charlobo-a-go-go

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been running Geek Badge class for some colleagues where I work. The Geek Badge class had five segments: Twitter, iMovie, Blogging, Google Maps, and Wikis. Pretty easy stuff, but stuff that I use on the regular with work and personal life. I put together a quick curriculum, asked some peeps if they were into it, and then started away.

I don’t claim to be an expert…I just happen to use these tools, and I thought it’d be nice for me to share this with others because it’s made my life pretty awesome, so why not?

Let me switch things around. Why share the knowledge in the first place? Why not just be the bearer of knowledge?

First off, it would ensure that I would have job security. I could be the expert. No wait, The Expert. I could easily run around and be the person who knows it all. It puts me in a position of status, and it makes me powerful. The lure of this alone would make people quite ready to keep the info to themselves.

I could build a culture of Me at work (at home, at school, etc.), and be the person people had to ask in order to get access to the knowledge. I could make appointments to do the work for people, thereby ensuring that I would have my hand in every pot and control the output of every project. If you’re not one of my faves, forget about it. Teach yourself (and we all know how hard that it will be).

Knowledge Keepers - we all have a few of those people in our spaces, but we also have office cultures that promote this behavior and there are tangible rewards for being someone who knows it all. So the temptation to stay that way is rich.

But there are also the Knowledge Sharers - those who readily share the information with others, create opportunities to learn, and encourage others to take advantage of the information and make it useful for their own uses.

Why is this awesome?

Knowledge sharers help increase the team’s productivity by creating opportunities to personalize the information and make it work for them - here’s how I use it, and this is how it can work for you. Providing others with tools doesn’t lessen your profile. It increases your profile and all of a sudden you become a team player for multiple teams, not just your team of one.

What makes people powerful is not gathering the toys up and hoarding them. What makes people powerful is helping build a culture of sharing and improving the product. Power is not about domination over other people, but it’s the ability to be a change-maker and be valued by teams and individuals alike.

I wish being a knowledge sharer were more valued, but until power is defined differently and the value is placed on productivity rather than exclusivity, sharing is only for the brave and willing.

And honestly, I love the fact that there are people out there taking the tools I’m using and making cool things. Im not threatened, I’m encouraged and inspired. And it just makes me want to share more.

Char