Instigate learning to create knowledge sharing culture

People are curious and have instinct to learn. According to Leonardo Da Vinci, ‘Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears and never regrets’. Exhausted minds and fear of sharing are known challenges of the IT workforce. The fear of sharing knowledge should be subdued by their instinct to learn. Learning refreshes the mind, keeps it alert and increases the urge to learn more. It is a positive cycle. The task for organizations is to provide opportunities to learn and instigate the learning in the employees. Considering there are sufficient knowledge available, thanks largely to the information overload available through the intranet and internet, the question is how do we initiate the learning? Please find a few thoughts below

• It could be as simple as utilizing surveys and quizzes for the targeted audience, with defined topics and having pre-read materials shared with the members in advance.
• Leveraging the expert management system where employees could register as experts by selecting the ‘Category’ which is their area of specialization and if any one posted a query by selecting this category, an email would be triggered to all the experts registered. This will prompt the experts to learn about the solution to the query, if they do not already know the same. This can also be done through the communities or collaboration groups, the key is to have the email generated to all the experts, unless you are part of a company which uses other collaboration tool as primary source for exchanging information.
• Initiating peer group discussions or knowledge sharing sessions on unique relevant topics, communicated well in advance with the members. Permitting members to prepare and share their knowledge, discuss and enhance the knowledge of the group collectively.
• Deploying gamification, everyone loves to play and if you can learn while having fun, why not. Configure games in question and answer format, with reward points for every correct answer. Remember to keep it simple with varied levels of complexity to progress and succeed.

 KM should leverage the characteristic in individuals to learn, use communities and collaborative features to promote contributions, encourage discussions, inspire group participation and enhance knowledge. The hindrance to knowledge sharing is often in the mind and if we encourage members enough to contribute and share, we might open up new avenues. Let me know your thoughts.