People who care, share - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

People who care, share - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Knowledge Sharing is hot these days, and many companies are introducing processes and technologies that allow employees to learn from each other and to collect the implicit knowledge present in any company. And very often, it doesnt work. Companies put a knowledge management system in place and nothing happens. Nobody uses it. It then becomes a struggle to convince employees that knowledge sharing is good for them and for the company, based on a whats in it for me approach. And thats because the whole Knowledge Sharing approach is fundamentally flawed, and because businesses really need to focus on something else. That something else is Passion Sharing. Its almost impossible to make people care about Knowledge Sharing if they dont care about their knowledge in the first place. And if they dont care, they dont share (yes, Im pretty proud of that little ditty :o). Get people together whore passionate about a topic, however, and knowledge sharing happens automagically. You dont need to lift a finger to get them started. In fact, the most difficult part may be to get them to stop and take a break. This is also why people meet on meetup.com around topics like crocheting, chihuahua dogs or camping. Theyre not getting paid or being pressured. There are no consultants to tell them when or how to share their knowledge. It just happens. Because they care. Here are some of the main differences between Knowledge Sharing and Passion Sharing: Knowledge Sharing Passion Sharing What matters is how much you know what matters is how much you care Convince people to share their knowledge Let people get passionate about their work knowledge sharing happens automagically Create systems to share knowledge Create systems to let people find other people who share their passion Its about knowledge, processes and systems Its about people Is perceived as a burden by employees Is seen as a help Boring! Fun! Did I forget any? Another advantage of Passion Sharing is that it plays into the whole Nobody cares how much you know, untill they know how much you care thing. People come across as more trustworthy and likable when theyre passionate about what they do. This is one more reason why we need passionate people in the workplace. And of course, if you want people to be passionate about their jobs, you need to make them happy at work. You just knew Id get around to that, didnt you? :o) If you liked this post Im pretty sure youll also enjoy these: Top 10 tips for creative, productive, fun writing A challenge to all managers: Know your people The strongest force in business (no, not money) Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related