What incentives can help encourage sharing knowledge?

What incentives can help encourage sharing knowledge?

Formal incentives

   * Incorporate sharing in personnel competencies
   * Organise lunch presentations
   * Create an inventory on what people want to be asked about
   * "Send" people to conferences and ask for reports on the meetings
   * Reward people for ideas that are picked up by others

In general these aspect can be part of a personal development plan or personal commitment statement. Stimulate people to write down what they want to achieve in a coming period; for example 'publish and update their curriculum vitae on intranet' or 'visit two partner organisations' or 'mentor new personnel' or 'do a lunch presentation'. Most formal incentives can be organised by a HRM department.

Informal incentives

   * Recognition / awards
   * Allow people to publish stories (success and failure)
   * Organise exhibition fairs / showcasing
   * Invite people to talk about their work / write about their work in internal media
   * Stimulate people to take part in communities of practice
   * Organise happy hours
   * Invite all personnel to contribute to a new year plan for the organisation

Other

   * Allow self-organisation outside the hierarchy; allocate time for this
   * Make sure management supports the idea of sharing knowledge
   * Time spent on sharing must be recognised as legitimate by management / peers
   * Stress the potential return of investment
   * Centralise the canteen / coffee machines / water coolers / library
   * Organise flexible workplace; get people out of their 'cubicles' or relocate people now and then
   * Make management think about the concepts for a 'knowledge friendly organisation'