream that it becomes part and parcel of the general working methods and overall structure of the organization. This type of a knowledge-sharing culture can only be built through face-to-face communication and transparency. Employee engagement increases when companies invest in the process of knowledge sharing actively and let their employees make informed decisions so that they can grow as thought leaders.
Final Thoughts
The role of knowledge sharing on individual employee performance cannot be ignored at all. Knowledge sharing allows for an evolution of knowledge which is not possible otherwise.
Today, those companies are preferred over others that actively create and share knowledge within their premises and beat their competitors at it. It is necessary for successful companies these days to build knowledge base that allow for easy transition of knowledge across and within the departments and even from outside the organization whenever needed.
Research has repeatedly shown that there are clear advantages to employee performance and engagement once active knowledge sharing is achieved throughout the organization. Thus, it is a matter of a significant concern for companies to achieve this milestone so that they can make a mark in the market.
