People have a huge amount of information in their heads, and sometimes it can be very difficult to retrieve the right data at the right time.
Knowledge sharing can improve team productivity because it saves time and simplifies many processes.
We’ve compiled four ways you can achieve knowledge sharing among your team. Some are easy, while others are more difficult to implement, but all of them will help you get the right information at the right time.
1. Use cloud storage
Putting all team knowledge in one easy-to-find place is one of the easiest ways to start sharing what each team member knows.
You can use a wiki, a collaboration tool, or a shared network drive—it’s all up to you. But it’s best to store this data in places that the entire team can access at any time.
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2. Lessons Learned
The knowledge gained from meetings is very useful, and as a means of sharing information, it’s a good start.
Having all team members meet is a valuable practice, and those who participate will learn from each other about what worked and what didn’t in a given situation.
Ideally, you should use some kind of database or wiki-like tool to record the information learned from meetings. Then, you should introduce everyone to a culture of fact-checking before launching a new project. This way, past mistakes made on older projects won’t be repeated, and recurring issues will be quickly resolved.
Introducing this kind of knowledge sharing will take time.
3. Training “Newbies”
When you have a specialist on the team who knows a lot about something, you can pair them with someone less knowledgeable about the topic for backup.
Training can cover all aspects: from how to create a specific feature to understanding the very essence of a process. The more people who understand a certain process or can perform a certain task, the less dependent you are on one person, who might disappear without warning (for example, due to illness, quitting, taking an unplanned vacation, etc.). Of course, it’s better to conduct similar training for specialists in “related” professions.
Conduct such “cross-training” sessions during periods when the team is not very busy.
4. Team 5-Minute Meetings
Team meetings also provide an opportunity for knowledge sharing. Simply ask everyone if they have anything interesting to share about their profession.
Although this only takes a few minutes, it’s incredibly useful. Team members can share interesting facts about their part of the project or other projects they’ve heard about, and also ask each other questions.
Make this part of the regular agenda and encourage people to share their knowledge.
All four of these approaches will help you improve team productivity and strengthen communication among its members.