It was once said that knowledge is power, and that might still be true in some cases. But if we share our thoughts and ideas, we can help eachother out and proceed faster. Share what you know with someone to combine it with their knowledge and experience. In that way, an new idea might come up. One plus one becomes three.
Some of us (me for example!) let our pride take over and say to ourselves: “I’m independent and can do it myself!” whenever we face a problem, but why reinvent the wheel? Taking help from someone with knowledge definitely saves you time, and in some cases, you can find new solutions together that are more efficient by merging your knowledge and perspectives.
Francis Bacon said in his book "Religious Meditations, Of Heresies (1597)" that knowledge is power.
Making something new with something old
As a gamer (i.e., someone who plays videogames), I sometimes take knowledge from others in the form of Youtube videos, where someone has recorded how to get past a specific point that I’m stuck at. I do the same thing when I create music at my computer and want to know more about how the program I use works. Most times, directly after seeing how to do it, I find new ways to use what I just learned. As I said… One (knowledge) plus one (a new person) becomes three (a new idea).
A key to success in organizations
In an organization you can use the same principle, i.e. sharing knowledge with your colleagues so that they can use their brainpower and creativity to shape it into something new. In that way you heighten the general knowledge level, and at the same time increase person-independence since the knowledge is accessible for anyone. And accessible where? The “where” should be a place that is easily reachable. A place where anyone in the organization can both find and store their knowledge, whenever, and preferably wherever they are. On the bus, on the couch, at the office, in the workshop… you get it. Being able to find out what you need to know in the same moment you need it, makes both the workday and everyday life so much easier since unnecessarily extensive knowledge related stops gets considerably shorter. To be able to share what you do is therefore equally important – so both things needs to be just as easy to do.
Photo by "My Life Through A Lens" on Unsplash
Share and you shall receive
In the same way as pride can put a stop to as the question “Can you help me?”, It can also put a stop to saying “Here, let me teach you something”. At a workplace, knowledge can actually be power. Because if someone else knows what I know, then what is my value?
I have sometimes felt that I didn’t want to teach something because “That person will have to learn it by themselves as I did” (read with a grumpy voice), or “If I teach the person this, I will be an expendable resource”. This is of course just based on insecurities. I luckily let those go, since sharing most often means getting something back. With my experience and way of thinking, the other person gets a new way of seeing things. If that person also shares their thoughts, I as well have learned something new - just by sharing what I know! Isn’t that pretty cool?
