Welcome to the Gurteen Knowledge Log for 2011 - 2016 inclusive. See the side panel for other years.
In this blog I write about items of interest that I have found on the web, experiences or insights that I think you will find useful mainly but not strictly limited to the area of Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning.
Like the rest of my site - it an eclectic mix.
If you like the blog you may wish to subscribe to my newsletter where I collate my best blog posts from the month plus other material and distribute it my email monthly.
Or you may subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog here:
Freedom of speech is more than just a value - Comments
You may be familiar with the controversy going on in Canada over the views of Prof. Jordan B. Peterson at the University of Toronto.
If you are not then here is an except from Wikipedia that summarises the issue.
On 27 September 2016, Peterson released the first part of a three-part lecture video series on political correctness.
In the video, he objects to the Canadian government's Bill C-16, which proposes to outlaw harassment and discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression under the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code.
His objection to the bill did not concern the LGBT discrimination legal debate, but rather the freedom of speech implications of C-16's other amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code, regarding their accommodation language.
Furthermore, he argued that the new amendments paired with section 46.3 of the Ontario Human Rights Code would make it possible for "employers and organizations to be subject to punishment under the code if any employee or associate says anything that can be construed as 'directly or indirectly' offensive."
Peterson further argues that it is necessary for people to recognize the importance of free speech and particularly free speech on college campuses.
Go take a look at all the videos, his teaching ones, the debates, the media interviews, the protests. It makes compelling viewing, both the issue, his personality and passion and the vehemence of those ranged against him.
But regardless of your own views on the human rights issue watch this video of a debate held at the University of Toronto on Free Speech, Political Correctness and Bill C-16.
What captured my attention was his stream of consciousness description and defence of free speech (15:43 to 16:58) which I have transcribed below.
And so we need to start talking and listening.
And when you talk it doesn't mean you're right.
It doesn't mean you're correct. Right?
It means you're trying to articulate and formulate your thoughts like the boneheaded moron that you are.
And you are going to stumble around idiotically because what the hell do you know.
You are full of biases, and you're ignorant, and you can't speak very well, and you're over emotional.
And you know you've got just problems that you can hardly even imagine that are interfering with your ability to state something clear.
And so what you do is you do your best to see what you mean.
And then you listen to other people tell you why you're a blithering idiot.
And hopefully, you can correct yourself to some degree as a consequence of listening to them.
And you see that is what free speech is about.
Because it isn't just that people can organize themselves and their societies by thinking.
You can't do that because there is only one of you.
What you have to do is you have to articulate your thoughts in a public forum.
So that other people can attack you and hopefully in a corrective manner.
And then you wanna, you know, step back a little bit.
And think okay you know I was a little arrogant there, and a little over emotional there and I didn't get that quite right, and maybe I am outright biased on that front.
And you want to correct what you say because then you correct how are you are and then you can correct how you act in life.
And then you correct your society.
And the degree to which we limit freedom of expression we put all of that at risk.
Later in his introduction (17:51 to 18:24) he makes the point that freedom of speech is not just another value but the mechanism by which we keep our psyches and our societies organised.
I love the way above that he describes how free speech works - a sort of "group thinking out loud" in pursuit of a better understanding of the world and ourselves.
I can understand the need for limitations such as hate speech legislation but it is a fine balance and like Prof. Peterson, to my mind we need to be extraordinary careful not to undermine the freedom of speech.
It is one of the reasons I am so passionate about the role of dialogue in our lives.
Thanks to David Creelman for pointing me to this controversy.
A big thank you to everyone who has given me feedback on "What makes a powerful question?" Your comments have been tremendously helpful in provoking my thoughts on the subject.
I am still looking for input from anyone who would like to add further to the discussion.
But note, I realize now that I was not entirely clear in my question :-)
Rather than ask "What makes a powerful question?", I meant to ask "In triggering a conversation to explore an issue - what makes a powerful question?"
How would one design or wordsmith such a question? What are its attributes?
Four great ownership questions from Peter Block - Comments
I run two interactive sessions at KM Asia in Hong Kong just before Christmas.
09:45 - 10:00 Connection before content
Consider yourselves as much an owner and co-creator of the conference experience as the Chair, speakers and facilitators. This ice-breaker session is driven by four 'ownership' questions from Peter Block. The most revealing of which is: To what extent are you prepared to take responsibility for the learning and engagement of others at this event?'
"We must establish a personal connection with each other. Connection before content. Without relatedness, no work can occur." (Peter Block)
14:00 - 15:00 Are challenging questions more powerful than answers?
Knowledge management (KM) is a challenging discipline given that it deals with the complex adaptive nature of human social systems. We are walking on a trampoline. Each step reconfigures the path ahead. There are no prescriptive solutions. In this dynamic session, you will have conversations with many different people, while standing and moving around the room.
The first session, at the start of day one, I particularly liked and I have run it several times now at conferences. You can learn more here
Peter Block's four ownership questions
and get access to the slides that I used - please feel free to download them and adapt them for your own use.
How many people at a conference or a workshop truly engage with the day and consider they are as much an owner and co-creator of the experience as the chairperson, speakers, and facilitators?
And how many are happy just to sit there, entranced, passively listening, and doing as they are told?
The four questions help reframe peoples' mindsets from a passive stance to a more interactive, engaging one.
A Randomised Coffee Trial or RCT for short is a rather fancy name for an incredibly simple but powerful idea.
RCTs are used to connect people in an organization at random and give them time to meet to have a coffee and talk about whatever they wish.
They are a simple, low-cost way of enabling people to talk with others who they might not otherwise meet. To learn from each other, build relationships, break down organizational silos and build community.
Hundreds of organizations across public, private and voluntary sectors have introduced RCTs in the last few years, including recently the British NHS.
Give them a whirl - I think you will be delighted with the results.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: December 2016 - Comments
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Please! No more Icebreakers: 5 Ways to Get a Group Connected Without Icebreakers https://t.co/uslqNcDIVk
I think "knowledge management" is a bullshit issue.
Let me tell you why.
I can give you perfect information, I can give you perfect knowledge and it won't change your behavior one iota.
People choose not to change their behavior because the culture and the imperatives of the organization make it too difficult to act upon the knowledge.
Knowledge is not the power. Power is power. The ability to act on knowledge is power.
Most people in most organizations do not have the ability to act on the knowledge they possess.
"Perhaps the most important advantage of 'useless' knowledge is that it promotes a contemplative habit of mind."
And he tells this short story
Curious learning not only makes unpleasant things less pleasant, but also makes pleasant things more pleasant. I have enjoyed peaches and apricots more since I have known that they were first cultivated in China in the early days of the Han dynasty; that Chinese hostages held by the great King Kanisaka introduced them into India, whence they spread to Persia, reaching the Roman Empire in the first century of our era; that the word "apricot" is derived from the same Latin source as the word "precocious" because the apricot ripens early; and that the A as the beginning was added by mistake, owing to a false etymology. All this makes the fruit taste much sweeter.
Yes, at one level it is useless knowledge, you can do little with it but as he says it makes the apricot taste that much sweeter. Does it do that for you? It does for me.
So is it so useless? Stopping, thinking, reflecting and contemplating about the world and enjoying or being disgusted with its flavours can rarely be a waste of time.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: November 2016 - Comments
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
What is different?: "Globally distributed, near instant, person to person conversations." http://buff.ly/2fHVRxZ
World Peace and other 4th-Grade Achievements http://buff.ly/2eFRW7C /absolutely amazing we should let kids govern the world :-)
I could not help but wonder if the ability to hold a good conversation was as important as being able to read well.
And so I asked myself the question "Is conversation as important as reading?" or "Is the love of conversation as important as the love of reading?"
Of course, we need both, and in many ways, they are equally important in life but if that is the case why is so much emphasis attached to reading and writing - so-called literacy.
