Sharing your knowledge, especially if it’s useful and unique, isn’t always easy. There are plenty of reasons why you should do this, but somehow it’s very easy to get stopped by negative assumptions. In today’s post, I’d like to share my opinion on sharing knowledge, and ask for yours in return.
Naturally, most of us feel competition. Even in your own team, you’re bound to think now and then of how good or bad your performance is compared to that of other team members. While this is absolutely natural, you shouldn’t let such a competition spirit get in the way of you sharing the knowledge with others.
The Truth About Sharing Knowledge
One of the worst things you can do is to refuse sharing the knowledge with your team. When you do this, you may have your own reasons, but even if you tell them, your peers would get their own, very different ideas.
One of the most common reasons for not sharing is the fear of losing your unique advantage. I used to think that it’s always best to have a unique skillset within a team, and never share any of the knowledge with others. The more you know of things nobody else knows, the better. Boy, was I wrong in such thinking!
The truth is, all the knowledge must be shared. If you think a bit longer, you will understand that no matter how good you are, if you work for a company and act on behalf of a certain team of people - this implies that everything you know or learn must be shared. You are paid for achieving collective results, and if this means teaching others how to do everything you’re capable of, then do your best and show them. You are not paid for making life harder for other team members just because you’re not feeling like sharing something.
Being open with your team and freely sharing anything you know is one of the major signs of you being comfortable where you are. Being a great team player depends on your comfortable participation in every process of such a team, including knowledge exchange. In addition to this, shared knowledge ensures your team stays safe should anything unexpected happen to you - even if you’re temporarily unavailable, your team members will be quite comfortable covering for you with the information you had previously shared with them.
There is a certain point in your professional life, when you suddenly see how most of your fears were really amateur. In fact, I’m sure that every fear you have about your job becomes silly at some stage of your career. Every single one of your fears can and will be smiled upon one day - you’ll look back and laugh how you were afraid of doing something so simple or easy. It’s just a matter of time and a subject to your ever-expanding experience.
Common Fears and How to Overcome Them
With this in mind, I’m going to save you the trouble of figuring out most of the competition fears which stop so many people from sharing their knowledge. I’m giving you the false statements similar to the ones I myself had once believed to be true.
Before we start: Using this opportunity, I’d like to apologize for my behavior to some of the people I’ve been lucky enough to work with in my career so far. I also thank you, for if it wasn’t for the support and guidance from some of you, I would have never changed for the better.
Here they are, the statements which you should never accept, long with my advice on how to act in every situation:
Fear of Not Having Unique Skills
False statement: If you don’t have a unique skill, you will no longer be needed in your team and will probably be fired.
Yep, that’s exactly how I looked at sharing knowledge at some stage in my life (the first years of my career, to be precise). Now, I admit that some companies support and promote such a behavior among their employees, but without cooperation and shared knowledge it’s impossible to have people function as a team.
My advice: Skills, not matter unique or not, can’t really be shared. They are your own ways of doing things, of applying the knowledge the most effective way. Your knowledge can and should be shared, but skills are always going to be yours - there will never be two people on a team with exactly the same skills, so you shouldn’t worry about it. If you explain everything you know to others, you will only gain wider acceptance as an authority.
Losing Your Roles and Positions Within a Team
False statement: If I give away everything I know, my services will no longer be needed as other team members will be doing everything themselves
My advice: if you have so much knowledge you worry about sharing it, you’re probably an avid learner. This means it will never become possible for you to give everything away, because you’ll be learning something new almost every day. If others start doing more based on the knowledge they get from you, this will give you a chance to work on new and perhaps more exciting projects.
You know what? Eventually there comes a time when you want to move on. When you’re no longer feeling like you’re giving most value by staying in your position and doing what you currently do. And guess what - until you have your knowledge properly shared, you won’t be able to leave your functions behind!
Another common way this happens is that you become so unique and so good ad your particular functions, that everyone else in your team wants you and only you to keep doing it! Sometimes your colleagues won’t let you work on other things just because this will mean you’ll have to abandon some of the common functions you’ve been doing so far. For them, it can be an unnecessary risk - nobody knows how good you’ll be at new things, but everyone knows you’re really good with your current functions. So, before you decide that you want to move on to something new, be sure to get into the habit of sharing.
