We're not talking about the information that resides on your servers or databases, but about the wisdom contained in the heads of you and your colleagues.

Many people in your workforce will have skills and experience vital to the successful running of your company. This will be specialised knowledge about your business or market sector that perhaps few other people in the world possess, including your co-workers.

Right now you probably have expertise or insights that many of your colleagues lack. What if there was an easy way to pass these on? Knowledge transfer of this kind might help them perform their duties more effectively.

It turns out there are some simple but effective ways to do this. Let's look at a couple.

For a start, you can create a best practice section on your intranet or in your company magazine or newsletter. When someone achieves a notable success, ask them to write an article about it. Not to boast, but to explain the thinking and actions behind their achievement.

They should use the article to answer some key questions. Why did they succeed? What lessons have they learned? How would they do things differently next time?

Another way to get skilled colleagues to share their expertise is to encourage them to run in company training courses. These don't have to be major events. A half day workshop or a 90 minute seminar might be all that's needed to pass on valuable hints and tips.

Training others can be a great way of developing your own knowledge as well as boosting your self confidence. And if it's done in house there are at least two other advantages.

Firstly, it's likely to be less expensive than using an external training provider. Speaking as someone who works for a major training provider, I think you can trust me on this.

Secondly, training provided from within a company is likely to be targeted to the needs of that company in a way that an external training provider would find hard to match.

Ouch, this is getting painful. But wait, training providers do have a useful role to play in all of this. We can help by providing 'train the trainer' courses that show you and your colleagues how easy it is to transfer knowledge to others in the company.

To help you do this there are many excellent offerings available in the market place. So what kinds of features should you look for in a good 'train the trainer' course?

Many people express concern about public speaking. So one of the first requirements of such training is to overcome these fears. What's needed are practical tips on presentation that even the most anxious speaker can take advantage of.

Next the training needs to ensure that the course content is written and structured in a way that will hold the attention of all attendees. Again, there are many practical tips that can ensure this occurs.

Whether a course is run in company or externally, those attending need to feel engaged. A good 'train the trainer' course will provide tools and techniques to ensure that people attending are active participants in the training and feel fully involved.

It should also provide useful dos and don'ts for every aspect of the training process, as well as highlight classic mistakes that inexperienced trainers make and show you how to avoid them.

Running a successful training course is very satisfying. Sharing knowledge with your colleagues and helping the company to grow its collective wisdom can be highly rewarding.

If you have expertise that could benefit your colleagues, learning how to be an effective trainer could be a smart move indeed.