Thread by @inspiredcat

#thread on the perils of workplace knowledge-hiding:

"firms with a high-trust environment, where employees can collaboratively and transparently share knowledge, gain stock returns two to three times higher than the industry average and have 50% lower turnover rates"

"When we deliberately withhold or conceal information from each other, we are doing something called 'knowledge hiding,' an action that can take several different forms."

"We may pretend to be uninformed, provide inaccurate information to those who ask us, promise to share information but never intend to, or find excuses to tell people that we can’t share when we actually can."

Why? (Do any of these sound familiar?)

"because we fear losing power or the status that is achieved through knowing unique information."

"Other reasons include: identifying knowledge as our own property, worrying we will be judged based on what we know, or disliking or distrusting those who ask us.

Basically, we hide knowledge because we fear the potential costs of sharing it."

"If those costs are personal, we may even withhold knowledge to protect ourselves and expect to gain, or maintain, an advantage by doing so."

So, the researchers asked, does this work? Do you gain by knowledge hiding?

The answer(s):

"What we found is that those who engage in knowledge hiding are about 17% less likely to thrive at work, or experience learning and growth. We believe this is because hiding knowledge from peers does not actually result in a competitive advantage."

"Rather, it makes employees feel psychologically unsafe. As prior research suggests, without psychological safety, it can be difficult for employees to focus on tasks, develop meaningful relationships, and explore new ways of working without fear of punishment for mistakes"

Findings from another of the authors' studies:

"knowledge hiding does make people feel more psychologically unsafe at work, and as a result, those people will be less likely to thrive."

A third study:

"We were curious if cynicism and knowledge hiding interact in any way to influence employees’ psychological safety and thriving."

"When respondents who knowledge hid were also cynical toward their organizations (e.g., those who felt the organization lacked honesty, fairness, integrity, or saw serious, unresolvable problems at their companies),

had a stronger perception of unsafety, and consequently, had a difficult time thriving."

"We now know that knowledge hiding is much more harmful when those who hide knowledge have a negative attitude toward their organization as opposed to a positive one."

So what can firms do about this?

"work towards developing cultures in which their employees feel comfortable speaking openly about their concerns."

"If you can address the problems that are making your workers feel cynical, you can start to gain back their trust and help alleviate some of that cynicism."

"Companies should also invest in teaching managers how to recognize signs of employees who may be struggling and initiate difficult conversations about why."

"there is value in educating your people on the consequences of knowledge hiding. Those who are keeping information in order to protect themselves may not understand that they are actually doing the opposite."

"Use trainings, newsletters, bulletin boards, and other communication channels to spread this information."

Source: Why Withholding Information at Work Won’t Give You an Advantage

bit.ly/2CGGO4f