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| The Gurteen Knowledge Website |
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Article
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Knowledge Trading (Work in progress) |
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This is my 'work in progress' on an article on "Knowledge Trading" (29th May 2002) I read recently in a weblog that there were only 3 reasons for sharing knowledge 1. money reward 2. ego 3. guilt I do NOT agree! The question comes up time and again. How do you make people share? Some say it is natural to share and we need to remove the barriers - others say it is unnatural to share. To my mind neither is right. It varies from person to person and context to context. But what is true is that we do all share and collaborate to some degree Do you know of anyone who will not answer a single question or who will never help anyone else in anyway whatsoever? I don't think so. The main reason we do not share more than we do is that we do not see anything in it for us. And I don't just mean tangible rewards. We naturally share and help other people when there is something to be gained. if we are to share then it has got to be an EXCHANGE - one thing for another ... often to share to help someone costs us - usually TIME and time is something we have lease of - it is very much a scarce consumable resource and we use it wisely so what do people exchange their time for? we give them our time + if we like them, if they are friends, if we have a relationship with them -- this could be social, it could intellectual -- we give them our time in return for the enjoyment of being with them + if we feel we can learn something from them that is valuable to use --- info --- inside information --- how to do something ---gossip + if they pay us! + if they give use something of tangible value e.g. a book + if they can influence my promotion + if by getting to know them i gain political influence e.g. a senior vp + if they stroke our ego + to gain their indebtedness - they now owe us + to build a useful relationship there are dozens of reasons but they are ALL an exchange. maybe just like sharing - it makes us feel good - but even that is an exchange + we don't share when we get nothing, or we lose things e.g. time or if we feel bad but even when we have e a great deal to gain we often still do not share there are 2 main reasons 1. lack of time 2. we do not realize the gain - we miss an opportunity lets look at the time issues 4 quadrants 1. have the time and benefit high 2. have he time but benefit low 3. do not have time and benefit high 4. no benefit - no time 1. should be a no brainer 2. well maybe, maybe not, worth exploring the exchange 3. interesting one - maybe escalate to boss - this is about priorities 4. forget it - this is OK we do not realize or fully appreciate the gain two reasons for this 1. we do not stop to think it through - especially if we are tight on time 2. the person needing the help does not make the benefit clear to us if we want help and if we understand this basic law of reciprocality then it behooves us to make it clear to the other person either directly or indirectly what the benefit is to them maybe if there is not a clear natural benefit than you contrive to 'pay' them in someway e.g. directly offer them something that you know they value ... in summary it behooves the consumer to make clear the benefit and the provider to look for the benefit ITS A TRADE ---- KNOWLEDGE TRADING - NOT SHARING .... some people value their knowledge and their time so highly (busy) and themselves - not social animals - maybe intellectual snobbery etc that they rarely trade ... this is where the company can step in ... with a trade --- it makes it clear to these people that if they do not trade then they will receive bad reviews not be promoted and may eventually be fired ... so they trade - the benefit - they get to keep their jobs !!! as i said it is all about TRADE!!! problem for many people is that traditionally trade has been in tangible goods - money, goods etc .... but in a k economy it is increasingly knowledge itself that is being traded ... sitting on knowledge we often have valuable knowledge that few other people have or know we have but we do not have the time to trade it ... it is tempting to just sit on it but its a bit like sitting on a case load of eggs they will perish and you not even bed able to give it away or someone else will gain the k and put it to good use and you only look silly saying oh i thought of that first ,,, GIVE IT AWAY for NOTHING or ask for k in return but do not mandate it .... but this goes against my trading law!!! or does it ?? im not so sure it does benefits 1. your name gets attached 2. k does not perish it gets used 3. you earn brownie points ... people think good of you 4. it establishes new relationships ================== (how to encourage as a manager - by example - by education e.g. this article - by stories (remove barriers as a manger - allow time - reward, promote - help with priorities - do not penalize those who share over those that do ... - trade ---- ensure that people receive benefit from you or the org for doing things for you or the org... once again it is all about TRADE!
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03:51 PM GDT |
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