Knowledge is power, so the old saying goes. But knowledge is only powerful if it’s shared effectively. With the Great Resignation impacting companies worldwide, can you afford to let crucial company know-how walk out the door? A strong knowledge-sharing culture helps address this challenge by retaining expertise and unlocking the full potential of your workforce. In this post, we’ll give you the lowdown on shared knowledge and its importance in today’s workplace. Topics we’ll cover include:
- What is shared knowledge?
- Types of organizational knowledge
- Key benefits of sharing company know-how
- Best practices for encouraging internal knowledge exchange
Ready to dive in? Let’s begin by defining shared knowledge and exploring why it matters for your organization’s success.
What Is Shared Knowledge?
Shared knowledge refers to the exchange of information, ideas, and insights between colleagues. It goes far beyond simply communicating data points, it involves passing on real-world experience and practical know-how that improves decision-making and problem-solving on the job.
Think of it like baking a cake. You might have the ingredient list, that’s your raw data. But shared knowledge is the step-by-step guidance from someone who’s successfully baked that cake before, ensuring consistent results.
What Types Of Knowledge Do You Find In Organizations?
Explicit Knowledge
Explicit knowledge is structured and codified. It’s the fact-based information found in documents, manuals, and databases. Examples include SOPs (standard operating procedures), training materials, company policies, and explainer videos.
Tacit Knowledge
Tacit knowledge is experiential and much harder to document. It comes from personal experiences, intuition, and skills acquired over time. For instance, closing a high-stakes deal or handling a tough customer complaint involves hands-on expertise that can’t be fully captured in a manual. Sharing this kind of insight is key to workforce development and mentoring.
What Are The Benefits Of Sharing Knowledge?
A knowledge-sharing workplace reduces repetition of mistakes and accelerates learning across departments. Instead of wasting time with trial and error, employees can build on proven practices. Here are some of the top benefits of promoting a knowledge-sharing culture:
Support Productivity and Agility
Shared knowledge boosts productivity by helping employees avoid common pitfalls and leverage tried-and-true strategies. It also enhances organizational agility, enabling teams to adapt quickly to new challenges through innovative thinking and collaborative problem-solving.
Keep Hold Of Your Internal Know-how
According to recent data, around 4.3 million U.S. workers quit their jobs in a single month. When experienced staff leave, so does valuable institutional knowledge, unless you have systems in place to retain it. A robust knowledge management strategy ensures vital information is captured and shared across your workforce.
Improve The Customer Experience
Empowering employees with access to shared knowledge leads to better, faster service. Imagine a customer support rep who can instantly access insights via team chat. The result? Faster issue resolution and a more satisfied customer. That responsiveness builds brand trust and loyalty.
Connect Remote Workers With Company Knowledge
As hybrid and remote work models become the norm, knowledge sharing in distributed teams becomes essential. Keeping remote workers informed and engaged helps bridge communication gaps, ensuring everyone can contribute to a connected, informed workplace culture.
Develop Strong Corporate Culture
Collaborative knowledge sharing enhances employee engagement and satisfaction. When people feel their ideas are valued and their experiences matter, it fosters a culture of trust, empowerment, and shared purpose. This positive energy fuels continuous improvement and strengthens team dynamics.
Retain And Develop Staff
According to a CNBC study, 94% of employees would stay longer at a company that invests in their learning. A culture of knowledge sharing supports employee retention and professional development by creating a workplace that promotes continuous learning and personal growth.
8 Ways To Promote Shared Knowledge In The Workplace
Unlock your workforce’s potential through a strong culture of shared knowledge. While building this culture might seem overwhelming, especially when your team is already stretched thin, these simple yet powerful strategies will help you get started effectively.
1. Overhaul Your Onboarding Process
Employee onboarding is a critical opportunity for knowledge sharing. New hires need access to internal know-how from the start to perform confidently. A structured, informative onboarding program gives them the tools to succeed while embedding your culture of collaboration early on. Explore our Best Practice Guide To Employee Onboarding to strengthen your strategy.
Encourage new team members to contribute, too. Their unique expertise and fresh perspectives can benefit the wider team, driving innovation and improvement from day one.
2. Create Spaces For Knowledge Sharing
Office design can impact how easily employees exchange knowledge. Environments with closed doors or rigid layouts can discourage spontaneous conversation. Likewise, overly open spaces can hinder focused collaboration.
Introduce a mix of quiet areas and social zones that facilitate both informal and structured knowledge exchange. Casual interactions around the water cooler or coffee machine often spark valuable conversations.
And don’t forget your remote teams. Use digital spaces like intranet blogs, virtual meetings, webinars, and dedicated chat channels to keep them connected and engaged in the knowledge-sharing process.