In school, once we have learned the four basics of language: listening, speaking, reading, and writing - the educational focus tends to be on reading and writing.
In fact, listening and speaking are not really taught in schools they are more absorbed than taught and what teaching does take place is by our parents.
I suspect the focus on literacy, more than anything else, is for the purpose of being examined on what we have been taught.
It is far, far easier to test someone's knowledge by getting them to answer written questions or writing an essay than having a conversation about what they know.
Being taught to listen and to speak well, in other words, hold a conversation, in its various forms such as discussion, dialogue, and debate don't get much of a look-in.
in our exam-obsessed educational systems.
But think about it - in our adult lives which is more important? In the home and in the office which is the more important life skill?
The ability to read, the capacity to write or the ability to hold a good conversation?
As very young children, when we are learning the basics, doesn't listening and speaking naturally come first?
Isn't the ability to hold a good conversation the foundation of literacy? Shouldn't more focus be placed here?
Well, I went to Google and Googled something like "Is conversation more important than reading?".
And I discovered something quite fascinating - a new word - oracy - well at least to me and my spell checkers, though if you are in Education you well be familiar with the term.
The concept of ‘oracy' was coined as recently as 1965, by the researcher Andrew Wilkinson to give the subject of ‘speaking and listening' more gravitas.
So to numeracy and literacy, we need to add oracy.
numeracy: the ability to understand and work with numbers.
literacy: the ability to read and write.
oracy: the ability to express oneself in and understand spoken language.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Mastering the Art of Collaboration Through Conversation by @elsua http://buff.ly/2e7dKdv
Talk is the sea upon which all else floats - James Britton, Language and Learning http://buff.ly/2enH3UR
It is tremendous to see a resurgence in KM in UK Government in the form of a set of Knowledge Principles.
This set of knowledge principles has been designed by Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) practitioners in government to assist their colleagues in developing strategies and plans to improve how knowledge is shared in their departments.
Knowledge is not information, although information management principles may be applied to captured knowledge. Knowledge capture, however, must not be seen as synonymous with, or a substitute for, a holistic knowledge management programme.
Knowledge is the sum of experience, training, insight and education and is tacit, whereas information is tangible, captured, manipulated in information systems and subject to further interpretation.
And a recognition that KM is different from IM. I have a lot of my own to say about this.
This looks like a great step forward but I have a nagging concern. It is one thing for a working group to craft a document defining Knowledge Principles but how many people actually read it and understand it and of those, how many will actively engage with the ideas and put them into action.
I always feel that documents, like this. on their own achieve very little. An additional second step is needed.
What I would like to see now is a series of Knowledge Cafés being run across Government in all sorts of ways to allow people to engage with the principles and bring them to life.
This may be happening but I doubt it, though I'd love to hear that I am wrong :-)
Writing a document is the relatively easy bit, engaging people is the challenge!
Note that like the coffeehouses of 17th century London, that even today coffee shops are more than just places to drink coffee. They are places to meet, to read, to study, to work, to hold meetings, to have conversations and more.
There are several ways in which we express our ideas or have discussions while hiding who we are.
Many on-line discussion forums allow us to post anonymously or to give a false name and we can frequently express our opinions anonymously in surveys or interviews.
We employ these techniques for seemingly good reason. If we are introverted or lack confidence in our beliefs; they allow us to speak up without fear of judgment or personal criticism.
And in fear of the consequences, they potentially make it possible to be more truthful by saying things that others might not wish to hear.
But anonymity has a serious downside as it encourages us:
World Values Day is coming up on 20th October and will be the first truly international World Values Day.
The objective of the Day is to raise and deepen the awareness and practice of values all around the world. Positive values that is :-)
The day will provide an opportunity to think about our most deeply held values and to act on them.
If we are aware to our values and put them into action each and every day, we can change our lives and change the world we live in.
See the World Values Day website for information on events and activities taking place around the world as well as many useful tools and resources that can help in exploring our own values and those of our organisations and communities.
And if you are in London on the 20th then come along to my World Values Day Café in the evening where the subject of the conversation will be "Putting our values into action - why is it so hard?" It's free.
Viktor Frankl was an internationally renowned psychiatrist. In 1946, he wrote the book Man's Search for Meaning.
In his book, he begins with a deeply moving personal account of his imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps during the Second World War, and his struggle during that time to find reasons to live.
In the second part of the book called "Logotherapy in a Nutshell," he describes the psychotherapeutic method that he pioneered as a result of his experiences in the concentration camps.
At the core of Logotherapy is his belief that man's primary motivational force is a search for meaning.
One sentence in the book stood out for me:
The last of human freedoms - the ability to chose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.
This idea that we have the ability to chose our response to any stimulus in any set of circumstances has had a huge shaping influence on me over the years and I have tried to abide by the philosophy. Not always successfully I might add.
To my mind, we are all leaders to one degree or another, and so it's the task of each and every one of us to remind each other of our freedom to choose not only how we respond to situations but:
Neuroscience is throwing more and more light on our true nature as human beings and has the potential to dramatically transform the way we see the world.
This is an interesting article about decision making and the research that confirms what I suspect most of us have intuited for a long time - decisions are emotional - not logical.
Think of a situation where you had bulletproof facts, reason, and logic on your side, and believed there was absolutely no way the other person could say no to your perfectly constructed argument and proposal.
To do so would be impossible, you figured, because there was no other logical solution or answer.
And then the other person dug in his heels and refused to budge. He wasn't swayed by your logic. Were you flabbergasted?
Have you ever considered the invention of writing to have been a bad thing?
But Thamus replied that, as the “father of writing,” Theuth's affection for writing had kept him from acknowledging the truth about writing.
In fact, Thamus asserted, writing increases forgetfulness rather than memory.
Instead of internalizing and understanding things, students will rely on writing as a potion for reminding.
Moreover, students will be exposed to many ideas without properly thinking about them.
Thus, they will have an “appearance of wisdom” while “for the most part they will know nothing”
(Phaedrus, 275a-b).
...
Socrates used the illustration to point out that writing alone has no understanding of itself and “continues to signify just the same thing forever” (Phaedrus, 275d-e).
Nor does it discern its audience nor offer self explanation. Socrates instead favoured conversation, “the living, breathing discourse of a man who knows, of which the written one can be fairly called an image” (Phaedrus, 276a)
As I write my blook and research and reflect on various topics, I frequently need to think through and define what things mean to me:
What is leadership?
What is meant by "shared meaning"?
What is the difference between responsibility and accountability and how do they relate to commitment?
What is a complex adaptive problem?
What is meant by serendipity?
Some of these are not easy questions and I find myself drafting something and then leaving if for weeks, if not months and continually returning to iteratively refine my definition and thinking and tinkering with it over a period of time until I am happy.
Well at least, happy-ish - my blook will always be in perpetual beta :-)
Here are my current thoughts on shared meaning - a phrase bandied about a lot but rarely defined.
Let me know what you think, is this what it means to you or have I missed something?
The aim of the site is to provide a platform for you to discover new and exciting things to do in London, geared towards alternative and unusual experiences, which as a general rule, don't cost a fortune.
It's an amazing website put together by two of my children - my twins Jonathan and Sally Gurteen (they are in their 30s now - so no longer children) who live and work in the Capital.
Even if you never get to London, take a look - its amazing the quirky things you can find to do in a large metropolis.
I have not visited it yet but this is one of my favourite places Board game cafe.
Legal KM Mini-Interviews with Ginevra Saylor - Comments
eClerx Services in India have been conducting mini-interviews with KM experts from across the world for the last few years. Take a look at their YouTube Channel.
