How to Create a System to Encourage Information Sharing in Businesses

Knowledge sharing has to start at the top.  Leaders must instill a culture and environment where employees are actively committed to sharing information, where they are rewarded for sharing information, and where this information sharing is publicized and known throughout the company.  Leaders must ensure there is no scorn on employees who ask questions.  Leaders must help employees understand the greater good to be accomplished by knowledge sharing, and that it far outweighs the hoarding of information.  Leaders can even show this by Open Book Management, a concept espoused by Jack Stack in his book The Great Game of Business.

As Lou Platt, the former Chief Executive of Hewlett Packard once said, “If HP only knew what HP knows, we would be three times more productive.”  This is a great statement about the importance of knowledge sharing and knowledge management. 

Be sure to check out this related blog post on the 11 Benefits of Knowledge Sharing in the Workplace and 5 Ways Companies can Improve Their Knowledge Management. 

 Help the Law Office of Andrew J. Goldberg create a culture of information sharing in southeast Michigan.