In today's workplaces, especially in public affairs, fostering the exchange of information and ensuring seamless knowledge sharing is crucial for organisational efficiency and innovation. Unfortunately, some colleagues still engage in knowledge hiding, such as deliberately concealing work-related information from each other. This behaviour is not only counterproductive, but also negatively impacts relationships, attitudes, and performance for individuals, as well as creativity and productivity for organisations. 

Is your colleague hiding something from you?

According to research, men tend to withhold knowledge more frequently than women, often through rationalised hiding. On the other hand, women, constrained by societal expectations to be caring, tend to resort to evasive hiding or “playing dumb”, which, though less likely to attract negative reactions, may induce guilt and reinforce harmful gender stereotypes. In contrast, men, not bound by the same societal expectations, can protect their knowledge with less risk, ultimately benefiting more from their chosen concealment method.

When it comes to knowledge work and knowledge-intensive fields like Public Affairs, we are talking about a women-driven industry. While women make up less than half of the total employed population in the EU, they constitute a majority in knowledge-intensive fields (59%). The distribution of women employed in such services of course varies across EU countries, with percentages ranging from 50% in Malta and Luxembourg to up to almost 70% in Lithuania and Latvia. However, women often have lower chances than men to engage in knowledge exchange and combination processes. Additionally, they are more prone to exclusion from opportunities related to social exchanges centred around innovation - which is often regarded as something of a masculine tone, due to associations with male-dominant (ie. tech and STEM) industries.

Therefore we at SAVOIRR see a clear need for tailored interventions to address the unique challenges faced by women in knowledge sharing, and to develop organisational strategies for minimising harmful knowledge hiding altogether. And yes, we have a concrete solution! 

Introducing practices to increase knowledge-sharing

Research suggests that implementing management practices that overly promote individual performance, competition, and goal achievement, can inadvertently encourage men to engage in knowledge hiding more frequently. Therefore emphasising the team’s performance over individuals, and shared goals over personal triumphs, often deliver best results in productivity. 

Seamless knowledge sharing is caring indeed, and with SAVOIRR, the entire organisation will have all the relevant information at their fingertips, including publication-ready reports to share. Being a cloud-based solution, SAVOIRR enables seamless cooperation on managing policy updates, procedures, individual dossiers or even decision-makers and other stakeholders. No more important data being “forgotten” on a colleague’s desktop, or information lost due to personnel changes.

Furthermore, women may represent the majority in the field of knowledge-work, but they are often employed in more routine roles within knowledge-intensive organisations, and thus they are likely to miss out on opportunities to innovate. We see a pressing need to hand those routine tasks over to AI, re-empower the human brain, and free time and capacity for more productive and creative work. That way multiplying your organisational success is simple and effortless.