They have recently added a number of interviews to their video library focusing on KM in law firms, in a series of short Q&A clips with Ginevra Saylor, head of KM at Denton's.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: September 2016 - Comments
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
We don't understand AI because we don't understand intelligence http://buff.ly/2bkUJCb /I could not agree more :-)
Decisions Are Emotional, Not Logical: The Neuroscience behind Decision Making http://buff.ly/KEloGW
Do noise and distractions boost your creativity? - Comments
When I used to code and had to focus, I needed a quiet room without interruptions
but today when I write far more than I code,
I find that working in a coffee-shop is more conducive to my thinking and writing.
I have often commented or reflected on this phenomenon
and recently tripped over some research that shows that the background noise of a coffee shop may be helping to boost my creativity.
There is even a website Coffitivity that recreates the ambient sounds of a café supposedly to boost your creativity and help you work better. Give it a whirl and see if it works for you - not so sure it does for me - it just gets annoying after a few minutes :-)
But I think there is more to the café environment than just the noise of the background chatter - it's the distractions of people as they come and go that seem to inspire me.
Being highly social, I like to take the opportunity to strike up a conversation with someone - often not for long, but long enough, for my mind, to relax and change state so that when I return to my writing, I see things in a new light.
I like to be able to observe and interact with people as and when I choose.
Though maybe I could find research to support any hypotheses I might have :-)
But seriously, I think there is a great deal in this and I think the distractions of the noise and bustle and social interaction of a Knowledge Café have a positive impact on the conversations and the creativity of the people taking part.
There is some research to support this also.
I am always on the lookout for research concerning conversation - do let me know if you are aware of any.
I have yet to experiment with any of this technology myself but I just spotted that Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner having been doing some very interesting work in blending online and face-to-face conversation.
And none of this is using expensive or exotic technology, just everyday stuff such as laptops, smartphones, Skype and Whatsapp.
Take a look, you may well be able to use some of these ideas in your own workshops and get-togethers.
When I first began to run my regular evening Knowledge Cafés in London back in September 2002, I also started to run them in one or two other locations around the world.
The one in Adelaide, Australia is still running but has metamorphosed into the Adelaide KM Group.
And the one in NYC stopped operating a few years back - well until now - it has been resurrected thanks to Suzanne Roff-Wexler and Sharon Gai.
The next Café is on August 3rd.
So if you live in the NYC area - try to get along - I am sure you will have a great evening :-)
There is also a Knowledge Café in Hong Kong run by Maria Leung. It is not one of my Gurteeen Knowledge Cafés and the topics and format are not quite the same but if you like interesting conversations - take a look.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition. Jane Austen http://bit.ly/29OOTbf
I am always looking for ways to experiment with different formats of my Café.
Some of you may be familiar with the Café Debate format that I trialed recently at the KM Legal Conference in London. It was a big success.
And then there was the series of three Cafés I ran at St Ethelburga's in the City late last year entitled Do your little bit of good which worked well but not quite as well I had hoped.
You also may be aware of the Randomised Coffee Trials I am running in London to bring people together random to have coffee with each other once a month.
There is also my Espresso Café - a Café that can be run in 30 minutes which I had hoped to run at KM UK but because of illness had to drop out at the last minute. Ian Rodwell of Linklaters ran a slightly modified version that I am told went well.
But for a long time now I've had the idea of what I call a Serendipity Café in my head.
Unlike my regular Cafés, in a Serendipity Café there is not be a speaker and a single conversational theme. I am looking to create an environment where people can have a multitude of short conversations with lots of different people about all sorts of random things and see what emerges.
I haven't quite figured out the precise format yet, but my current thinking is this:
Each participant brings along one object with them. The object could be a book it could be a piece of jewellery, a toy, a magazine article, an ornament, a photograph or a clipping from a newspaper. Anything that appeals to them but ideally something personal that has a story attached to it in some way. Something to talk about. Something that the individual feels passionate about.
After an initially extended round of speed conversations the participants each take a few seconds to say a few words and thus share their object with the room. Maybe I should call it a "show and tell" café. LOL People then continue the networking style conversations in twos or threes where they talk about the objects they have bought along to the event.
Finally, as with my regular Cafés, everyone comes together at the end to share the insights they have gleaned from the conversations and any serendipitous events that have resulted in their going away with something unexpected from the Café.
Conversare Events in Adelaide and London - Comments
My good friend Alan Stewart has a similar passion to me for hosting interesting conversations and organises events called Conversare which he started running in Hong Kong several years ago and now runs regularly in Adelaide Australia. This is how Alan describes his events:
The name Conversare (pronounced conversari) comes from the Latin: to turn or to dance together. Conversare events are social gatherings in public places in which participants converse – talk well to each other. There is a host who co-creates with those present an ambiance in which everyone feels welcome, included and ready to participate in face to face conversation.
The purpose is to have safe, friendly contexts in which all who come – whatever your background – quickly feel welcome and at ease. With a setting which is gentle and accepting, by the end your fellow participants don't feel like strangers at all.
A central feature is engaging, in pairs, in one to one conversation with a stranger. Everyone in the room does the same; everybody participates fully. Not knowing anything about this person means having to be aware of how to question, listen and contribute appropriately. Doing this often leads to the finding that, no matter who the person is, the pair have much in common even though their personal histories may be quite different.
And so here is an opportunity to meet others who have different life experiences, lifestyles and fascinating stories to share; people who know something you don't know. There can be totally unexpected outcomes – learnings and insights! – from doing this.
Developed firstly in Hong Kong these new kind of social gatherings are now being held regularly in the Adelaide Central Market after trading hours on weekday nights.
These events can be held in diverse places such as cafes, restaurants, bars, hotels, community centers … Being public places means that anybody is welcome to participate. And it is not necessary to know any of the people present before coming to join in.
In our modern, complex, and often quite fragmented lives, there is little opportunity to have satisfying conversations other than with people we already know. And many find it very difficult to meet new people in ways which may lead to satisfying friendships.
The events are for people who yearn to be heard and to listen to stories of lived experience which they could not have imagined. They bring attention to people that there are now places in which these happen
They are similar to Theodore Zeldin's Conversation Dinners but without the conversation menu. You can learn more about them here.
Alan Stewart will be in the UK in July. So what better opportunity to hold one in London for my Knowledge Community.
Alan will be hosting the evening and If you love the idea as much as I do then come along on the 19th July and enjoy the conversation.
It may well be the first of many such Conversare Cafés in London :-)
And if London is a tad too far for you - why not get in touch with Alan and talk about running one yourself. Or take part in one of his events in Adelaide if that is any closer for you :-)
I talked recently about Johnnie Moores Unhurried Conversations but since then came across
Dean Emily-Chamlee Wright at Washington College describing the importance of unhurried conversations in this short video. There is a webpage here too.
The most powerful part of a liberal arts education is found in a single, unfettered conversation between a teacher and a student.
It means understanding that sometimes the most significant part of an education is found beyond the classroom.
These unhurried moments are what we delight in sharing with each other, where we explore the ideas and experiences that excite our minds.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Buying second hand books in mint condition - Comments
A few months back I ordered a second hand book from America via Amazon that was out of print. It took some weeks to arrive but it was in near mint condition at a fraction of the original price.
So a week or so ago, rather than ordering new copies of three books I wanted again via a Amazon I decided to buy them second hand.
This time I ordered them from 3 separate UK suppliers to ensure I did not need to wait so long.
They all arrived within a few days and without exception they are as good as new.
I could afford to buy them new - but why should I? In fact, it means I will buy more books :-)
I bought a few Kindle books a year or so back that in retrospect I wish I had bought as hardcopy. I may just go back and order them - second hand of course :-)
"I'm afraid the senior managers in my organisation have got no interest in conversation. They see it as far too soft."
How many times have I heard that comment or something similar? Far too often, I am sorry to say.
I have a different perspective. Paradoxically, I think conversation isn't soft; I believe that it's extremely hard.
