Challenging Minds with Knowledge Cafes at the ING Bank Academy

I recently came across this article in Forbes magazine Is the Traditional Corporate University Dead? by Karl Moore and Phil Lenir.

Imagine my delight when I learnt that the ING Business School in the Netherlands had adapted my Knowledge Cafe process and were using it as part of their Challenging Minds programme.

I immediately contacted Mireille Jansma and Jurgen Egges to congratulate them on their work and the article. This instigated a conversation with Mireille where I discovered that she had learnt about my Knowledge Cafe over four years ago through my website and then experienced one that I ran at an ECKM conference in Barcelona in 2007. In fact, I recall sitting outside the conference in the courtyard having a long conversation with her.

Mireille and Jurgen have adapted the Cafe format and are using it in two ways. The first way is described in the Forbes article that I summarise here:

• They gather articles and reports about relevant trends in management, banking, and finance
• They then broadcast "Research Alerts"
• When an Alert deserves serious attention, they host a Knowledge Café
• The KCafes are targeted at specific groups or open to anyone
• Sometimes the KCafe is triggered by a video
• They follow through with online discussion groups

These types of initiatives focus on topics that are highly relevant and in-the-moment for managers and workers, and where the sharing of ideas and exchange of opinions lead to creativity and innovation.

Credit: Is the Traditional Corporate University Dead? by Karl Moore and Phil Lenir, Forbes Magazine September 2011

They are also using the Knowledge Cafes in a second way as part of their Challenging Minds programme as described in the document below. Unfortunately they did not win the EFMD award but its an innovative approach to teaching nevertheless. It shares a lot in common with Flip Teaching that I blogged about recently.

Connect, Connect, Connect
Creating a New Approach to Leverage Social, Collaborative, and Emergent Organizational Learning

Application for the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Excellence in Practice Award 2011

Executive Summary

This case study describes an ongoing partnership between ING Business School (IBS) recently renamed the ING Bank Academy and CoachingOurselves (CO) that began in January 2010. It focuses not on a single learning intervention but rather on the evolution of a continually and broadly expanding application of CO learning philosophies and materials to a wide range of IBS development programs that serve all of ING's leaders, managers, and employees.

CoachingOurselves provides a library of topics intended for 6 to 8 managers to read and discuss in group sessions. IBS partnered with CO initially to use a few topics, but the success of CO as a tool that fosters social, collaborative, and emergent learning that leads to meaningful improvements in management performance and engagement, along with its low-cost, modular topics, and immediate relevance, has led IBS to broadly incorporate CO into many of its learning initiatives.

Video: Interview with Mireille Jansma and Jurgen Egges of the ING Business Academy in Amsterdam

This is a short video interview with Mireille Jansma and Jurgen Egges of the ING Business Academy in Amsterdam in November 2011 where David Gurteen asks them how they learnt about his Knowledge Cafe concept and how it has played a role in their "Challenging Minds" programme.

Media Information:

Video: Interview with David Gurteen at the ING Business Academy

This is a short video interview with David Gurteen by Mireille Jansma of the ING Business Academy in Amsterdam in November 2011 where she asks him what he thinks of their "Challenging Minds" programme having just experienced one of the sessions

Media Information: