Knowledge Sharing
Have you ever been to an organization where only a few people seem to be handling most tasks? You may even hear the supervisor mentioning that a certain employee always does a very good job so they are always assigned the most challenging tasks. Unfortunately, this is a very common scenario in work settings, the employee who strives for excellence may end up being the go-to person and end up being assigned all the challenging assignments. This dependence on his/her abilities may create a situation where coworkers and even supervisors can get complacent and leave the responsibility of meeting targets to one or few people. This dynamic has significant repercussions since those left to handle tasks may eventually get overwhelmed and find it difficult to meet expectations or even suffer burnout. At the same time, those employees who are not engaged fully may feel demoralized and become disengaged.
To avoid the above-mentioned situation which could ultimately lead to loss of talent, organizations must strive to create an environment that encourages teamwork and knowledge/skills transfer. All staff should be encouraged to work as a team and be able to take up challenging assignments.
An organization can promote a favorable culture by:
- Have a detailed induction program to ensure that new employees understand the role they play in the organization and the growth prospects in the organization.
- Fair distribution of duties to avoid overburdening a few employees.
- Encouraging open communication to build trust among colleagues where people can share experiences and ideas freely
- Promote a learning culture in the organization by rewarding employees who work on self-development, investing in e-learning platforms where all staff can easily access learning materials, and having coaching and mentorship programs within the organization.
- Leading by example where leaders always seek to improve their skills and even offer to train their juniors; Leaders can also seek to learn from their juniors who have certain strengths.
For effective implementation, it is important to formalize all strategies by aligning them with policies.
