Knowledge Is Power
I’m sure you’ve heard it said, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” I like to change that up a bit. Instead of saying with “great power” I say, “with great knowledge, comes great responsibility.” That’s because knowledge is power. Even if we are not experts in any one area, we still have a lot of knowledge that we could share. Having this wealth of knowledge, we are therefore obligated to share all that we can with others. What good is it to keep it to ourselves? Believe it or not, there is someone out there who right now is performing an internet search on a topic that you are well versed in. Understand that when we keep that information to ourselves, we are potentially restricting someone else from learning and growing.
Knowledge is meant to be shared!
In life, we know that we are here today. We also know that there is no guarantee of tomorrow. Which flies in the face of the procrastinator who says, “why do today what you can put off ‘til tomorrow.” Instead of putting off ‘til a time that might never come, share what you know while you still can. Which brings me to a topic that is very near and dear to my heart, Knowledge Management. I would guess that many of you know at least one person who loves to keep knowledge to themselves. Whether it gives them a sense of superiority, security or control. In any case, they choose to keep certain knowledge to themselves.
I used to work with someone who was just like that. It was so bad, that if they went on vacation, anything that had dealings with their product was at a stand-still. We had to either try to contact them while they were on their vacation or wait for their return. This person was asked to share their knowledge, on multiple occasions. That person flat our refused to do so. It was their need for control.
Keeping knowledge to yourself is not job security. It’s self-centeredness and destructive.
Why would anyone intentionally want their vacation to be interrupted? Perhaps his need for control was much greater. That is where Knowledge Management becomes so important. Knowledge Management is about managing and sharing knowledge. Whether it is shared through procedures, databases, sticky notes, spreadsheets, or whatever form that might take. Getting that knowledge centralized, and available for others, is imperative for a healthy environment.
Unfortunately, the fear of him not being available to help was realized. Since productivity was hampered anytime he left, he was told that he had to share his knowledge with the team. Instead of giving up that control, he decided to retire. He took the majority of the departmental knowledge with him. Before leaving, he provided some of information to others. Though, what was provided was basically worthless.
After he left the company, three personnel from different teams had to go through all of the programs, systems, and databases to try and put things together. It took them months and they still had pieces of knowledge missing. Specifically, why he chose to run systems certain ways.
Did it really have to be that difficult?
That person’s need to be in control was crippling to the company. Perhaps he was hoping to be hired on as a consultant. If that was the case, he must be very unhappy. That call was never made. He was the expert. And he was unwilling to share his knowledge. The associate had great responsibility but was very irresponsible with it.
At one point in my career, I was the newest member of a team that had nearly non-existent knowledge management. It might as well have been non-existent. The majority of the information was wrapped up in one person’s mind. Just like the person in my example before (though not the same person). Do you know why they lacked knowledge management? It was due to the lack of time management. My new teammates told me that there was too much information. That they just didn’t have time to write it all down.
The team is asking for trouble, if they could not perform their duties seamlessly, when the primary knowledge holder is gone.
I asked the team, what would happen if {the person with all the knowledge} was no longer here? Would the rest of the team be able to function without them? The answer was a resounding No. They had some procedures. But the vast majority of them were outdated or simply irrelevant. Contacts that were no longer valid, vendors no longer used, systems no longer available, and much more. To add to it, the documents and procedures were spread out across multiple drives and folders. Some were posted on-line while others were not. If someone was looking for specific information, they would’ve had to go on a scavenger hunt. And what they would’ve found would’ve been outdated at best. Not good.
I spent my first two to three months updating, writing, and organizing all of the procedures. Working with the members of the team, we updated all of the procedures that they had. And created several new ones. In the end, more than 100 procedures were either updated or created. Why so many? Because the team had so many different processes and tasks that they performed. Tasks that were either daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, or on an annual basis.
Why didn’t they just keep them updated?
After all, that would’ve saved a lot of time in the end. They weren’t updated because they had been doing it for so long. The team didn’t feel there was a need for procedures. Or to update the ones that they had. This was partly due to the fact that each person would do the same tasks every time. They didn’t rotate responsibilities or duties.
When we began writing and updating the procedures, I set a precedence. All new, and existing, procedures would be written so anyone could perform the tasks. Regardless of whether or not they had any experience with it. The understanding was to be all-encompassing, as if the team members were no longer available. After updating and writing the procedures, I organized them into one central repository.
Change is difficult for many….even though it is inevitable.
Any time change occurs there will be push back. It can be difficult for some. This is where the skill of Change Management comes into play. To get buy-in from the team members. For this to happen, I impressed upon them how beneficial it would be to have everything in one place. Rather than going to the various drives and folders hunting for the procedures. To solidify this buy-in, I first went to the member of the team who had the greatest longevity. This was also the person with the greatest wealth of knowledge. I knew the others would follow, if I could gain their buy-in.
It worked beautifully. Not only was that person on board, they became the biggest proponent for it. They saw the value in it. And they saw how much easier it would be for everyone on the team (and then some).
What knowledge do you have to share?
Have you ever asked yourself, what knowledge do I have that someone else could use? Perhaps you’re not an expert in any field. And that gives you doubt. In that doubt, you believe that you have nothing to offer. Let me educate you a bit here. The knowledge in your head is much greater than you’re allowing yourself to believe. Think of it like an old jigsaw puzzle. Have you ever had an old jigsaw puzzle that was missing some pieces? It is so frustrating. You put all that work into it to find out that you can’t finish it. Well, the knowledge that you could share is like those final puzzle pieces. It may seem irrelevant. But, when put it all into the correct perspective, it turns out that others actually do want it.
Now comes the important question, what will you do with it? Will you keep your knowledge to yourself? Or, will you share it with others? Remember, you have knowledge in many areas. You may very well have knowledge that someone else is needing right now. Are you going to be responsible and share it? Or, will you keep it to yourself?
Choose to share!
If you made the decision to share it, the next question would be, how? That is an important question. Especially if you don’t think anyone around you would want or need. There are over 7 billion people on this planet. Plenty of them want the knowledge that you have. You just don’t know it yet.
To get it out there, you can share it through writing articles, blogposts, books, etc. You could consider making YouTube videos or podcasts. May put it out on different social media sites.
With knowledge comes great responsibility.
Believe it or not, there’s someone out there who really does want the knowledge that you have. So go share it!
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