On occasion, while we are helping a new customer roll out their new BrainKeeper Enterprise Wiki, one of our client's employees will ask the question, "What's in it for me?".  It might not be asked quite this directly, but ultimately, this is the question that they are asking.

The initial response is always the same:  It depends on what you put into it.

Since wikis are social in nature, those who actively participate in creating, editing and improving the content are the ones who get the most reward.  Ultimately, you will be seen as an expert in the subject areas where you contribute most, allowing other team members to develop trust and a reliance on your expertise.  This also has the added benefit of raising your perceived (and actual) value within the organization, since everyone is able to clearly identify what you are knowledgeable about- and you are willing to share that knowledge with everyone in the company.

In addition to these social and professional rewards, there are also personal rewards that go along with actively participating in a Wiki.  For example, satisfying your natural instinct to make things better when you contribute to existing knowledge or the satisfaction of creating and maintaining information that you really care about will give you a sense of personal satisfaction.  These natural tendencies are part of the reason why Wikipedia thrives, and will play a part in the success of the Wiki within your organization.

This is not to say that passive users, those who simply use the wiki to answer questions or find information, get nothing.  In fact, they get a great deal out of the Wiki too.  For example: getting answers to questions without having to wait for an emailed response, or the ability to determine who is an expert on specific subjects, are both great ways for information consumers to get value out of your Wiki. 

So, instead of asking what you are going to get out of it, simply make a conscious effort to help others through the wiki- and they will help you.

We got some interesting insights from one of our subscribers that we thought would be valuable to help your Wiki gain momentum. Our subscriber found that some people were reluctant to add new wiki pages if they didn't have a "complete" page- meaning that they didn't have all of the information that others would need. This line of thinking was preventing valuable insights from getting into the wiki. The solution is easy enough to identify: users should be encouraged to create new pages even if they will be incomplete. It is usually easy to convince people to understand that once information is in your Wiki, other users will improve upon it.

You could actually make the case that it is more important to know what topics, documents, and ideas should be captured in the wiki- and less important to have them completely outlined when you first submit them to the wiki. People, because of human nature, are much more likely to improve what is already there than they are to start something from scratch. When you think about this, this really does make sense. If you come across something that you know is inaccurate, not quite right or lacking some details, it is almost a natural instinct to improve upon it.

So, the next time you think something needs to be put in your Wiki but you don't know 100% of what needs to be there, just put in what you know and allow others to improve upon it. If you know there are certain people who can make it better, let them know and ask them to take a look. Starting this evolution process and bringing other people into the mix on a regular basis will dramatically improve both the amount and quality of the information in your Wiki.