You might have noticed something.

The more experience people gain, the less willing some of them seem to be to share what they know.

Not everyone, of course.

But often enough to make you wonder.

Why?

Sometimes they’re busy.

Sometimes they assume you should already know.

And sometimes knowledge becomes part of their value at work.

Fair?

Maybe not.

But if you’ve spent a few years in the workplace, you’ve probably seen it happen.

The real question is not whether people should share more.

The real question is:

What can you do if they don’t?

You can’t change other people’s behaviour.

You can, however, change your strategy.

Here are a few ideas.

1. Ask for opinions, not information.

People often protect information.

They’re much less likely to protect opinions.

Instead of asking:

“How do I do this?”

Try asking:

“What’s the biggest mistake people make here?”

“How would you approach this?”

“When does this rule not apply?”

You might learn more than you expected.

2. Do your homework first.

Don’t ask someone else to solve the whole problem for you.

Spend some time thinking about it.

Then say:

“I think the answer is A because of X and Y. Am I missing something?”

People are often much happier to refine an idea than build one from scratch.

And if you want to understand the bigger picture, ask:

“What happened that made us choose this approach?”

People often protect know-how.

They’re much less protective of the story behind it.

3. Make it easy for people to help you.

A vague request can feel like a big commitment.

A specific request feels manageable.

Instead of:

“Can we have a chat sometime?”

Try:

“Do you have five minutes for one specific question?”

Or:

“If you had to teach someone this in five minutes, what would you focus on?”

And instead of asking people to tell you everything they know, ask:

“If you had to do this again, what would you avoid?”

Experience often hides in mistakes more than in procedures.

You can’t control how much other people share.

You can’t control office politics.

But you can control how you ask questions.

And sometimes, asking better questions is more powerful than getting better answers.

The next time you think,

“Nobody is telling me anything,”

try a different question.

“Am I asking in the smartest possible way?”

The answer might change the conversation.