It is hard in two ways:
First, it's hard to convince people of the power of conversation. Such difficulty is not too surprising as few of us have experienced the types of compelling conversations that make a difference in our organizations.
Managers think they need to be seen to talk tough and argue and debate things and conversation or dialogue is soft and wooly.
How many times do you hear that something needs to be debated, but you rarely hear that we need to have some creative dialogue?
We need both – dialogue and debate. Each has its place.
Second, conversation is hard in that it creates some solid outcomes.
Making a decision may seem like a hard result. And of course, it is. But what if that decision is flawed. It's a hard outcome but a bad one.
Now imagine a conversation that helps a group of people make sense of a situation and thus put them in a better position to make an improved decision.
Is this outcome – “improved understanding”- soft or is it hard?
It's hard of course! Conversation is anything but soft and wooly.
If history could be folded, where would you put the crease? - Comments
I walked past Southwark Tube Station during the week and could not miss this work of art - a huge eye level bill board that said:
"If history could be folded, where would you put the crease?"
What an amazing question! Where would you put the crease? Would you crease it vertically, horizontally or diagonally? Are there other ways of creasing it?
When designing my Knowledge Cafés, I often wonder what it is that makes a really good provocative question and I am trying to write something on the subject but I feel there is a "secret sauce" that I have yet to discern.
But this question, seems to hold out a clue. Is it something to do with metaphor?
I love this idea from Johnnie Moore on unhurried conversation and an update here and may well experiment with it in one of my future Knowledge Cafés.
The idea is amazingly simple but at the same time powerful. In Johnnies's words:
"We invite up to 12 people via MeetUp. We don't specify a topic, rather letting people talk about whatever they want. Apart from briefly describing our idea, we use one very simple device to support the conversation.It's a talking piece. We pick an object and whoever holds it gets to talk. And everyone else listens. Which means the speaker won't get interrupted. (And I add that you can hold the object and not speak… you can hold silence until you're ready to speak.)"
And a comment of his:
"After lots of these conversations, I am appreciating more and more how surprising people can be, given a bit of space to think and express themselves. Conversations are rich and complex, with much less of the battling for attention we often experience."
Taking the time to have slow meandering, reflective conversations is never a waste of time. It's an investment in building relationships and all sorts of amazing insights and ideas can surface from them that are unlikely to be gleaned in any other way.
And I am totally with Johnnie, when he says we need less flip charts and post-it notes and other bells an whistles when facilitating such conversations. If anything worth noting or following through on surfaces it will get followed up on naturally. All the usual workshop paraphernalia just gets in the way of the conversation.
Call for book chapters on Organizational Learning - Comments
Idongesit Williams and a colleague Albert Gyamfi are editing a book titled "Evaluating Media Richness in Organizational Learning". The publisher of the book is IGI Global and is due by March 30th, 2017.
I ran a Knowledge Café Debate at the KM Legal UK conference in London a few weeks back.
The debate format is still a bit of an experiment and so I was delighted with the feedback. Carol and Claire my two debaters did a fantastic job!
Many thanks again for your participation in the recent KM Legal UK event.
Please find your speaker feedback below. Overall speaker average was 5.8.
12:15 – David Gurteen, Gurteen Knowledge Community
Carol Aldridge, Burges Salmon
Claire Stripp, Browne Jacobson
Presentation style - 6.4/7
Content - 6.1/7
Comments
Thought-provoking and stimulated good debate.
Great, very interactive.
This was fun – and a good opportunity to share and chat with others.
Very good; well-structured, good presentations, thought-provoking discussion.
Excellent presentation/debate style, dynamic. Topic to be discussed could be less determined (i.e. difficult to argue ‘against').
Loved this session, really effective.
Another of my favourite sessions, entertaining and genuinely got us talking amongst the room and meeting others.
Liked the interactivity of the format.
Really enjoyed this – a bit of fun and meant the audience mixed which was very useful from a networking point of view.
Very engaging style. Felt having two debaters with opposing views gave the right environment in which to contribute freely. Credit to the debaters too - they were excellent.
But this piece of feedback hit me the most - the debate format seems to help reduce social silencing.
David's Knowledge Café, rather than just bringing up a topic for discussion, began with a debate.
The two excellent debaters provided polar opposite views on the topic as a starting point for a larger discussion.
These views, I felt, established the environment for the larger discussion – encouraging honest and more provoking conversation than expected.
It effectively gave permission for us all to push the boundaries, and feel safe to do so.
Personally, I felt more confident to offer left-field views to the group than I would have done during a normal conference discussion.
Credit: Andrew Pope, Consulting Partner, Innosis
Andrew, wasn't the only one to comment on this. I am going to experiment more in light of this feedback.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
It has done some great work over those years - some of it published freely online. Take a look at their Knowledge in Action series of leaflets for example (over 30 of them) such as this one
on Evaluating communities of practice: adopting learning-oriented approaches - really good, useful material if you are working in KM or even if you are not!
They also run an annual conference and regular workshops.
Most of these events are only open to members but increasingly they are making a small number of places available to non-members.
They have a 2-day Advanced Course in Knowledge Management facilitated by Dr Christine van Winkelen coming up in July. for example. I often get people asking me where they can find a really good Knowledge Management course and this is one - go take a look.
I am often asked to host a Knowledge Café as part of a conference.
To run a good Café, ideally, I need two hours but I can run them in an hour at a pinch.
But I have never tried to run one in less - until now that is.
I have come up with the idea of an "Espresso Café" - one that can be run in as little as half-an-hour.
I will be trying it out for the fist time at Knowledge Management UK 2016 in London in June.
I have been taking part in this conference for more years than I care to remember. It's an excellent conference - take a look if you are not already registered. Paul Corney and Nick Milton are among the speakers.
And then Café Debates, I have talked about them in the past.
I am delighted to be running one at KM Legal UK 2016 in London in May.
The motion, I think is an interesting one:
"This Café believes that legal KM can only be successful if embedded in the organizational culture."
I have found two eager debaters to debate the motion and then we will open things up to Café style conversation.
If you work in the legal sector, take a look at the rest of the agenda, the conference has a great line up of speakers and topics.
I am looking forward to this one!
Humble Inquiry is the first and most important step in building any kind of relationship - Comments
Some people seem to think that Knowledge Management is dying or has died but it hasn't - it is alive and well.
One of the reasons for this misconception is that so much that falls in the realm of Knowledge Management masquerades in another form or under another name.
Humble Inquiry - a term invented by Edgar Schein is one such example.
Quite simply, in Edgar's words, "Humble Inquiry is asking the question to which you already don't know the answer, bolstered by an attitude of inquiry, an attitude of interest in the other person, a curiosity."
He goes on to say that
"And the importance of that very curiosity, that interest in the other person, is precisely why Humble Inquiry is the first and most important step in building any kind of relationship, whether you are just making a new friendship or wooing a girl or trying to talk to a team-mate on a more personal basis. It should usually almost always start with some form of Humble Inquiry."
Watch this video, where Edgar explains what it is all about, and notice this is not just at the heart of KM but about face-to-face conversation and relationship building - something that Conversational Leadership is all about too :-)
It keeps bringing me back to the words of Peter Block:
We must establish a personal connection with each other.
If you are not familiar with his work - check him out - he is one of the more insightful business and management academics. You can also follow him on Twitter.
The world presented to us by our perceptions is nothing like reality - Comments
I have a degree in physics but my scientific life is long ago in my past.
But I try to keep up with scientific thinking and still regularly read New Scientist.
As I get older, I become more and more curious about the world, why we are here and the nature of reality. Maybe more philosophical questions than scientific ones LOL.
I have long suspected that we have got reality all wrong. That there is something fundamental we are missing that what we see is some sort of mirage. But these are just idle thoughts of mine, I am no expert in the matter.
And then this morning I came a across this article The Evolutionary Argument Against Reality and the thinking of the cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman.
I must admit I don't fully understand all of what he has to say but he has seriously provoked my thinking about reality. This sentence especially so:
"It's not that there's a classical brain that does some quantum magic. It's that there's no brain!"
What are we really? Does it matter?
Take a look, in some ways it is a little scary :-)
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
A Cafe Debate is a powerful way of triggering deeper conversations - Comments
Although the context for a Knowledge Café conversation is usually set by a single speaker giving a short talk and posing a question there are a number of other approaches – a Café debate is one of them.
In a Café debate, the context is set by two people (or more) debating opposing views on a topic – the motion of the debate - that also forms the Café question. The Café then proceeds as normal and concludes in a vote being taken.
This goes a little bit against the philosophy of the Café as some people may hold on to fixed views in order to “win” the debate but this style of Café can be great fun if people do not take it too seriously and are prepared to “win” or “lose”.
The value is not in the outcome but in the conversations that are held at the tables and the insights into the issue that are gleaned by the participants.
I have run Cafés like this in the past but more recently I ran one at an open Knowledge Café at BAE Systems in Farnborough and I am hoping to run one at KM Legal UK 2016 in London in May. I just need to find a hot topic and two good debaters!
They work well - see here to learn more about the process.
My good friend John Hovell popped around for a cup of tea the other day and during our conversation explained a fascinating concept of his that had been lying dormant in his head for the past few years. Our conversation reawakened it and having walked home he shot a little video where he describes it.
It's a strange two-by-two matrix for reflecting on the world in the context of time, where both axes are on the surface identical, that he calls Time Chasm. It takes a little bit of getting your head around. Take a look and see what you make of it. The video is only 5 minutes long.
I am not a great fan of "10 ways to do something". The items are far too often, trite or just plain wrong..
But take a look at this TEDx talk from Celeste Headlee (@CelesteHeadlee) on How to have a good conversation. It's quite good.
I was talking to someone recently and they told me that although people engaged enthusiastically in the workshops that they organised
that when they returned to the office they fell back into their old ways of working and failed to collaborate.
Someone had suggested to her that they did not have sufficient motivation or lacked the time or that it could just be weight of habit and of culture.
But an alternative explanation occurred to me - when you organise events for people - they will usually take part, engage and enjoy but they will never learn to do it for themselves.
You make them dependant on you.
I think we need to organise more open space type events where people get to determine what is important to them, what they want to talk about and what they want to do. They take ownership.
We should then join in as an equal participants or get out of the way!
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
The most important predictor of success in a group is the amount - not the content - of social interaction http://buff.ly/QZ5iLR
4 Reasons Why Chitchat Might Not Be A Meeting Killer After All @JasonBurby http://buff.ly/1QZzl1L
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: February 2016 - Comments
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
I am still working on my online book (my blook) and adding to it each day and now have over 150 posts. There is still a huge amount of work to do before I make the content generally available but I am opening up certain posts as I go along for comment and feedback. Here is one - it is how to use a debate to trigger a Knowledge Café conversation. I hope you find it useful.
I have run Cafés to this format only a few times in the past but I tried the process again recenlt at one of my recent Farnborough Knowledge Cafés. The two debaters took a more conversationalist approach than a debating one as explained in the post and it worked a treat.
You may be getting a little bit tired of all the stories and videos posted online about Steve Jobs but I am still enjoying and learning from them
This video is from an Apple "Think Different" - Internal Meeting in September 1997 - just 10 weeks or so after he returned to Apple. What a difference almost 20 years makes!
I promised a detailed description of a Knowledge Café that I ran for Johnson & Johnson in Ireland last November for 100 people - well actually 4 concurrent Cafes in one room.
Here you go. Let me know if I can run one for you :-)
How many times have you taken part in a meeting to make a decision about an issue where they have been two factions in the room?
The first faction have already made up their minds what the decision should be and see the meeting as a means of coercing the others in the room to agree with them while the second faction wish to explore the issue further before making the decision.
The two groups do battle and it is usually the ones who have made up their minds ahead of time who win. This group tends to comprise the more senior managers, the more dominant characters and those who are used to getting their way.
In my corporate life, I experienced this many times. They were painful affairs.
But it need not be like this. There is a simple solution.
Split the meeting into two parts.
The first part is a dialogue: exploring the issues with no predetermined outcome in mind other than to better understand the issues.
This can be run as a whole group discussion but is better run to the Knowledge Café format.
The second part is more of a debate: actually making the decision. This can be as passionate and as heated as any meeting where a tough decision needs be taken but the in-depth exploration has been got out of the way.
You go into the fist part saying “We are going to take some time to explore and discuss the issues – to gain a better understanding of the situation. We are not going to make a decision and it is important that everyone's voice is heard”.
You then go into the second part by saying “Look we have spent time exploring the issues, you have all had your opportunity to contribute to the discussion but at the end of the day we need to make a decision. Time for dialogue is over – we must now make a decision.”
The gap between the two meetings could be a tea break or a morning and afternoon session or better still several days where people have the time to have side conversations and explore some of the issues further. It may even make sense to have two or more dialogue sessions if the decision warrants the time taken.
Try it, like here. It is such a simple thing to do.
As Stephen Covey points out we tend to listen with the intent to reply rather than to understand or we fall into the trap of ditting other people's stories or we start to judge or evaluate what they have to say.
There are many techniques that we can learn to improve our listening ability such as empathic listening.
But there is a fundamental problem with listening that Patrick Callaghan pointed out to me after my recent post on ditting.
Even if we can withhold judgement and although we may be genuinely intent on listening, how ever hard we try to listen, the instant a spark of a response enters our heads we stop listening and start to compose our response silently in our mind.
It is hard not to do this, it's a conversation after all and we are afraid that when it comes our turn to speak we will have nothing to say or have forgotten our earlier ideas or that we may be somewhat bumbling in our response if we have not rehearsed it in our heads.
On the surface this may seem like an insurmountable barrier to really listening to someone. But maybe it is easier then we think.
Let go!
Just drop all intention of replying at any point in the conversation and simply listen and when those responses pop into your head ignore them.
Then when there is a pause in the conversation and it makes sense to respond just go with it in real-time.
I realize this takes some confidence and trust that you won't make a bumbling fool of yourself and there may be longer silences between taking turn in the conversation and you may not even get to say much but then you are trying to listen after all. And in any case short periods of silence where everyone can reflect on things can only be good.
I do love Seth Godin's blog - almost every post is short and a gem. Here is a recent one
Ten questions for work that matters
What are you doing that's difficult?
What are you doing that people believe only you can do?
Who are you connecting?
What do people say when they talk about you?
What are you afraid of?
What's the scarce resource?
Who are you trying to change?
What does the change look like?
Would we miss your work if you stopped making it?
What do you stand for?
What contribution are you making?
Hints: Any question that's difficult to answer deserves more thought. Any answers that are meandering, nuanced or complex are probably a symptom of something important.
Leave nothing but footprints - don't try to dent the universee - Comments
Dave Winer says Leave nothing but footprints.
I've always wanted to help improve the world, so in many ways I disagree with him but I can see where he is coming from.
There is an argument that says the Universe is just OK as it as and could not be any other way and that problems only exist in the human mind.
Should I really just try "to do something nice that won't change anything in any lasting way"?
No, I need to try to do more. I may make things worse (in some small way - hard to see I am going to have a big impact for the better or the worse) but is not in me to observe and do nothing.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Ditting is the the art of sharing anecdotes while trying to trump the story of the previous person.
Too often conversations fall prone to it and we end up not listening to the other person's story but recalling and rehearsing our own in our head so we can trump their story.
We all do it at one time or another when really we should just take the time to listen to and fully appreciate the other person's story.