Shared Knowledge Reducing Your Chances to be Promoted
False statement: If I share everything, I will never stand out enough to be promoted
My advice: you never get promoted based on the knowledge you possess, it’s always to do with your experience and results - both measuring your ability to apply the knowledge.
You can get hired partially because of your vast knowledge, yes. But promotions usually happen because you grow out of your position by accepting more responsibilities and doing more. This happens not because your professional knowledge grows, but because your become more aware of processes in your organization and recognize the potential for improvements. The higher you are in your career, the more personality-based your success is, and the less it is dependent on your professional skills. The value you bring to the team or organization is rarely based only on your knowledge of the processes, it’s increasingly more to do with how comfortable you are doing what you do and taking on new projects and challenges.
Sharing Knowledge To Be Successful
Sharing knowledge is one of the best things you can do to become a great team player and ultimately a leader. It is essential not only for the success of people around you, but for your own success in the first place. The more you share, the more people respect you. The more respected you feel, the more you’re willing to share. The more you give away, the more new opportunities come your way.
Perhaps my advices won’t cover every possible situation you can find yourself in, but they’re drawn from my own experience. I know how hard it is to learn from somebody else’s mistakes and not your own ones, but my advice stays the same - learn to share the knowledge, and you’ll thank yourself later.
Finally, if you recognize the common fears of sharing knowledge or have some of your own - leave them in a comment, I’m sure it will help someone.
(Word Count: 1377)
译文:
为何说知识分享是成功的关键{Translated by Shermee}
如果你是第一次到这，可能想订阅我的RSS feed。在Twitter上也可以找到我！感谢访问！
与别人分享你的知识，特别是那些实用且特别的知识，这在一般情况下可不是件容易事。虽然有很多原因足以让你这样做，但是，你也可能很容易会因为一些误解而打消这种想法。今天在这里，我会同你们分享我在知识分享这方面的经验，同时也希望得到你们的回应。
在正常情况下，我们大多数的人都有竞争的意识。即使在自己的团队里，你也可能不时的与其他队员进行比较，以此来判断自己的表现是好还是差。尽管这种想法很正常，但是在同别人分享你的知识时，你得控制自己，别把这种竞争意识带入其中。
