I greatly enjoy listening to the Tim Ferriss show podcast and one episode that stood out recently was the interview with Charles Koch of Koch Industries. At 32 minutes into the interview Charles Koch talks about the advantages of knowledge sharing both internally and externally of an organisation. He then talked about how Koch industries builds mechanisms and incentives for it’s employees to share knowledge. As the sharing of knowledge has contributed to the success of all the businesses in Koch Industries and this is not just internal knowledge sharing but also with external parties in the wider industry.
This was amazing to hear as it supported my view that a person’s / department’s / organisation’s strength and competitive advantage is not in the knowledge they have but how this knowledge is used. For example, if a solution is found to solve a problem and then this solution is shared, then everyone benefits from it as time does not have to be wasted solving the same challenge over and over again.
I believe that knowledge sharing should be encouraged and rewarded as if valuable knowledge about how to deliver projects, solve problems etc is readily available and there is a culture of collaboration in an organisation then this can have clear financial benefits for all.
Successful International Project Management 