Have you ever completed a complex task or process successfully, and had a work colleague ask you how you did it several months later? It can be worse if you don’t remember every step that helped you complete it. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your organization had some form of process so people could learn from others’ successes (and mistakes)?
By documenting key processes, you can ensure that knowledge sharing becomes a reality. Think of them as a ‘how to’ guide that other staff can access and use. Sometimes, they may even add to those guides if they discover better ways to do any part of the process. As the old saying goes, ‘caring is sharing’, but it goes beyond that, and it can help make your business more efficient and streamlined.
Knowledge sharing is a system or process used by organizations to share useful information with the staff. By implementing a knowledge sharing strategy and creating a centralized repository that anyone can access easily you are helping your staff and your business.
Creating a culture of efficient knowledge sharing, you not only encourage people to share new ways of doing things, you make it easier for them to do their jobs. The knowledge that can be shared usually falls into one of two broad categories:
Of course, there is a crossover between tacit and explicit knowledge. This can happen when people learn from their own experiences – a sort of trial and error – but then document how they completed a task or process so that others can learn from their experiences.
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It is obvious that sharing knowledge is a good thing for your business. After all, people learning how to do things better and more efficiently is a bit of a no-brainer, right? However, knowing the main benefits may help when it comes to implementing it across your organization.
It doesn’t matter whether an employee has been with you for 20 years or six months. Offering them opportunities to do their jobs or complete tasks easier means they will want to engage and learn. While documenting key processes may not be formal learning per se, it is still a way for them to learn.
Although much of the knowledge that will be shared is not part of any formal learning structure, it can still contribute to employee learning and development. Social learning can be very effective.
You want your staff to continually develop their skills and knowledge. This is because your business isn’t and never will be a static entity. From trying to figure out how to adopt an agile workflow to implementing new websites and generating ideas on WordPress development, every improvement you make necessitates a new learning process.
By encouraging knowledge sharing, you are helping to develop a continuous learning culture within your organization. New ideas can be shared amongst different teams and this, in turn, will help to spark new ideas and improvements.
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Do you remember Bob? Let’s go back to when he discovered a better way to do a particular task or process. How can he document what he has learned so it can be added to your system? There are several options he can choose from.
There are two important things to note to make your knowledge sharing successful:
You can see that documenting your processes and sharing that knowledge across your workforce is a good thing. But how do you go about documenting those processes?
The first thing to do is to choose the process you want to document. These can range from simple processes to extremely complex ones. The point is that any initial document acts as a guide that can be added to and improved on in the future. Your documented process can be a reference for other employees, especially new hires.
There is a good chance that any processes involve different teams and different skill sets. This means that when you document a process, it is essential that you identify the boundaries involved in that process.
Your process scope should cover due dates, the ideal length to complete the process, stakeholders and responsibilities, and what metrics you will use to measure success. By defining boundaries, your documentation can focus on goals.
Any documentation you create should lay out the resources needed to complete a process. These can be both human resources (the staff involved) as well as any materials and technology needed, such as internal communication tools to aid with collaboration.
Again, this is something that may change in the future but your first document should act as a form of template. It should also highlight what results you expect from the process and how long it should take.
Once you have identified the start point, your ideal endpoint, and what may be involved in getting from A to B, then you need input on the different steps involved. Get input from the actual people involved in any process as they can best identify steps and potential pain points.
As you gather relevant information, things begin to take shape. Now it’s a case of identifying what sequence any steps take place in. Ensuring you have the correct sequence ensures you avoid any logjams.
For example, certain tasks may not be able to be undertaken until others have been completed so having the correct process flow in place is crucial. By having a chronological flow, you not only make it easier for your teams but also easier to automate tasks.
As well as clearly defining what needs to be done, you also need to define who will do the different tasks. If you were developing a flipbook as an alternative to a website, then you would need to say who was responsible, who was responsible for written content, and so on. This is where an organizational chart could be useful as it shows who takes what role in the process.
As part of the documentation of processes, some form of visual representation can be very useful. The type of visualization tool you choose can depend on the type of process and its complexity.
You could opt for a flow chart for fairly simple processes or a process map when the process is more complicated. You could even decide on an online whiteboard that offers more collaborative options where ideas and changes can be added.
Additionally, you could consider allowing users to upload and share PDFs, diagrams, or other supplementary materials that enhance the understanding of complex processes. Tweak as you go forward to accommodate various documentation needs.
There is a good chance that your initial process documentation will be far from perfect. Any document should be flexible and changeable as users actually try it out. While you may have a set measure of success, the process itself could be improved upon. Constantly monitor the process, listen to feedback from the people involved, and make changes as needed.
To facilitate this process, it’s essential to build a master schedule that outlines the timeline and milestones for documenting and sharing knowledge.
Although there will come a point in the knowledge-sharing process where you have a document that staff access and use, you need to remember that nothing is set in stone. New technology or new ways of doing things can mean that your current process becomes outdated. Your ultimate goal is to have more informed staff and to achieve better efficiency and productivity.
As with anything new, you may face certain challenges along the way. Knowing what those might be can better enable you to be prepared and to be proactive in overcoming them.
Knowledge sharing has many benefits if implemented properly. It can help you streamline workflows and improve overall efficiency. By enabling your staff to learn new and improved ways of carrying out different tasks, it makes their jobs easier and also helps them with learning and career development.
How complicated creating a system will be can depend on the size of your organization and how complex the processes you use are. However, by planning communication and strategy carefully and being prepared to listen to the users involved, you can create a system that benefits both your workforce and your business.