I told you about Blab recently. Now take a look at another video app - Periscope. This is how the developers' describe it.
Just over a year ago, we became fascinated by the idea of discovering the world through someone else's eyes. What if you could see through the eyes of a protester in Ukraine?
Or watch the sunrise from a hot air balloon in Cappadocia?
It may sound crazy, but we wanted to build the closest thing to teleportation. While there are many ways to discover events and places, we realized there is no better way to experience a place right now than through live video. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but live video can take you someplace and show you around.
Like Blab, the video and sound quality are superb and it is possible for the broadcaster to interact with the viewers via text messages that appear superimposed on top of the video - a little crude but effective. I suspect we are going to see some very interesting citizen journalism.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: December 2015 - Comments
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
The larger the organization - the larger and more grander the reception area.
Huge impressive, impersonal halls of glass, stainless steel and marble.
What a waste of space!
I wish I could recall the name of the law firm I heard about in Germany who transformed their reception area by moving both their library and cafe there.
It was not only used to hold internal meetings and meetings with clients but clients were even welcome to come in to have coffee and make use of the library.
I have been giving a lot of thought on how to run virtual Knowledge Cafés of late and have some thoughts as to how to run them using a series of telephone conference calls but I have also been looking for a
a video application similar to Skype group video or Google Hangouts that would allow up to 4 people have a conversation Café style.
Well I may just have found what I am looking for.
It's called Blab. It is still in beta but works exceptionally well - the video and sound quality are excellent.
It's really designed to allow people to host their own little chat shows and invite in participants but I think it would work well in the context of a Café.
Fine, if the Café is a public one, as at the moment all conversations are broadcast publically (they can also be recorded to be viewed later) but if the Café is private then there is no option to have a private group conversation but I am hoping that might be a future feature. If so, it might prove a near perfect tool for virtual private Knowledge Cafés!
In it they make seven assumptions about a dialogic mindset for leaders. Something very similar to what I call Conversational Leadership
Reality and relationships are socially constructed.
Organizations are social networks of meaning making.
Transformational leadership shapes how meaning is made and especially the narratives which guide people's experience.
Organizations are continuously changing, in both intended and unintended ways, with multiple changes occurring at various speeds.
Groups and organizations are inherently self-organizing, but disruption is required for transformational adaptation and change.
Adaptive challenges are too complex for anyone to analyze all the variables and know the correct answer in advance, so the answer is to use emergent change processes.
Leading emergent change requires mobilizing stakeholders to self-initiate action, then monitoring and embedding the most promising initiatives
What people believe to be true, right, and important emerge through socialization and day-today conversations.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: November 2015 - Comments
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
In my work on Conversational Leadership I am researching and thinking about conversation and a big part of that work is about the power of questions to trigger meaningful conversations.
So the question I have been asking myself is
"What makes a powerful question?"
And Wes Saade helped me realise that at a high level there is a very simple answer.
There are everyday questions and then there are powerful questions.
What is the purpose of a question?
Well to solicit an answer of course.
If I ask "What time is it?" Someone might tell me "ten past two".
I have asked my question and received an answer.
But are questions that solicit simple informational answers powerful questions?
Clearly not.
So what is different about a powerful question?
A powerful question is one that compels others to think.
And listen to the story he tells starting at about 1.07 and his metaphor that
"Most companies particularly large companies have created downtown Calcutta in summer inside themselves"
The message - don't try to change the person but the context in which they work.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Will your self-driving car be programmed to kill you if it means saving more strangers? https://t.co/NZ5sGSMgef
At long last I am writing a book.
Well not quite. It is a blook - a cross between a blog, a website and an on-line book.
Why like this?
Well I realised I could never sit down and write a book in one go.
I wanted to release it in revisions - I guess a little bit like a software app.
I wanted it to be multimedia, with photos, video and with multiple ways to navigate it via categories and tags.
Also, for each page or post to be stand-alone and to be short enough for each to be read in less than 5 minutes to make it easy to browse.
I wanted it be responsive and to be readable on a range of devices without any need to modify the code.
I also needed the ability to write it in small pieces and to add to it at will and to continually restructure it as I went, as it evolved.
But more than anything else I wanted feedback as I wrote it.
The best platform I could find for the job was Wordpress and with the help of a small number of plugins and some minor tweaks to the code I have a platform that is not perfect but does the job.
The subject? Well its is about Conversational Leadership and my Knowledge Cafe.
But it has turned out to be great thinking and research tool and so I am not so sure what is going to eventually emerge. Already I am straying off my original topic in many areas but I see at as a good thing and its why I am taking this blook approach.
I don't foresee ever completing it - just continually updating and improving it as my ideas develop.
At the moment it is hidden from search engines and so you need the URL to find it.
but I have started to open it up to a small number of people.
Let me know if you are interested in taking a peak but the pledge you make is to give me some critical early feedback. :-)
How do we transform the world for the better? - Comments
Four quotations that are churning around my mind as I dwell on the problems of the world, transformation and what it takes to achieve it.
For both the rich and the poor, life is dominated by an ever growing current of problems, most of which seem to have no real and lasting solution.
Clearly we have not touched the deeper causes of our troubles.
It is the main point of this book that the ultimate source of all these problems is in thought itself, the very thing of which our civilization is most proud, and therefore the one thing that is "hidden" because of our failure seriously to engage with its actual working in our own lives and in individual life of the society.
My belief is that the way we create conversations that overcome the fragmented nature of our communities is what creates an alternative future.
This can be a difficult stance to take for we have a deeply held belief that the way to make a difference in the world is to define problems and needs and then recommend actions to solve those needs.
We are all problem solvers, action oriented and results minded. It is illegal in this culture to leave a meeting without a to-do list.
We want measurable outcomes and we want them now.
What is hard to grasp is that it is this very mindset which prevents anything fundamental from changing.
We cannot problem solve our way into fundamental change, or transformation.
This is not an argument against problem solving; it is an intention to shift the context and language within which problem solving takes place.
Authentic transformation is about a shift in context and a shift in language and conversation. It is about changing our idea of what constitutes action.
Evernote is a great writing and thinking tool - Comments
If you have not tried out Evernote yet - give it a whirl.
It's an amazing app.
I do all my writing in it these days but I also use it as a thinking tool to capture and pull my fragmentary thoughts together.
It synchronises my notes and articles between my laptop, iPad and iPhone.
I do serious writing on my laptop.
I tend to proof read and reflect on my iPad and while waiting for my wife at the station or travelling into London on the train I use my iPhone for both reading and minor editing.
I just love to able to read, write and edit like this any time, any place.
And I can work off-line and it syncs via the web later when I'm connected to the Internet.
I love the ability to create different notebooks - a bit like categories and its great also to be able to tag items.
But what I think is the coolest feature of all is the Evernote Web Clipper.
This allows me to capture webpages straight into Evernote. There are various options but if I capture a page as a "simplified article" - its strips out all the ads, all the menus, all the side bars - pretty much all the junk and leaves me with nice clean text.
I tend to use it mainly to capture a blog post or an article. In this way as I read through the item later I can strike through the paragraphs that I feel are junk and highlight the good stuff.
Then a few weeks later when I come to read it again I can focus my reading on the critical text.
Oh and I can mail stuff into the database too - so I also use it to capture ideas and fragmentary thoughts that I can dwell on and pull together later.
Take a look, it has many more features I have not mentioned, I think you will love it.
Paul Sloane has a great way of initiating creative conversations - Comments
I love this idea from Paul Soane's latest newsletter.
One of the exercises on my Creative Leadership workshop runs like this.
People in pairs have short conversations. In the first conversation one person makes a suggestion for something new that could be done for customers (say).
The second person replies with an objection.
They start their sentence, 'Yes but ...'
