What does knowledge sharing in a team mean?
Knowledge sharing refers to the extent to which experience, knowledge, and relevant information necessary for the team’s tasks are proactively exchanged within the team.
Why is knowledge sharing important?
Teams with high levels of knowledge sharing work more smoothly and have less need for planning, better cooperation, fewer conflicts and misunderstandings, and lower confusion. They also foster informal, and free-flowing cooperative exchanges among team members and keep each other posted.
Low levels of knowledge sharing can be detrimental to innovation, problem-solving, but also to learning and standard work processes. Having team members who are experts in their fields won’t lead to high-quality work outcomes unless they actively share their knowledge and insights within their team.
Let’s take a look at an example and highlight how sharing knowledge is important:
- Scenario: A new member of the team failed to share key information with a potential client and therefore did not secure the deal.
- Negative impact: Apart from not securing the deal, the team member failed to learn/follow standard work processes as other, more experienced, team members had relevant information to share, but did not.
- How knowledge sharing helps: If relevant information & experience is shared across the team, problem-solving and the space for learning is improved.
Related Reading
Cheng, J., Sun, X., Li, K., & Zhong, Y. (2022). Flexible Work Arrangements and Employees’ Knowledge Sharing in the Post-Pandemic Era. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2022(1), 14387.
