How to Overcome Knowledge Silos
Why proactive sharing works and how to get your team started
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Welcome new subscribers! My name is Conor. I’m helping to shape the future of how teams work together at Hugo, centralized meeting notes that connect with your favorite tools.
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What’s the best way to grow mushrooms? Keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit.
The same phrase could summarize the knowledge-sharing strategy of some managers who insist on keeping workers under-informed with incomplete or inaccurate information. Except people — unlike our delicious fungi friends — don’t respond so well to being kept in the dark.
There are many understandable reasons for leaders withholding information. They may be concerned that it will weaken their position in the company. They may feel too busy to share it. They may not even be aware that something could be shared or should be. But all of these excuses are symptoms of not being adaptable, networked, and tempo-oriented.
All can be overcome.
Overcoming knowledge silos
Atlassian is one organization that does this well. Penny, a senior engineering manager describes the impact that their open culture has:
“When I see people freaking out about an announcement or something, it often seems they’re just freaked out that they didn’t find out about it earlier. I feel like a solution to that is more openness, rather than less.”
Finding the right balance between what to share and what to hold back can be tricky, especially as an organization scales. This is going to look different for every organization, but it’s a capability that is very worth exploring and cultivating.
Here’s a quick framework to run through when deciding when to share and when not to. Ask yourself these questions:
Does this information have the potential to positively influence others?
Is this information to share, or simply information to capture?
Is it need-to-know, nice-to-know, or distracting?
Is this information timely, relevant, and accurate?
Do I have consent to share this information?
It’s natural to want to withhold information. Instead, we suggest you allow yourself to be honest, authentic, and transparent about your concerns and struggles. It will help your people feel more connected and more invested in your company.
📚 Reads of the Week
Solving Online Events
We’ve been suddenly thrown in a world of online events. I’ve had a feeling that there’s been something missing from these talks, and Benedict Evans does a great job here articulating what those things are.
Advice on Advice
This is a shorter read on advice from Daniel Gross that I found really profound. The “double-sided marketplace” for advice is broken. Here’s how to identify thoughtful responses.
The Multi-Path Career
I’m way bullish on this idea. Sometime in the near future, employees won’t work exclusively for one company at a time. The emergence of “career portfolios” will mean more transfer learning, better resource allocation, and lower employee turnover.
Thanks for reading Future of Teamwork this week! Did anything stand out? I’d love to hear about it. Reply to this email or tweet at me and let’s chat 😁
Until next time,
Conor