Knowledge sharing at Workpath

How we foster and enable mutual growth — beyond work as well

In one of our last articles, we shared some of the book recommendations from our Workpath library. This library, however, is only one of many initiatives we have established in our team to foster and enable knowledge sharing. Today, we want to broaden the scope and tell you more about how knowledge sharing — beyond work as well — is deeply rooted in our organization’s culture.

A short recap: why knowledge sharing

At Workpath, we distinguish between our core values (who we are) and our operating principles (how we want to act). One of our operating principles is Grow and help growing every day. While we all believe in the purpose of Workpath to unleash human value creation in today’s organizations, equally important is the personal and professional development and growth of everyone involved on this journey. Bringing together so many brilliant minds from diverse backgrounds offers a unique opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences. We believe that personal and professional growth represents the ultimate driver of a great and fulfilled work life.

In the following, we want to briefly touch upon some of the pillars that we installed for an environment where knowledge is spread and shared throughout the company. We will cover:

• Quarterly Objectives and Key Results (OKRs): cross-functional alignment and learning
• Meeting rhythm: get the right persons on the right topics at one table
• Toast masters: present you and Workpath with confidence on public appearances
• Monthly knowledge sessions: foster knowledge sharing beyond work topics
• Knowledge hub: a central place for asynchronous knowledge sharing
• Slack channel: spontaneous sharing of little knowledge nuggets

Quarterly Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

Cross-functional alignment and learning on the team’s projects and outcomes

Every quarter, the whole company drafts OKRs on an organizational and on a team level. As the main use case of OKRs (that is what we sell to our customers as well) is the fast and adaptable execution of strategy to deliver business results, this framework requires cross-functional collaboration and communication. Thereby, we learn from each team, e.g. during the alignment fair where everyone presents their quarterly priorities, what they are up to this quarter, what potential overlaps or synergies exist between the teams and how they could learn from each other to contribute to a common goal.

Meeting rhythm

Get the right persons on the right topics at one table

Coming from quarterly goals and priorities which represent hypotheses about how we potentially deliver business results, an effective meeting rhythm allows a continuous flow of learnings and knowledge. While you should be cautious installing too many (ineffective and inefficient) meetings, regular and well prepared alignment meetings allow us to bring the right people together on the right topics. A daily huddle for example (also known as daily stand-up or daily scrum) allows us to react on a short-term basis to potential blockers and share learnings at a fast pace. Our (bi-)weekly Check-ins represent a more reflection-based format where we check the progress of our quarterly goals, how we have been contributing to it, what we have learned working on them and what we plan to do during the next sprint.

Toast masters

Present you and Workpath with confidence on public appearances

In the last months, we established a new format called Toast masters. The aim is to develop and strengthen our value proposition and messaging towards customers on the hand and on the other hand to improve our presentation and storytelling skills. Therefore we meet to discuss and improve our presentation skills about Workpath, our offering and our story. It exemplifies quite nicely how personal and professional development can be fostered at the same time for the individual employee and for us as a company as well.

Knowledge hub

A central place for asynchronous knowledge sharing

While the pillars so far have been focusing on the work related aspect as well, the remaining three cover aspects of knowledge sharing beyond work. As many organizations alike, we also have our central knowledge hub. There are different levels of knowledge we share there: 1) knowledge relevant for everyone working at Workpath (this is particularly helpful for the onboarding of new colleagues), 2) knowledge relevant for the day-to-day work of individual teams and 3) knowledge which goes beyond work related matters. As a knowledge platform is no end in itself, our aim is to allow asynchronous knowledge sharing so we do not depend on too many meetings or repetitions while scaling and growing the company.

Slack channels

Spontaneous sharing of little knowledge nuggets

While a central knowledge hub requires some effort to maintain and keep it updated, our communication flows in our Slack environment foster a more spontaneous and quick sharing of small knowledge nuggets. Depending on the context, different channels have different purposes (which are put into the channel description), so if someone wants to share something, they know where to post it in order to reach the right people. As a channel might become overwhelming with many messages, an important guideline is to give a short description of what and why we are sharing something, so the channel members can quickly decide whether it is relevant for them.

Monthly knowledge sessions

Foster knowledge sharing beyond work topics

Our monthly knowledge sessions are a good example of how we share knowledge on topics which are completely beyond work. The topics we engage with are suggested and prepared by different team members. While we learn something new, we also get to know our colleagues on a deeper level when they share things they are passionate about. Aspects which we discussed so far include for example Productivity hacks, Personal Finance and Mindfulness. The last one actually led to our weekly meditation and yoga session — a successful and long-lasting knowledge sharing initiative 🙌!

If this article made you curious to find out more about Workpath or if you have any suggestions how we could improve our knowledge sharing practices, we are always looking forward to hearing from you. Even if you are happy in your current job, we are glad to keep you posted about job opportunities here. Feel free to join our talent pool or to send a mail to jobs@workpath.com.