Every company builds up knowledge. Employees learn, grow, develop expertise, and yet the same problem arises again and again: you look for information, can't find it, or simply ask the person who ought to know.

As long as that person is there, it works. As soon as they are on vacation, get sick, or leave the company, a gap opens up. Sometimes a small one. Sometimes one that really hurts.

We know this scenario from our own experience and from working with our clients.

The moment that got us thinking

At splendid, we didn't look into the topic of knowledge management out of theoretical interest. It was our own onboarding that opened our eyes.

New colleagues joined us, and with them came the exact same questions every time: Which tools do we use? Where is the CI board? Who is the right contact person for which project?

These are not bad questions. But if they have to be answered anew every single time, something is structurally wrong.

At the same time, we observed the same pattern with our clients: a long-standing employee leaves the company, and with them goes process knowledge, customer knowledge, and internal logic that was never written down. What remains are gaps and a team starting from scratch yet again.

What we changed specifically

Since we ourselves support companies in making knowledge accessible with digital learning formats and e-learnings, it was clear to us: we also practice what we recommend to others.

So we started creating structure, step by step.

Notion as a shared knowledge base: We fundamentally revised our internal documentation. Who covers for whom in which project? Which tools do we use for what? Which procedures apply to inquiries, project starts, internal communication? All of this is now centrally recorded. Not perfect, but usable. And that is the crucial difference.

Clear workflows instead of implicit knowledge: We have written down processes that were previously stored in people's heads. This means that onboarding is now more structured and new colleagues no longer have to ask what should have been answered long ago.

The splendid academy: In addition, we set up the splendid academy. There we gather the experiences that previously only existed in conversations and workshops – accessible to our team and our clients.

What this changes in the long run

You don't see the effects of well-organized knowledge immediately. You see it when someone is absent and things still run smoothly.

Teams that can access structured information don't have to start from scratch every Monday. The next person who starts no longer asks what should have been answered long ago, and the dependency on individual people level off. Not because expertise becomes less important, but because it is no longer exclusively tied to one person.

For us personally, this means: we can grow without every new step starting at square one again.

Conclusion: Knowledge must be usable – not just present

If you lose the person who knows the most tomorrow – how much knowledge goes with them?

If the answer makes you uncomfortable, don't start with a system. Start with the first written workflow. With the first page in Notion. With the first learning module that exists on a platform rather than in someone's head.

It's not a major feat. But it's the only one that counts.