Three critical values of Knowledge Sharing especially using ICT4d

In the last decade and over that I have been engaged in knowledge sharing activities that brings various practitioners, experts and domain persons come together to interact, learn, share knowledge and experiences, I have noticed that the role of the facilitator is very important. It is so important that it can make or mar a communities strength. A lot of energy and investments of time, effort and sincerity are made to make it possible for a moderator or facilitator of a community to build and nurture an online community.

While working on various aspects of this theme, and having myself moderated a number of discussion groups, and having lead the programme management of CoP, I have learnt that there are three key and critical values of knowledge sharing.

Free knowledge sharing happens only when there is a free flow of knowledge, experiences and events; narratives are told, only when one feels comfortable and respected, and finally, the virtual community needs to accord immense trust with the person sharing as well as the knowledge shared.

The situation becomes even more complex when one tries to look at the features more carefully:
- trust
- will
- sincerity

The online world comprises of spaces that are out there in the open, and one is treading unfamiliar paths. Our minds are not so easily tuned in to "new spaces" and "open spaces". Thus, it is important that the community defines its space, sets its rules collectively, and honours it, keeping in mind the culturally plural nature of virtual spaces.

It is thus important to build the three core critical values.

Even in organisations working on lofty goals and working in new domains, the same philosophy holds good.

How to improve intra-office knowledge sharing - Need to build trust

The other day, we came across persons (more than three) from a well known organisation and globally well linked, being at the edge of a communication failure, mistrust and concern. The fact that it is a reputed organisation, and small in size, it does not have the problem of big hierarchy, it came as a big surprise to us.

What really was the problem? As a key partner to the above said organisation, we often have to deal with more than one member from that organisation. And, this itself becomes a cause for concern. The members began to feel that we should or should not talk to one or the other members.

This is a clear cut case of failure/ break-down of intra-office knowledge sharing, and even though there are brilliant knowledge sharing ICT tools, they don't necessarily solve the intra-office communication issues.

Due to the multi-cultural nature of the said organisation, and being global in nature, different cultural ethos affects the way people communicate.

The most important of it all is Trust. If people have doubts... they are beginning to widen the distance and is a warning signal for management to take note of the problems. These are but first signals of serious problems.

I have been trained by Sam Kaner on facilitation techniques, especially for conflict resolution, and a trained facilitator have learnt that the mediator may become not only necessary but also critical to address the current scenario in the said organisation.

I am deliberately not mentioning the name of the organisation, as we continue to deal with folks from that organisation, and we don't really want to hurt or offend anyone. But how will they know? When should they be told about the problem that we can sense?? Comments are welcome.

Dignity and respect for people, in whatever position they are in, is a critical pillar to the development and nurturing of knowledge sharing.

Hope these inputs will help people.