The Importance of Peer to Peer Communication

This I’m sure, is something a lot of you have experienced in your professional lives, and most of you continue to do so.

The larger an organization gets, the more “silo’d “the information ( and its people )  thereby creating barriers for the hassle free exchange knowledge .  We all know that “Managing” knowledge is a rather difficult task since a large percentage of that Knowledge is in the minds of your employees. So, the next best thing is to create robust communication channels to enable that information to flow. Nowhere is this more true than with Peer-to-Peer groups, as these are the groups that have most in common with each other. They tend to benefit much more when the information is shared between them. Creating cross peer group communication channels are important as well, but its benefits are felt in a different manner.

In most cases, smaller groups do not face the same issues as larger ones. However there have been instances where people are in the dark about a large number of things happening around them. This tend to create an atmosphere where a lot of information falls through the cracks. This gets worse when you have new people in your team who really don’t know how to get to the information they require.

Now, the question of whether to create hierarchical or functional groups depends entirely on the way your organization is setup. Though for best results it might be a good idea to do a little bit of both.

I have seen first hand the benefits of having such communication channels open to people. The immediate benefits of a channel like this is realization followed by understanding. Even if you do not have a direct vested interest in what the other person does, it gives you knowledge that you can use at a later point.

So how do you go about promoting this sharing sessions?

• Well, the best way to tackle this is to create an informal forum. This could either be an online community of practice, or a discussion over coffee once a week. The objective of setting up such a forum is to be allow people to share information informally, and, if you are particular about deriving effort you can have someone sit in could take notes.

• A wiki tool is something that can be used rather effectively in sessions like these. At the end of the chat people can go back to their work stations and compile their notes online. The more people that do that the more refined the information gets.

There are a whole host of ways you can promote sharing sessions, so get creative!

Do not be dis-heartened if some of these initiatives fail. Getting Knowledge Management to work is more of an art than a science, once you have a finger on the pulse of your employees you’ll quickly learn the best ways to promote your initiatives.

Related posts:

1. Knowledge Culture
2. Knowledge Management and Technology
3. Leadership Expectations
4. Knowledge in Projects
5. One Step at a Time