Dieser Artikel wurde am 10. Juli 2024 erstmals auf LinkedIn veröffentlicht.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sharing-giving-something-away-harald-schirmer/

I am not sure if the „original idea of information sharing“ is what I am trying to develop in my circle of influence, but compared to what we see nowadays on YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn and other networks, is quite different (and often anoyingly boring).

SHARING for me is not:

• uploading a file to a hidden folder in a cloud storage (even if it has „sharing“ in its name)
• self promotion of any kind
• faking a product or even a life, which is either not happening or exclusively showing of the benefits
• sending information via eMail, in a chat client or in a video conference
• creating fear just to get clicks for … marketing

Management Summary:

The type of sharing that I experience as most successful is a „shared self-reflection – I use the „writing process“ of explaining and reflecting to gain clarity for myself – so I do it for myself. The „sharing“ part is then just the additional benefit for others (or myself to be able to find it easily again).

Making sharing a „must do“ or gamified (bonused) task, will lead to „senseless sharing“ for the sake of sharing (or because one gets credits or points for it). This can be seen in all social networks, where youtuber, blog authors or TikTok/Linkedin content creaters just try to satisfy the platform algorithms to gain audience.

To anchor a positive form of sharing, the „shared-reflection“ can be incorporate into the various processes, project management, team rituals or other business processes, similar to Lessons Learned.

A bit more details:

The concept of sharing:

The concept of sharing information has evolved significantly with modern digital SOCIAL platforms. However, the most effective (relevant) and sustainable form of sharing, as observed, is „self-reflection“. This involves using the process of writing or explaining as a method for gaining personal clarity. Sharing is the last step of this process by pressing „publish“. The tool to be used for this sharing typically is a PUBLIC BLOG (which others can follow, like and comment). Other options are video recordings or podcasts – but those are much more effort and often harder to structure. To be effective, such platforms MUST support „building networks“ (follow others, connect to others, tagging and relevance oriented sorting – described here)

The Process and its Benefits

In this method of reflection sharing, the act of sharing becomes a byproduct of self-reflection. There is plenty of material about the many benefits of refelection or journaling. The primary aim is observing, re-thinking and personal understanding, while the sharing part serves as an additional benefit for others – a by-product, not as main goal. It also helps the individual in easily retrieving the information in the future. Sharing it within a (enterprise) social network platform allows exponential growth without creating information overflow (as it would happen in chat-clients, newsletters or knowledge bases)

Avoiding Senseless Sharing

Incentivicing „sharing“ without this concept of self reflection and focus on self-learning, will likely foster the practice of „senseless sharing“, which is sharing for the sake of it or for gaining points, credits, likes or appreciation. This typically does not last long or wears out quickly.

The classical question: „What should I share?“
is an example of this problem.

We all have questions, need to learn or solve problems, day in and out – so there is enough „material“. By focusing on self-reflection of such personally relevant topics, the quality of the shared content is enhanced, and with that automatically making it more beneficial for the community.

Incorporation into Processes

To ensure the adoption of this method, it can be integrated into regular processes, similar to „Lessons Learned“, just in smaller pieces and higher frequency – in the process, not at the end. A short blog-post sharing an individual solution, problem (asking for support) or reflection of „cause&effect“, once it happend, can also help the team to learn about obstacles and solutions in their own projects or teams. This encourages other individuals to reflect and share quality content, thereby enriching the collective knowledge.

Knowledge Management to „Living Knowledge“

In classical Knowledge Management, it is about collecting and structuring bigger knowledge packages after everything is done. The „reflection sharing is done in much smaller steps or during the progress, while things are happening. It is perfect for more complex topics, agile working and tasks in dyanmic environments. This sharing leads to learning from and with each other, reduces failure risks and builds confidence among the people involved. „Giving Feedback“ as described here, will keep this engagement and appreciaton high over a long time (our GUIDEs work like that since more than a decade)

The Cultural aspect of Sharing

Not to be underestimated is the cultural impact of such a personal-reflection-sharing. Culture can be observed by „how we do things“, so our behavior. reflecting on „how we solve problems“ or „get things done“, „react to things“ or „learn to…“ is exactly that. It makes behavior visible. Once others (ideally leaders or „sponsors“) appreciating this (with likes and comments), it gains acceptance and grows (more people follow such examples). The once „appreciating“ the shared work, help the sharing persons becoming role models. The benefit for the ones giving feedback is personal reputation (as active learner and leader) and this knowledge is easier to be found by them later on.