Tutoring – internal network of experts shares knowledge

How do I share my knowledge with others? Where can I find the answer to a customer’s question? Who are my colleagues and what do they do? Here are a few questions to which the Comatec Group began seeking answers through a tutoring network launched in 2017.

With the help of named tutors, Comatec encourages employees to share their knowledge and engage in discussion on all areas of our expertise. Our employees can also seek guidance on a wide range of design-related issues and, if the tutoring network cannot answer the question, they most probably know who can.

What’s more, our tutors actively share their expertise through internal communication channels and organize tutoring webinars on topics requested by our employees. Tutors also organize webinars to introduce new experts to the rest of the organisation. When these experts have seen first-hand how easy and fulfilling knowledge sharing is, they usually become new members of the tutoring network.

Engineering Manager Juha Hakanen signed up as the tutor for Machine Safety as soon as the network was launched in the spring of 2017.

– We machine safety experts are actively involved in the design of machines. I also work as a supervisor and as a health and safety representative at Comatec as well as train our employees in machine safety. Thus, tutoring was a natural step forward.

However, not every tutor has to be as active as Juha. Each can choose their own tutoring method as long as they are eager to help others and share their expertise. Some respond to email requests, some write blog posts and others make instruction manuals or videos. In the end, tutoring is voluntary and the tutor’s main job always comes first. Thus, tutors respond to employees’ requests when their own workload permits.

– Nevertheless, we hope that our colleagues seek our help as soon as a question arises. We have a broad understanding of what expertise we have within the Group and want to share this knowledge. What’s more, tough questions spice up our workdays and offer a great learning opportunity also to us tutors. After all, nobody needs to know everything, Hakanen sums up.

We have published an animation about our tutoring network on our YouTube channel. Click here and have a look.