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    Employee Engagement and Retention

    Knowledge Centralization

    Knowledge Centralization
    nitzan michman
    April 11, 2023
    5 min read
    Knowledge Centralization

    Your employees could be wasting 26% of their workday just digging through a muddle of information to find what they need. They seek answers on Google, inside never-ending email threads, or chat with a coworker who doesn’t quite know the answer to their question…but answers it anyway.

    Talk about lost productivity!

    Even if your company holds an arsenal of valuable information, creating silos between your employees and that information is counterproductive. If your goal is to increase productivity, useful content needs to be accessible to all employees, at all times.

    Fortunately, a centralized knowledge base can accelerate your teams’ performance and growth by keeping all of your organizations knowledge and handy, 24/7.

    What is Knowledge Centralization, and Why Should Companies Care?

    In simple terms, knowledge centralization entails a comprehensive online platform that unifies, stores and organizes all company’s internal information.

    As for the type of information this platform should contain, it is up to each organization and what information they feel their whole organization should be able to easily access.

    Having one centralized knowledge base could make your employees’ performance skyrocket.

    A report from McKinsey Global Institute shows that a searchable record of knowledge can reduce the time employees spend searching for company information by up to 35%. With the data they need at their fingertips, improved communication and collaboration are sure to follow, contributing to a 25% uptick in overall productivity.

    As long as this documentation remains easily-accessible and the platform remains user-friendly, employees can self-serve necessary information on any device, at any time.

    So why should you be centralizing your knowledge?

    Information Is Accessible Whenever Employees Need It

    Inefficient processes – such as unnecessary meetings, calls, chats, and emails – can waste nearly a third of an employee’s working day.

    A well-planned knowledge base tends to eliminate those time-consuming activities by offering an easier way for employees to access necessary information. Whether they’re remote or in-house, the answers they need are just a simple search away.

    That’s not to say that employees should refrain from asking questions. Some people will need additional support, which should be expected. A knowledge base simply removes the need for exhausting back-and-forths.

    Accelerates Learning and Information Retention

    Expecting employees to have all company information top-of-mind after weeks of joining your team is unrealistic at best. After all, recalling information is a continuous process that requires regular revisitation.

    Alternatively, when employees can sort through relevant information and conveniently revisit it, that empowers them to 1) learn at their own pace and 2) better retain important information in the long term.

    Makes Onboarding Easier (and Even Fun)

    It’s no secret that effective onboarding increases employee retention, and a knowledge base can vouch for that.

    Right at their first contact with your company, a content-rich knowledge base provides your new hires with uninterrupted support. Besides reducing the learning curve around new work processes, it helps them get familiar with their roles much more efficiently.

    Better Collaboration and Engagement

    A report from Gallup shows that highly engaged teams showed 21% more profitability. Another report, also from Gallup, suggests that employees who feel engaged at their jobs produce higher-quality work.

    A simple way to keep your employees engaged is by allowing all of them to contribute to the knowledge-sharing process inside the platform. Even if newer employees aren’t creating content, they can still promote a successful learning culture within the team by liking, adding comments, and asking clarifying questions.

    How Can You Centralize Knowledge in Your Organization?

    1. Decide What to Cover in Your Knowledge Base

    When we first defined a knowledge base in the beginning of this article, we included a few examples of what to cover in a knowledge base.

    While it makes sense to cover all of those assets, you should also make sure your employees don’t feel crushed by the amount of information inside the knowledge base. As a starting point, you should include your company’s most essential resources, such as onboarding processes and policies.

    As for additional topics – such as how-to articles and FAQs – you can survey employees from different departments to pinpoint the common questions and concerns you should address.

    2. Create the Content

    You don’t need to create the content of your knowledge base from scratch. Your company likely already has content you can repurpose for your knowledge base, such as blog posts, presentations, and social media posts. All of those assets will come in handy at this moment.

    Next, assign content creators within each department to work on any additional pieces you may need. This way, you’ll ensure that the content is well-structured and written by subject matter experts.

    Of course, don’t forget user-friendliness. Make sure the platform has a search bar so that employees can quickly search for keywords and find the resources they need.

    3. Keep the Knowledge Base Updated

    Your knowledge base is a living document that’s meant to optimize your employees’ experience at work, not clutter it.

    Therefore, your platform should grow side-by-side with your company. It’s your job, as well as your team’s job, to keep it up-to-date with fresh information, delete outdated content, and keep the wheels turning.

    Not only will a LMS keep all of your company’s training material in one place, but it will develop unique learning paths to support every individual’s growth and success.

     

    Challenges That May Arise When Creating a Knowledge Base

    According to McKinsey, reaping the full benefit of social technologies requires a transformation in structures, processes, and cultures.

    Just as any effective change in the workplace, creating a knowledge base warrants dedicated effort from every single department – particularly when it comes to keeping internal documentation useful.

    But that isn’t as easy as it sounds. According to a GitHub survey, 93% of employees have reported incomplete or outdated documentation to be the biggest problem with knowledge bases.

    Your primary goal, then, should be to ensure that your knowledge base consists only of relevant information. Otherwise, this change will not work for anyone involved.

    Final Thoughts

    When implemented correctly, a centralized knowledge base removes all obstacles to training and learning in the workplace. So that your employees can be engaged, productive and confident from the get-go.

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