Date Published November 18, 2025 - Last Updated November 18, 2025
Every service desk has one: the knight in shining armor. The brave soul who swoops in when the system breaks, slays the dragon of downtime and saves the day.
They’re brilliant. Dependable. The stuff of legend. But here’s the twist: They might be holding the kingdom hostage.
The Myth of the Lone Knight
I remember that analyst on my very first service desk. He’d wait until panic spread across the floor. Then, he’d ride in with the fix or answer.
He knew every workaround, every undocumented trick…all the secrets and spells locked securely in a vault guarded by dragons never to be shared without the appropriate audience.
Before I took over the team, everyone treated him like a hero. After all, he was the shining knight rescuing the helpless villagers. Except — cue the collective gasp — he wasn’t saving the village. He was keeping it dependent on his sword….and that was the problem. The village couldn’t defend itself.
When Valor Turns Into Vulnerability
Knowledge hoarding often starts as noble intent. Maybe the knight was the first to conquer the new system or the last one who remembered how to tame a legacy beast. Praise followed, and soon their identity was built on being the only one who could.
But when one knight holds all the swords, the kingdom is weak. The moment that hero takes a vacation, retires or burns out, the village is at risk.
Redefining What Heroism Looks Like
True heroism isn’t being the one who slays the dragon. It’s being the one teaching the army to fight and how to slay dragons as a team.
Real heroes know that a strong service desk isn’t measured by the brilliance of one knight; it’s measured by the strength of the army. When knowledge lives in a shared armory (a searchable repository) instead of one person’s head, the entire force responds faster, more accurately and with greater confidence.
Customers don’t care about lone heroics, they care about consistent victories. The real hero is the one who builds capability, not dependency.
Turning Knowledge Hoarders Into Knowledge Sharers
Here’s how leaders can start reshaping their service desk from a realm of lone knights to a united order of knowledge sharers.
1. Change What You Celebrate
Instead of applauding the hero who rides in at the last second, start celebrating the knight who prevents the dragon from showing up at all.
Start recognizing and rewarding:
- Documenting a workaround or fix
- Improving a knowledge article
- Training a peer or mentoring a squire
- Reducing escalations
- Automating repetitive tasks
Action Step for Leaders: Update your recognition programs, performance reviews and scorecards to highlight collaboration and knowledge reuse, not just resolution speed.
2. Build Knowledge-Sharing into the Battle Plan
If knowledge capture is an afterthought, no one will ever get around to it.
Adopt Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) methodology and the UFFA method — Use, Flag, Fix, Add:
- Use: Check for existing knowledge before solving.
- Flag: Identify outdated or incomplete content.
- Fix: Update the article as part of the ticket process.
- Add: Create new content when nothing exists.
Action Step for Teams: Make UFFA a required step in ticket closure; not a nice-to-have.
Consider investing in KCS training, and build templates and workflows so documentation feels like sharpening your sword — a valuable, important step in preparation for the next battle.
3. Create Psychological Safety
Some knights don’t hoard knowledge out of pride or a sense of superiority. They do it out of fear. They worry:
- “What if my article isn’t perfect?”
- “What if someone challenges me?”
- “What if my worth declines?”
- “What if I’m not really as good as they think I am?”
- “What if they don’t need me anymore?”
Action Step for Leaders: Recognize the value of sharing information. Publicly thank people who attempt to document or teach, not just those who do it flawlessly. Make “sharing” an act of bravery.
4. Model the Behavior
A king or queen who never leaves the castle can’t expect their knights to follow.
When leaders:
- Share their own lessons learned,
- Invite feedback on process improvements,
- Use and update documentation themselves…
…they send a powerful message: this is how we win battles together.
Action Step for Leaders: Start every team meeting with a “knowledge win.” Share (or have a team member share) a quick story of how shared knowledge prevented an issue or helped a colleague.
5. Build the Future, Not the Fortress
Transforming culture takes time, but the payoff is enormous:
- The lone knight becomes a mentor.
- Apprentices grow faster.
- Dragons (problems) are slain before they wreak havoc.
- The service desk runs like a well-trained army instead of a battleground.
Action Step for Everyone: Ask one question daily: “Who else needs to know this?” Then, act on it. Every time you share, you strengthen the shield wall.
Final Thought
Great leaders create an environment where legacy isn’t defined by how many dragons their analysts have slain, but by the ability of the team to work together to face the next one.
And, the great knights we remember aren’t those who fought alone and sought accolades for their heroics, but those who taught others and built enduring capabilities.
The quiet triumph of great leadership is turning individual brilliance into collective strength.