"Recruiting and getting employees up to speed in terms of
company culture-our vision and mission-is one of the things I worry
about the most," says Joel Maske, 32, CEO of Isyndicate, a San
Francisco-based Web content syndication company that has grown from
12 to 85 employees in 1999 alone. Maske says that even though his
company gathers and spreads information electronically to over 175
corporate customers, nothing beats face-to-face communication
within the office. "It's the big paradox of high tech: You
think e-mail is the answer. But I'm a big believer in
face-to-face interaction." Isyndicate's office has no
walls, and employees work in "pods," groupings of four to
six desks. The nature of the market makes this necessary.
"It's fast moving, and we need to be on top and share
readily," he says.
When it comes to training new employees, Maske prefers the
old-fashioned approach: He seeks out team leaders who can not only
train, but can tell new employees stories about how the company
started. There's a written history as well-a weekly intranet
newsletter called The Jackalope! that contains details of projects
as well as staff photos. "I want everyone to understand the
company and where we're heading," Maske says. "I want
people to know that we're committed to the long term."
Creating Your Own Strategy
Content Continues Below
Whether you have one employee or one hundred, you should have a
knowledge management strategy with a good balance of face-to-face
and online communication. The tangible end of your business-project
rundowns, product details, costs-can be stored easily on a
database. It's such intangibles as brainstorming sessions and
individual expertise that young companies need to figure out how to
document. Newman suggests CEOs start by answering three questions:
What is our competitive advantage? What is the most important
knowledge our company needs to own and retain? What are our
priorities for retaining and building the knowledge that
differentiates us in the marketplace?
Next, decide how employees can contribute to the knowledge base
and draw from it. "Entrepreneurs must make sure that employees
are developing a rich way of discourse," Hansen says.
"and they should devote resources to it."
One way to ensure that employees are continuously learning from
each other is to ask experienced employees to speak openly about
their experiences in the company-for example, how they have handled
difficult client situations, Newman says. Having an informal
proundtable discussion links the present to the past and reveals
how employees feel about their work and the company itself. You
might find, too, that your workers are sticking around longer.
Hesketh says that interviewees often reveal that they aren't
being given their current employer's big picture, and
there's no real opportunity to share knowledge. "They tell
me they think they'll learn more if they have an opportunity to
interact with others in my company. They'd rather have that
than formal training or classes."
Be aware that things will change as your company expands.
"As you grow, you must think hard about the best way of
sharing knowledge, and that depends on the type of business you
have," Hansen says.
For Hesketh, who is hiring a new employee every two months,
face-to-face communication is increasingly a challenge, especially
since some of her employees work flexible schedules and the nature
of the job requires a lot of conversation. Between in-person
strategy sessions, the employees use an internal mailing list to
share ideas and industry trends. "Virtual communication is
logical for us, and I don't see it as replacing face-to-face
contact. I'm encouraging communication, whether it's
virtual or in-person. I don't want to build walls."
Deciding how to document your workers' knowledge will make
life easier as you grow and help your staff adjust as employees
come and go.
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