The first person then rebuts the objection with another sentence starting, 'Yes but ...' They carry on, ensuring that every sentence starts with the words, 'Yes but ...'
After a couple of minutes they stop and then begin a second conversation. One person starts with a suggestion for something new that could be done for employees (say). The second person adds to the idea with a sentence beginning, 'Yes and ...'
The first person responds with a sentence starting, 'Yes and ...' and so it goes on.
The results are instructive. Typically the first conversation spirals down into an argument with no agreement.
The second conversation goes to all sorts of creative and unusual places. It is fun and leads to interesting ideas.
I then ask the delegates which conversation type is more common in their organization.
It is always the 'Yes but ...'.
Credit: Paul Sloane
You can sign up for his free newsletter on the home page of his website destination innovation
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: September 2015 - Comments
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Knowledge Sciences Symposium: St. Bonaventure University October 8-9 - Comments
It is not very often I get invited to speak at a KM conference in the US. I think the last time must have been KM World in 2007, so I am really delighted to be speaking at the Knowledge Sciences Symposium at St. Bonaventure University in Western New York October 8-9.
You will find more information in the press release and you can register here. I hope to get to see a few old friends.
Getting rid of annual performance reviews and rankings - Comments
I have never liked annual performance reviews - either receiving them or giving them when I was a manager.
They took huge amounts of time and emotional energty and I always felt that they did far more harm then good. I also got to see them distorted.
I can still remember one year going through the process and my manager submitting the proposed salary increases to his VP - only to have the list come back marked up in red with the VPs adjustments based as far as we could see on who he liked or disiked!
And yet another year having to reassess everyone to fit a predetermined distribution curve.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Accenture to get rid of annual performance reviews and rankings http://buff.ly/1U85WQO /great news :-)
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes - Comments
I often get criticized when I talk about the power of conversation.
People conclude that I think conversation will solve all our problems and nothing else is needed.
Or that I am ruling out debate or other powerful forms of human interaction.
I am not.
Conversation is not a panacea for everything. It can too easily descend into chit-chat and people being too nice to each other and not confronting the real issues.
It can be dull and boring or a conversation can turn quickly to an intellectual scrap where relationships are destroyed.
We should not throw the baby out with the bath water. We need to recognise these problems and limitations and learn to engage more positively in conversation and to architect more powerful conversations.
This is what Conversational Leadership is all about.
Douglas Adams got it right when he said: "It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes."
The world is far too complex to think that there is a single solution to anything but conversation is one tool that we too often overlook.
Is your organization a listening organization? - Comments
I talk about Organizational Conversation so it intersting to find someone talking about Organizational Listening - albeit in a different context.
While listening receives extensive attention in relation to interpersonal communication, there is little focus on organizational listening in academic and professional literature, with books and articles focussed predominantly on disseminating organizations' messages (i.e. speaking) – a transmissional or broadcast approach to public communication
Are you in any doubt about the perverse outcomes targets can cause? - Comments
I have never been a big fan of key performance indicators (KPIs) for a variety of reasons including they are too easily gamed, they often have unforeseen negative consequences and they can too easily become explicit targets in their own right removing the need for people to think and do the right thing in an increasingly complex world.
So I was delighted to see this news-item recently.
Maybe the UK Government is at last waking up to the "perverse outcomes targets can cause" as the Home Secretary Theresa May puts it. Though frankly I doubt it.
What would be really interesting to know, is why these particular indicators were set and not others and how the values attached to them were determined. The strategy adopted to meet them would also be of interest.
The Seven Ages of Information & Knowledge Management - Comments
David Skyrme retired some years ago and does not do any formal KM nowadays.
However, he has written up an interesting retrospective of two decades of IKM (Information and Knowledge Management) based on a presentation that he gave on the 21st anniversary of the UK networking group NetIKX.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Do we need more conversation and less brainstorming? - Comments
During my corporate life I never liked brain storming.
It just never worked for me.
And I wasn't convinced it worked for others either.
Brainstorming sessions can be conducted in all sorts of ways and it could be that I just had some bad experiences but I am not so sure.
Some time ago, I was invited to give a talk and run a knowledge cafe as part of a large workshop and I stayed on and took part in the rest of the workshop.
At one point we had to think up ideas, write them on post-it notes and stick therm on the wall.
As I did this I was talking with the people around me until the facilitator ordered me to keep quiet and to focus on what was doing!
I explained that I didn't find trying to think up ideas on my own very effective.
That good ideas surfaced from the conversations I was having.
He was not moved so I kept quiet.
But this reminded me of my corporate brainstorming days. You were not allowed to discuss the ideas - just shout them out to be captured on a flip chart with no discussion and especially no criticism.
The underlying assumption of brainstorming is that if people are scared of saying the wrong thing, they'll end up saying nothing at all.
The appeal of this idea is obvious: it's always nice to be saturated in positive feedback.
Typically, participants leave a brainstorming session proud of their contribution.
The whiteboard has been filled with free associations.
Brainstorming seems like an ideal technique, a feel-good way to boost productivity.
But there is a problem with brainstorming.
It doesn't work.
Our findings show that debate and criticism do not inhibit ideas but, rather, stimulate them relative to every other condition.
Osborn thought that imagination is inhibited by the merest hint of criticism, but Nemeth's work and a number of other studies have demonstrated that it can thrive on conflict.
According to Nemeth, dissent stimulates new ideas because it encourages us to engage more fully with the work of others and to reassess our viewpoints.
“There's this Pollyannaish notion that the most important thing to do when working together is stay positive and get along, to not hurt anyone's feelings,” she says. “Well, that's just wrong.
Maybe debate is going to be less pleasant, but it will always be more productive. True creativity requires some trade-offs.
Organizational Conversation - the life-blood of an organization.
- Comments
I talk a lot about conversation these days - its the focus of my work.
One thing I feel the need to do is to give a label to the everyday conversation that takes place in an organization and quite naturally I call such conversation "Organizational Conversation". This is how I describe it:
Conversation permeates our organisational lives.
David Weinberger in the The Cluetrain Manifesto says: "Business is a conversation because the defining work of business is conversation - literally. And 'knowledge workers' are simply those people whose job consists of having interesting conversations."
Alan Weber, in the Harvard Business Review says: "In the new economy, conversations are the most important form of work ... so much so that the conversation is the organisation."
Organizational Conversation is the myriad of such conversations that take place on a minute to minute basis everyday within organizations
Conversations take place in formal settings such as meeting rooms but often the more important conversations are the informal ones that take place in the corridors, at the water-cooler or in the cafe.
It is through conversation that knowledge flows directly from person to person, learning takes place, insights are gleaned, connections are made and relationships are built.
But conversation is so much more.
Conversation provides a medium through which we reveal something of who we are: our values, beliefs and what is important to us.
Conversation helps break down departmental-silos, build trust, motivation, commitment, engagement and accountability.
Conversation helps us make better sense of our world, leading to improved decision making and stimulates creativity and innovation.
Conversation is the life-blood of an organization.
The key to my mind is in recognising its importance as the role and impact of everyday conversation is so often overlooked.
The inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - Comments
A friend asked recently why we seemed to get on so well in conversation. I replied that we both tended to be non-judgemental and open minded and thus we felt safe. But it reminded me of this quote from Dinah Craik.
Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Conversation is more than communication http://linkd.in/1KW5NQ7 #GurteenTalk #dialogue#KMers
Conversation – an overlooked technology http://linkd.in/1FEa0RL #GurteenTalk #dialogue#KMers
People often focus on the wrong question because they assume questions are self-evident http://bit.ly/1MnSJRD
My love for all things conversational is no secret.
So when my daughter Sally told me about a concept called Lean Coffee, I just had to take a look.
And I was pleased I did.
It's kind of like an open space session but with a twist.
I like it a lot and plan to experiment with it at one of my future London Knowledge Cafes.