知识分享的真谛
最糟糕的事情之一就是你拒绝同你的队友分享知识。当你这么做的时候，可能是有自己的原因，但是就算你告诉他们，你的同伴可能也有他们的原因，最后就形成了各自非常不同的见解。
不和别人分享知识最常见的原因之一就是害怕失去自己独特的优势。我曾经认为让自己在团队里突显出类拔萃的方式就是拥有一份与众不同的技能，所以不与其他人分享自己的任何知识。认为你越知道那些别人不知道的东西，你就越优秀。伙计，告诉你，我想其实这是错的！
事实是，所有的知识都需要分享。如果你稍加思考就会明白，不管你是多么优秀，倘若你是在一家公司任职并且同一个团队共事——那么这就意味着需要分享所有你知道或学到的知识。你需要和你的队员一起取得成功，而如果这个意味着你有能力把所掌握的一切都传授给其他队员，那么就尽你所能的这么做吧。你无须因不愿与别人分享知识而使其他队友的生活更加艰难。
向你的队友敞开胸怀，分享你所知道的一切，那么，在很大程度上表示你已经适应自己所处的环境。要在一个团队里成为一个伟大的队员取决于你在这个队伍中所做的每件事时的参与度，包括知识交换。此外，知识分享能确保你在发生任何意想不到的状况时，你的团队依然能正常工作——即使是一下找不到你，你的队友们因得益于你之前告诉他们的信息知识而应付自如。
在你的职业生涯中总会有那么一个时间，会突然发现自己大部分的担心都是多余的。事实上，我能向你保证现在你在工作中产生的每一个担忧在你将来的某一段职业生涯看来都将是愚昧的。你会觉得之前的每一个担忧都是可笑的——回首时，发现自己担心的一切其实是如此简单，不禁感到好笑。其实这不过只是时间的问题而且它也会成为助你成熟的催化剂。
常见的担忧以及如何战胜它们
考虑到这一点，我将开始帮助你们了解那些阻碍了众人分享知识的竞争性担忧。我会陈列出那些曾经在我看来是正确的错误观点。
开始之前，我想利用这次机会，向那些到目前为止，我曾经有幸与之共事的朋友致歉。同时我也感谢你们，如果没有你们的支持与指点，我就不会有所改进。
也许你将不愿接受以下这些观点，我将会在每个观点后附上我的建议告诉你们如何应付这些状况：
担心没有与众不同的技能
错误观点：如果你没有一项与众不同的技能，团队就不需要你于而你也就有可能被解雇。
确实，在我生命的某一阶段（确切的说是我工作的前几年）我正是如此看待知识分享的。而现在，我得承认某些公司确实也在他们的员工中赞许推行这种观念，但是，如果没有合作与知识分享的精神是不可能让个人在团队中发挥效用的。
我的建议：技能，不管独特与否，都不可能完全与人分享。因为它们是你的行事方法，是以最有效的方式将知识付诸实践。你的知识能够也应该得到分享，但是技能永远是你自己的——一个团队里永远不会有两个拥有完全相同技能的人，所以对此你毋需担心。如果你把自己知道的一切都告诉别人，那么，你会获得更多人的认可。
在团队里失去自我
错误观点：如果把一切都告诉别人，那就没有我存在的意义了，其他组员能够应付所有问题。
我的建议：如果你有这么多让自己担心分享的知识，那么，你极有可能是位勤学者。这意味着你永远不可能把自己知道的所有知识全部告诉别人，因为你每天都在学习新的知识。如果别人开始在吸收了你的知识基础上做出了更多的事情，那这也让你有机会参与到一个新的或许是更令人激动的项目中去。
知道吗？当你呆在原地做着你再也感受不到自身价值的事情时，最后你就会想要向前走。我的建议是——你把自己的知识与他人分享，那么就不会觉得自己没用了！
另一个常见情况是因为你实在太独特太优秀了，以至于你团队的其他队员都想，而且只想让你一直的做你就擅长的事！有时你的同事们不想让你参与其他的项目仅仅是因为如果那样做，你就必须放弃一些到目前为止自己一直从事的某些事情。这对于他们来说，是个不必要的风险——没有人清楚你处理新事物的能力如何，但是人人都知道你在目前的这个项目上干得不错。所以，在决定是否接触新事物之前，确定养成分享的好习惯。
知识分享减少你晋升的机会
错误观点：如果分享所有的东西，我就永远不能因足够出色而得到晋升的机会
我的建议：你永远不会仅仅因为自己掌握的那些知识就得到晋升，晋升通常同你的经验和你的业绩有关——这是衡量你运用知识的两个因素。
是的，你可能会因为自身拥有的广泛知识而被聘用。但是晋升通常是因为你在完成份内工作后又接受了其他更多的任务。这并不是因为你的专业知识增长了，而是你更加懂得了如何进行自我管理，同时意识到自我提高的潜在重要性。你的职业级别越高，获得成功的可能性就越取决于自身的人格而较小依赖你的专业技能。你给团队或公司带来的价值极少是因为你所掌握的知识，而是你在公司新项目上的表现和面对挑战时的一份从容不迫。
分享知识，走向成功
知识分享是帮助你成为一名出色的队员继而最终成为领导者的最佳方式之一。这并不仅仅只对于你周遭的人获得成功备显重要，也是你自己获得成功的第一步。你分享的越多，就有越多的人尊重你。你受到的尊重越多，就越加愿意同他人分享。你分享的越多，就会有越多的机会等着你。
或许，我的建议并不能解决你可能遇到的所有问题，但上述都是我的亲身体验。我知道要从别人而非自己的错误中吸取经验是很困难的，但我的建议仍旧是——学着分享知识，不久后你会感激自己这么做的。
最后，如果你发现了因为分享知识而造成的担忧或者自身所有的一些担忧——把它们记下来，一定会帮到别人。
(字数统计：2454)
