Last week I received an email that called out how, in many organizations, the knowledge holders tend to guard their critical knowledge and, as a result, may not be apt to share. This is true in many organizations, especially now that more people feel vulnerable. Holding critical information helps us think we are indispensible to the company. So, the question is, how can you retrieve the critical information in a culture that doesn’t support sharing?

First, go ahead with your program, recognize that the culture will be resistant, and address that challenge in your program design. One way you can achieve this dual-objective is through the use of Knowledge Champions. Make the “rank and file” responsible for your program’s success, and (if done right) you’ll begin to influence culture change.

There are two types of champs:

1. Departmental Knowledge Management Reps are interested in knowledge management (and are likely not amongst the knowledge “hoarders”) who you train about the importance of knowledge management and give guidance on developing goals for their particular functional area. These folks meet regularly with the organization’s knowledge management “community.” This is a community you create that’s made up of all the reps from the different areas of the company; they support each other, and create/reuse approaches. More importantly, they can develop and share methods for addressing the resistance encountered during the process.
2. Organization-wide Champion is the leader of the entire effort (usually a person from HR, L & D or similar). This person develops, oversees and maintains the program, ensures consistency across departments and also provides knowledge management consulting services within the organization. In a culture of resistance, these consulting services likely include indentifying the underlying causes and addressing them. This organization-wide champion also serves as a knowledge management subject matter expert and primary point of contact for knowledge needs.

Have you run into this issue of non-sharing in your company? Have you tried the idea of line-of-business champs to address this? What’s worked for you?