I was privileged this week to have a student who is interested in becoming a lawyer work shadowing me for a few days. I tried to give as much information and impart what knowledge I could to give them as good an insight into the law and its practice as possible.
It reminded me that in my experience there seem to be two basic approaches to sharing knowledge in professional practices. The first is - not to. The theory seems to be that if you keep knowledge to yourself then somehow this enables you to get ahead of your colleagues in your particular practice area and improves your expertise whilst keeping your colleagues in the dark.
It would appear that the argument is that “hoarding knowledge” gives you some kind of competitive advantage. See this article Why do employees hoard their knowledge, and what can be done to prevent this? which suggests:
A key reason for why knowledge hoarding occurs is a “knowledge is power” workplace culture, where employees conceal their knowledge from others for personal gain or to make themselves indispensable in their work environments. In organizations with a competitive internal work environment, the contributor of an idea may be assuming a great deal of personal vulnerability by revealing the secrets of their own competitive edge.
However, this approach seems to be a dangerous one for organisations to promote or even countenance. See this Forbes blog Why Hoarding Knowledge Imperils Your Organization which refers to:
A recent study published in the Academy of Management Journal highlighted the impact of such practices, both on individual careers but also the organization as a whole.
“Employees who intentionally hide more knowledge seem bound to receive such selfish behavior in return from their co-workers, which will ultimately hurt them and decrease their creativity,” the authors say.
In other words, it becomes dog eat dog, with everyone eventually losing out. Suffice to say, creating (or changing) culture so that it is more open and sharing is far from easy, but it certainly pays off.
By contrast the second approach, which is active and deliberate knowledge sharing provides organisational and individual benefits. The professional practice exposes more of its workers to a broader knowledge base whilst the persons involved apart from any personal satisfaction they may gain in sharing, also benefit from the inevitable reciprocity where they in turn learn from those they share with.
See for example this blog 5 Benefits of Knowledge Sharing within an Organization which suggests that Knowledge sharing is essential for a company to achieve success, since it can facilitate decision-making capabilities, build learning organizations (through a learning routine) and finally, stimulate cultural change and innovation. Or this blog Top Benefits of Knowledge Sharing Across an Organization which concludes that Information sharing in the workplace is an excellent way of developing a community within a business. Employees can offer helpful insights along with reviewing any previously shared information that might be flawed. It not only boosts employee efficiency but also helps companies in cutting down costs and time associated with knowledge search.
In this information age I believe one of our greatest challenges is information overload as data comes at us thick and fast during our day to day practices. Having a knowledge sharing culture seems not only best practice but essential to understanding how our specific practice areas are developing.
The American novelist Louis L'Amour summed it up well when he said Knowledge is like money: to be of value it must circulate, and in circulating can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value.
Or as the Dalai Lama more profoundly suggests Share your knowledge. It’s a way
to achieve immortality.
It reminded me that in my experience there seem to be two basic approaches to sharing knowledge in professional practices. The first is - not to. The theory seems to be that if you keep knowledge to yourself then somehow this enables you to get ahead of your colleagues in your particular practice area and improves your expertise whilst keeping your colleagues in the dark.
It would appear that the argument is that “hoarding knowledge” gives you some kind of competitive advantage. See this article Why do employees hoard their knowledge, and what can be done to prevent this? which suggests:
A key reason for why knowledge hoarding occurs is a “knowledge is power” workplace culture, where employees conceal their knowledge from others for personal gain or to make themselves indispensable in their work environments. In organizations with a competitive internal work environment, the contributor of an idea may be assuming a great deal of personal vulnerability by revealing the secrets of their own competitive edge.
However, this approach seems to be a dangerous one for organisations to promote or even countenance. See this Forbes blog Why Hoarding Knowledge Imperils Your Organization which refers to:
A recent study published in the Academy of Management Journal highlighted the impact of such practices, both on individual careers but also the organization as a whole.
“Employees who intentionally hide more knowledge seem bound to receive such selfish behavior in return from their co-workers, which will ultimately hurt them and decrease their creativity,” the authors say.
In other words, it becomes dog eat dog, with everyone eventually losing out. Suffice to say, creating (or changing) culture so that it is more open and sharing is far from easy, but it certainly pays off.
By contrast the second approach, which is active and deliberate knowledge sharing provides organisational and individual benefits. The professional practice exposes more of its workers to a broader knowledge base whilst the persons involved apart from any personal satisfaction they may gain in sharing, also benefit from the inevitable reciprocity where they in turn learn from those they share with.
See for example this blog 5 Benefits of Knowledge Sharing within an Organization which suggests that Knowledge sharing is essential for a company to achieve success, since it can facilitate decision-making capabilities, build learning organizations (through a learning routine) and finally, stimulate cultural change and innovation. Or this blog Top Benefits of Knowledge Sharing Across an Organization which concludes that Information sharing in the workplace is an excellent way of developing a community within a business. Employees can offer helpful insights along with reviewing any previously shared information that might be flawed. It not only boosts employee efficiency but also helps companies in cutting down costs and time associated with knowledge search.
In this information age I believe one of our greatest challenges is information overload as data comes at us thick and fast during our day to day practices. Having a knowledge sharing culture seems not only best practice but essential to understanding how our specific practice areas are developing.
The American novelist Louis L'Amour summed it up well when he said Knowledge is like money: to be of value it must circulate, and in circulating can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value.
Or as the Dalai Lama more profoundly suggests Share your knowledge. It’s a way
to achieve immortality.
RSS Feed
