Promote a Climate of Commitment and Trust

Gaining commitment is a matter of trying to get everyone to identify with the purpose and values of the organization, which will include processes for developing and sharing knowledge. Commitment can be enhanced by developing a strategy which will include the implementation of communication, education and training programmes, initiatives to increase involvement and ‘ownership’, and the introduction of performance and reward processes.

Developing a high-trust organization means creating trust between management and employees as a basis for encouraging trust between individual employees or groups of employees. People are more likely to trust management if its actions are fair, equitable, consistent and transparent, and if it keeps its word. 

It is difficult although not impossible to develop trust between management and employees. But it is not possible to make individual employees trust one another, and such trust is important if knowledge is to be shared. Developing a climate of trust in the organization helps, otherwise it is a matter of developing social capital in the sense of putting people into positions where they have to work together, and encouraging interaction and networking so that individuals recognize the value of sharing knowledge because it helps achieve common and accepted aims. This process can be helped by team-building activities. Trust may also be enhanced if knowledge is exchanged as a matter of course in forums, conferences etc. Dialogue occurs between people who want to connect and are given opportunities to do so in a collaborative, creative and adaptive culture.