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Kata 11

Kata 11 - Sharing knowledge

After learning to find and appreciate the knowledge shared by others in the last two Katas, it's time to become active yourself and share your own knowledge with others.

The aim of this Kata is to gain the courage and take the first steps to share your knowledge with others. The exercises will help you to develop further on your knowledge journey and contribute more to your organization's knowledge management step by step.

"Sharing is caring!" That sounds good - but this step can seem very challenging at first and sounds like a lot of effort. Nevertheless, it is the decisive milestone in moving from passive consumer to active knowledge provider.

Don't worry - you don't have to publish entire scientific papers - smaller contributions such as tips and tricks, answers to questions in forums or comments on existing articles are just as valuable. Remember: Your knowledge can help others and bring you recognition and visibility in the community.

Good luck!

Preparation (individual work)

  • Read the Kata "Sharing knowledge" (below) and do the exercises.

Agenda (circle/group work)

  • Check-in: (10 minutes)
    What has been on your mind this past week in relation to digital collaboration?
    Two-minute timebox per Circle member.

  • Main topic: (45 minutes)
    Present your results and findings from Kata 11 - "Sharing knowledge" (below) to each other and discuss them.

  • Check-out: (5 minutes)
    What will you do before the next meeting?

Kata "Sharing knowledge"

  • If you are not yet sure whether sharing your knowledge is really worthwhile for you, then take a look at the following arguments:

    • Sharing deepens your knowledge
      When you explain your knowledge, you understand it better yourself. This process consolidates your knowledge and can give you new insights.

    • Sharing gives you valuable feedback
      By sharing your knowledge, you get feedback and new ideas from others. This helps you to expand and improve your knowledge.

    • Sharing creates satisfaction
      It feels good to help others. Sharing your knowledge gives you a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction - especially when others also value your knowledge.

    • Sharing strengthens your network
      Sharing knowledge builds relationships. People value you as a source of knowledge, which strengthens your personal network.

    • Sharing promotes your personal and professional development
      By sharing, you become visible with your knowledge and position yourself as an expert. This creates new learning opportunities and helps you to grow and develop further.

  • "Sharing knowledge" - it's not that difficult.

    A very simple example: If you use Microsoft Office products, you can create a link
    in most applications with the shortcut Ctrl+K. This works in Outlook as well as in OneNote or Word, i.e. you can always use this shortcut - it's simply faster. This work hack can be shared quickly and easily in the next team meeting.

    Now think about your topic:

    • What added value does this knowledge have for your colleagues?

    • How can you share your knowledge on a particular topic with others?

    • What is stopping you from doing this right now? (important!)

  • Be specific and choose a topic that you are an expert in or that particularly interests you:

    • How and where have you shared your knowledge with others (type, format)?

    • What is your favorite topic that interests you, that you have learned something about, that you have expertise in?

    • What topics do you want to be visible with?

    • Write these topics on a list - preferably in a personal notebook (book or OneNote).

  • And now go one step further and actively share your knowledge on a topic in which you are an expert.
    You are welcome to do this in your professional working environment.

    • How did that feel? What did it trigger in you?

    • What happened? What were the reactions?

If you want to do more:

Not sure what you could share yet?
We've collected a few suggestions here:

  • Share your experiences and lessons learned:
    Reflect on your way of working. What have you learned - both from mistakes and successes - and what could be useful for others? It could be resources that have helped you, techniques that have moved you forward or mistakes that others should avoid. Remember to package it as a post that offers your insights to others in a way that is helpful to them.
    Example: Holger Moller, Learning Journey Miro: https://holgermoller.wordpress.com/2021/02/15/learning-journey-miro/ [GERMAN]

  • Think about which formats are best for you to share your knowledge: Under Knowledge - Formats you will find different ways in which others have shared their knowledge.

  • Openly ask for feedback on the tasks/content you are working on:
    It creates added value for you and others if you openly discuss what you are currently working on.

  • Share your experiences and insights with your own colleagues and consider together:
    What can you do specifically to ensure that knowledge is shared in the team, in the community, etc.? e.g. introduce the agenda item "Work hack - what great things did I learn this week?" at every team meeting.

  • You are also welcome to use the shared collection of "Digital collaboration hacks" from the Kata "Working together on documents" as inspiration to pass on your knowledge.

  • Examples of knowledge transfer methods ( Cogneon )

    • Barcamp

    • Community of Practice

    • Expert Debriefing (Cogneon-Wiki [GERMAN]: https://wiki.cogneon.de/Expert_Debriefing)

    • Knowledge cafĂ©

    • Massive Open Online Course

    • Podcast

    • Screencast

    • Webinar

    • Working Out Loud

    Source: Cogneon-Wiki: Knowledge transfer [GERMAN]: https://wiki.cogneon.de/Wissenstransfer