Barriers to Knowledge Sharing

When I attended KMAP 2006 last year in Hong Kong, Karl-Erik Sveiby was one of the key note speakers. In his keynote he talked about the frustration, anger and despondency that many knowledge workers felt not being able to work effectively in their organizations. I was moved by his talk and conducted one of my mini-video interviews with him on the subject.

Here are the top ten barriers that he gleaned from his questionnaire.

• Silo mentality
• Knowledge is power
• Lack of knowledge sharing processes
• No time allowed
• No knowledge sharing by executives
• Management do not walk the talk
• Poor IT systems
• Lack of encouragement
• Bureaucracy
• Resistance to change by management

You will find a longer list of barriers Three Dozen Knowledge Sharing Barriers from Shawn Callahan of Anecdote.

And James Robertson of Step Two Designs wants to avoid the term knowledge sharing!! In conclusion he writes:

It is recommended that 'knowledge sharing' not be discussed beyond the confines of the KM team. Instead, KM initiatives should take the following approach:

• identify key business needs or issues
• determine appropriate KM initiatives
• communicate these initiatives in business language that matches the problem being solved and the staff being targeted

I am not too sure I agree with his idea that 'knowledge sharing' should not be discussed beyond the KM team though I empathize with his rationale but I am totally behind his approach to KM!