Security in Knowledge Sharing

As a sequel to Delegation, I’d like to talk about my experience with mentoring and sharing knowledge. I cannot delegate if the delegatees do not know how to do the job I want them to do. For a novice in the team, it had to be teaching. For someone with a good level of knowledge, it had to be mentoring. For someone who has enough experience, it is only coaching needed. In either of these methods, I needed to pass down the knowledge.

There were some few months of my management period when I felt like a star because people could sense that within the team, only I knew so much.. But this was to my own detriment. I had to do the jobs myself and I could not delegate. My system almost crashed because of excess work load and I almost broke down.

My vacation was fast approaching. I wondered what would happen when I am away? It would not tell well of me if the team could not survive in my absence. It then dawned on me that I had to pass down knowledge.

This knowledge sharing came through teaching, hands on training, developing manuals and procedures they could follow, coaching and mentoring. Yes, it was a month of spending extra hours but it paid off. Not only did the team members have the confidence to work independently, they had materials to refer to in my absence.

I know that there are some who feel passing down knowledge would make them irrelevant. On the contrary, passing down knowledge freed me to do other things and prepared me for higher responsibility. I felt more valuable having shared knowledge rather than hoarding it to myself.

What’s your take on this?