How motivate people to share their knowledge ?

(This post is the translation of my original document in french : follow the link)

What a Good question !!!!

For several months you have been working on your collaborative project such as corporate social network or on a collaborative platform for knowledge sharing. You have identified the needs, the use cases, you have chosen the tool that corresponds to your expectations (and that of the users). You have personalized your tool to your colors and the organization of your company, you have structured groups and spaces. You have identified, converted, migrated and structured all existing content and transferred it on your sharing tool.

Your tool is ready to use

Arrive the launching day! You have anticipated it by creating a network C & KM (Collaboration and Knowledge Management), which will be your relay, you have launched a communication campaign to create envy.

For several months, you have been informing users of the concept and expected benefits. Finally, the D-Day you send all potential users an invitation email, introducing the tool, providing links to tutorials and finally a link to join the platform.

At this moment a series of questions assail you.

• Why are my users scattered everywhere will click on the link and use the platform?
• What will push the product manager based to Warsaw to collaborate?
• Why the workshop manager in Lisbon will join the platform?
• What will be the trigger that will motivate the Chinese security manager?
• Why the Quality Manager assistant based at the Headquarters will add or consult content?

These questions, many ask themselves too late, …the day of launching or in the weeks that follow ... in view of the low connection rate.

But answers to these questions must have been found a longtime before the launch. It's not enough for top management to decide to collaborate and launch a new tool for users get into the game. You cannot force people to share or collaborate, it must be a state of mind, a new behavior, they must understand the personal gains that they will be able to draw from it.

Because, despite the qualities of the tool you have chosen, despite the effectiveness of its content, and the relevance of its comments. The user is always alone in front of his computer and no one is behind to motivate him, help him, make him want. He must decide alone to click, join the platform and become an active member as giver or taker ... or both.

It is thanks to a good knowledge of the field problems, to a strong customer orientation and to an active listening that you will be able to identify these famous triggers which must be effective, personalized, and operate remotely.

Each user will have his own, but overall we can already segment them into three families:

• Triggers for Top Management
• Triggers for middle management
• Triggers for other workers

The segmentation is done only by the form and the format of the messages, but overall the motivations are very similar.

But what are the motivations, why are we involved in collaboration and sharing? The reasons stated in the questionnaires made to potential users are laudable and correspond perfectly to the vision and objectives of top management.

But you must know how to decode them, to read between the lines in order to communicate more efficiently and to board as many people as possible.

Why are you going to share and collaborate?

“Because I will find individual advantages…”

1 - Performance improvement

The first motivation "Improve performance", is more often stated by the management than by the operational ones. But for the management it means "to reach my objectives". Overall managers have individual goals based on the performance and effectiveness of their teams. The more their employees reuse good practices (from the takers), the more they will be contributors and providers of process improvement (givers), the more the manager will be able to achieve his personal goals. (see below)

2 - Objectives achievement

"I would like to achieve my objectives more easily", Reaching its objectives is to meet the criteria and the KPIs of its individual evaluation, which has a direct link with the remuneration, the increases, the possibilities of evolution ... So very prosaically the platform is a way to be less stressed, because now we know where the information is, Thanks to this information and privileged contacts with the experts I will be more efficient and achieve my goals and get the salary part related to my personal performance …

3 - Professional recognition

"To be professionally recognized". It means being part of a network, being able to go to another site or to another BU to help colleagues. Become a reference on a specific subject. It may be to participate in professional conventions. It is to participate in the conception of good practices, it is to be visible and recognized by one's peers. It may be to give my name to standard or procedure, ... it is to leave a footprint in the company.

4 – Individual recognition

"To be humanly recognized". The further we move away from top management, the more the circle of people who know you, within the company, is reduced. Some feel, they are just a code on a payroll. To be active on a social network or within a sharing platform is to exist for others, it is to give one's opinion, it is to be visible. And this thanks to an effective contribution, the exemplary reuse of a good practice or the publication of a relevant comment. In some cases, this anonymous of yesterday, will become the star of tomorrow thanks to a communication highlighting his successes or his experience. It is for the major part of employees a necessary and sufficient reason to become a proactive member ... but they must be informed. This is one of the missions of the C & KM team to communicate as soon as possible about individual "sucess stories" (internal or external).

5 – Evolution needs

For many employees to evolve in the organization, taking more responsibility, even taking the place of the leader is a major goal. But to evolve you have to be recognized professionally, humanely and have the technical knowledge (hard skills), or management skills, animation, negotiation ... (soft skills). The sharing platform is a way to enrich your knowledge through the information and training stored there. It is for all employees the opportunity to acquire new skills and new know-how on the company, on the functions or on very specific subjects.

6 - Altruism

Altruists: within an organization, this group of people is a minority but so dynamic, useful and proactive. To share their knowledge, they need no help, no external motivation, the only satisfaction of helping others is enough. They are usually very active "givers", their motivation being the feeling of being useful to others. It is not superfluous to communicate on the effects and the successes of their sharing ... but expressed by the users.

7 – The need to learn

 For many reasons, personal or professional .... everyone's quest should be to know a little more each day, collaborative tools are a perfect way. Indeed, we talk about all subjects and we have access to specialists and experts who can share all kinds of information and additional training. The thirst for knowledge and the enrichment of general knowledge may have aims of evolution but it is often a personal satisfaction.

8 - Rewards

In 50% of cases the reward is an effective trigger. It can be material, gifts, bonuses, cash, goodies ... But it can also consist of real individual visibility. It can be a highlight in an internal or external communication or the opportunity to tell his experience at a seminar, in another business unit or in a professional convention. But know that competitions, games, "market places" ... work very well. It is important not to have a priori on the implication they generate. Many like to play, and if the gifts and rewards are motivating, all hierarchical levels, depending on their appetite for play, can participate. I organized contests, in which, country managers participated with the same motivation as workshop staff ... and with the same chances of success.

Some people think that it is not normal to reward users for a task they are supposed to do, to which people respond "it's not in my job description so I do not have to do it" ...

9- Pride

This lever is based on pride. In a company there are always friendly rivalries between countries, regions, services .... It is enough to announce an excellent result obtained in one country thanks to a good practice, so that another wants to propose an even more effective solution. This is why, once again, we must not hesitate to communicate widely on successes and success stories, they provoke synergy and a very healthy emulation. It should be noted that a communication on the success of a team must highlight the manager and his team is the opportunity to explain the role and new mission of middle managers.

10 - Commitment

As a last individual lever we could add the commitment with the company which could appear as the most natural one, but which has tendency to becomes unfortunately…more and more rare

To accelerate the adoption of the platform everyone must be aware of the individual benefits it will bring. It is therefore through targeted and segmented communications that you will in turn touch different groups. The messages must be effective, forget the second degree, multiply the media and angles of attack to satisfy and involve all potential users.