3. Make Sharing Knowledge Standard Practice
Knowledge sharing in meetings should be the norm, not the exception. Incorporate quick knowledge-sharing segments into weekly team check-ins. Ask employees to highlight a useful tool, resource, or insight they gained recently.
Encourage post-project reviews to capture wins, lessons learned, and potential improvements. Document and distribute these insights for broader organizational benefit.
When knowledge sharing becomes routine, it strengthens your learning culture and reinforces its value across the company.
4. Encourage Experts To Share Their Knowledge
Your internal experts are goldmines of tacit knowledge. All they need is a platform. Organize informal knowledge-sharing events like “lunch and learns” where teams can showcase successes, like a winning campaign from the New York office, and share strategies with others.
To reach dispersed teams, record or live stream these sessions. Offer various formats like webinars, podcasts, vlogs, or slide decks to accommodate different learning preferences and access levels.
5. Build A Knowledge Hub
A centralized knowledge hub ensures employees can easily access shared information, from policies to playbooks. Whether through an intranet or a dedicated knowledge management system, make your hub searchable and user-friendly.
Go beyond documents. Include:
- Employee profiles to highlight subject matter experts across departments.
- Team chat channels for real-time updates and trend tracking.
- Automated forms for capturing and documenting insights.
- Online checklists and quizzes to test understanding and reinforce learning.
6. Develop Mentoring Arrangements
Over 90% of Fortune 500 companies use mentoring to promote knowledge transfer and employee development. Pair senior leaders with junior staff to pass on expertise, or create peer-to-peer mentorships that build cross-functional knowledge.
Short-term “flash mentorships” are also effective for quickly sharing knowledge on specific topics or projects.
Mentoring programs not only support knowledge sharing but also improve career development, engagement, and succession planning.
7. Celebrate Knowledge Sharing
Recognition programs can encourage participation. Acknowledge team members who contribute valuable insights, whether it’s through an innovative idea or a cost-saving process improvement. Small rewards like company swag or coffee vouchers can go a long way.
Make knowledge sharing part of performance reviews. When employees know it’s a valued behavior, they’re more likely to contribute proactively. For long-term impact, align knowledge sharing with promotion criteria and clearly communicate expectations.
8. Make Knowledge Sharing Easy
Not everyone is comfortable presenting or writing blog posts. To foster inclusive participation, offer a variety of options for sharing internal knowledge. This could include informal interviews, recorded demos, or even co-created slide decks with support from HR or team leads.
By removing barriers and tailoring formats to employees’ strengths, you make knowledge sharing accessible to everyone.
Quick Summary
Shared knowledge refers to the active exchange of both explicit and tacit knowledge within a company. It empowers employees by giving them access to the collective expertise of the entire organization. This not only promotes better decision-making but also helps to eliminate departmental silos and reduce instances of knowledge hoarding, whether intentional or unintentional, that can hinder progress and collaboration.
Fostering a culture of knowledge sharing leads to a wide range of business benefits, including:
- Increased workplace connection and improved social interaction, which is especially crucial for remote teams
- Enhanced problem-solving abilities and more agile, responsive workflows
- Greater productivity and superior customer service outcomes
- Retention of institutional knowledge, ensuring that valuable insights aren’t lost when employees leave
- Support for employee retention, engagement, and ongoing professional development
Establishing a knowledge-sharing culture is more achievable than you might expect. The eight actionable strategies outlined above offer practical, scalable ways to get started. With consistent application, knowledge sharing will become second nature, unlocking innovation, efficiency, and the full potential of your workforce.
About MyHub
MyHub Intranet is a global leader in delivering easy-to-implement cloud-based intranet solutions. Designed to streamline communication and support effective knowledge management, our intranet platforms empower organizations to break down barriers and boost collaboration across teams.
Join the thousands of businesses worldwide that rely on MyHub to drive digital transformation and improve workplace connectivity. Book your free demo or start your 14-day trial today and experience firsthand how MyHub supports smarter knowledge sharing and organizational growth.
FAQ Section
What is shared knowledge in the workplace?
Shared knowledge refers to the collective information, experiences, and insights exchanged among employees. It encompasses both documented procedures (explicit knowledge) and personal, experience-based know-how (tacit knowledge).
Why is fostering a knowledge-sharing culture important?
Encouraging knowledge sharing enhances productivity, reduces redundancy, retains critical institutional knowledge, and fosters innovation by leveraging diverse employee insights.
How can organizations promote effective knowledge sharing?
Organizations can implement collaborative tools, encourage mentorship programs, recognize and reward knowledge-sharing behaviors, and create platforms for open communication to facilitate the exchange of information.
