The results of the major research studies on employee satisfaction that I am aware of indicate that feeling appreciated is ranked at or near the top in terms of what is most important. Another is professional development. Most organizations claim that their “most valuable assets walk out the door at the end of each business day.” That is true. Almost all intellectual “capital” is stored between two ears and much (too much) of it is, for whatever reasons, inaccessible to others except in small change. Knowledge transfers should be constant but seldom are.

In If Only We Knew What We Know: The Transfer of Internal Knowledge and Best Practice, Carla O’Dell and Jackson Grayson focus on what they call “beds of knowledge” which are “hidden resources of intelligence that exist in almost every organization, relatively untapped and unmined.” They suggest all manner of effective strategies to “tap into this hidden asset, capturing it, organizing it, transferring it, and using it to create customer value, operational excellence, and product innovation — all the while increasing profits and effectiveness.”

For example, one of the exercises I conduct for consulting clients is quite simple but extraordinarily valuable. Here’s how it works. I ask to meet with 5-10 key executives, with or without the CEO included. Each of those present, in rotation around the table, says to each of the others (one at a time): “Here is what you and your people could do to make my life much easier.” The exercise continues until each executive has spoken directly to every other person. All this takes about 30 minutes. Invariably the response is, “I had no idea. No problem. We’ll be glad to do it. Why didn’t you mention this before?” Everyone is involved, either asking for specific assistance from everyone else, or, learning how she or he could provide it.

The most valuable knowledge transfers require a workplace culture within which they are most likely to occur. Everyone must be encouraged to identify their knowledge needs and praised for doing so, especially by their supervisors. Moreover, they must have access to “beds of knowledge.”

One final point: Knowledge transfers should occur between and among those at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise. Four of the most powerful words in any organization are “I need your help.” But first you have to ask for it. That applies to C-level executives as well as to career-entry hires.