Watch this 3 min video: How to Run a Lean Coffee
This is how the process works for a small group of 3 or 4 people.
But clearly, you could have several groups all running in parallel.
It was designed in 2009 by Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith for Lean and Agile project management but could be used to discuss anything.
You will find another description of the process here :What is Lean Coffee?
Don't forget this year's big UK Knowledge Management event - KM UK coming up in London on 10th June.
It' should be a great two day conference with speakers including the BBC, DWP, Oxfam and Bentley Motors.
I tend to get there most years but unfortunately I can't make it this year as I will be in Turin running a workshop.
And take a look at their rejuvenated Inside Knowledge Portal - it pulls a lot of stuff together that is going on in the Knowledge Management world: KM blogs, KM videos, lKM podcasts and more.
Seth Godin thinks we are all social entrepreneurs - Comments
If you are not a follower of Seth Godins blog - take a look - his posts are short, frequent and mostly deeply insightful.
This recent one for example, is a gem. We are all social entrepreneurs in some way - it's just that some people have a bigger impact than others :-)
It's tempting to reserve the new term 'social entrepreneurs' for that rare breed that builds a significant company organized around the idea of changing the culture for the better.
The problem with this term is that it lets everyone else off the hook. The prefix social implies that regular entrepreneurs have nothing to worry about, and that the goal of every un-prefixed organization and project (the 'regular kind') is to only make as much money as possible, as fast as possible.
But that's not how the world works.
Every project causes change to happen, and the change we make is social. The jobs we take on, the things we make, the side effects we cause -- they're not side effects, they're merely effects. When we make change, we're responsible for the change we choose to make.
All of us, whichever job or project we choose to take on, do something to change the culture. That social impact, positive or negative is our choice.
It turns out that all of us are social entrepreneurs. It's just that some people are choosing to make a bigger (and better) impact than others.
Henley Forum: Making a Difference through knowledge and learning. - Comments
This year's Henley Forum members are actively working on Making a Difference through knowledge and learning.
If you work for a large public, private or third sector organisation and believe your organisation could benefit from membership of the Henley Forum, this is a chance to spend a day with thrm.
The event will give you insights into how to change mindsets and behaviours which research suggests is a critical step in making a difference.
You will have the opportunity to hear speakers at the forefront of the change challenge, meet current members, join the conversation and take away some actionable insights that help you operate more effectively in a knowledge based business.
Places are limited so please book early and by 30 June 2015 at the latest.
Contact: [email protected]
Given my close ties to Indonesia - my wife is Indonesian - it is always good to see KM developing in that country.
Two things:
First, there is a big KM Conference coming up August in Jakarta KM Summit Indonesia 2015. I am sorry to say I won't be there but it looks like a great event.
Second, my good friend Alvin Soleh of KM Plus has produced some nice little video animations about KM. The subtitles are in Bahasa Indonesia and the voice over in English.
KM Plus Videos
I guess only of interest if you are Indonesian - but take a look.
A Knowledge Cafe I ran in Bandung Sept 2014 for KMSI - Indonesians love to talk.
Nokia Venturing Organisation was established in 2000 to grow the 'next new business' for Nokia. In addition NVO was also mandated to develop 'new ways of working' for the Finnish Mobile communications company. This gave those working within NVO the space to work in a more entrepreneurial and experimental mode.
NVO set up teams to focus on future global trends and insights as well as exploring new approaches to strategy development, innovation and rapid implementation. New measures were introduced to evaluate the amount of learning extracted from successful and abandoned ventures, as well as measuring the strength of the networks and relationships that new ventures developed.
As part of this, the NVO HR team adopted 'Creating space for conversations' as their HR Strategy. Their approach was to encourage more dialogue and connection around the organisation so that new ideas and opportunities could emerge. It was translated into practical actions such as designing meeting agendas with more space for dialogue, running large scale workshops which brought diverse teams together and facilitating sessions so that all voices could be heard regardless of hierarchy.
NVO soon gained a reputation within Nokia for encouraging diversity and doing things differently. It helped launched a number of new ventures which eventually became independent businesses in their own right.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Interactive Dialogue or Serial Monologue: The Influence of Group Size on conversation - Comments
Over the years, in running my Knowledge Cafes, I have discovered through trial and error and careful observation that the ideal size of a group for interactive conversation is four people. If not four, then five is OK but three is better.
Anything more than five and the conversation does not work so well: one or two people tend to dominate; the conversation breaks into two, even three; frequently one person is totally cut out of the interaction and there is little energy in the group.
This research paper confirms my observations.
Current communication models draw a broad distinction between communication as dialogue and communication as monologue. The two kinds of models have different implications for who influences whom in a group discussion.
The experiments reported in this paper show that in small, 5-person groups, the communication is like dialogue and members are influenced most by those with whom they interact in the discussion.
However, in large, 10-person groups, the communication is like monologue and members are influenced most by the dominant speaker.
The difference in mode of communication is explained in terms of how speakers in the two sizes of groups design their utterances for different audiences.
So in those workshops and conferences where people are sat in groups of 8 at large round tables (often the only tables available in hotel conference centres) or long, narrow tables, no real conversation takes place!
To have a good conversation you need to be in touching distance of each other and each person in the group needs to be equi-distant.
I have been trying to encourage conference organisers and managers to take a more, conversational, interactive, participatory approach to talks and meetings for some years now.
Do people like Johnnie, Nancy, Donald and myself have it so wrong or are people just reluctant to change the habits of an organizational life time? Actually, in my day it was the same in school though I doubt things have changed much.
How often have you experienced the situation where he chairperson asks "We have time for just one long-winded self-indulgent question that relates to nothing we've been talking about." Well, no, they don't actually say that do they? But it is so often what they get!
Lastly, you may find this little video amusing Chicken chicken chicken but see it through to the "Any questions?" session at the end :-)
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Johnnie Moore @JohnnieMoore thinks that Q&A is not "interaction" and I totally agree!! http://linkd.in/1Fhr57M
A Rant on “Are There Any Questions?" by Nancy Dixon @NancyMDixon http://bit.ly/Z0IDPw @JohnnieMoore will like this!
It gives a good overview of how the Cafe is run and the details of the conversation in this particular Cafe.
Cloudy with a hint of fog
A personal account of a Gurteen Knowledge Café hosted by Core.
Conrad Taylor
David Gurteen promotes the practice of ‘Knowledge Cafés', a kind of discussion workshop which is structured to encourage creative conversations around a topic, with the aim of bringing the knowledge of the participants to the surface, sharing ideas and insights between them. In process, a Gurteen Knowledge Café is related to the World Café process originated by Juanita Brown and David Isaacs in 1995, but the Gurteen café meetings are run with shorter table-group sessions, and smaller attendance overall. Not only does this make a Gurteen Knowledge Café easier to organise and to host, but with typically forty or so people in the room it is also possible to close out the event with a discussion in the round.
For a number of years David Gurteen has run a series of occasional Knowledge Café events in London. The principle is that an organisation hosts the meeting, providing the venue and some refreshments, and the meeting is open to all comers and free to attend. Note that the Café methodology lends itself very well to internal organisational knowledge sharing, but David's London Café series is left deliberately open and free, encouraging networking and inter-networking.
The most recent Gurteen Knowledge Café event was held on the evening of 16th April 2015 at the Rubens Hotel by Buckingham Palace, and like the previous café event was generously hosted by Core. Core is a Microsoft business partner company with special interests in secure mobile working for government and business, virtualised managed IT services and such like (See http://www.core.co.uk).
To seed the series of round-table discussions at a Gurteen Knowledge Café, the normal practice is for a presenter, who is generally from the hosting organisation, to speak quite briefly to the proposed topic, winding up with some open questions which the participants can then discuss. In this case, the meeting had been given the title ‘Cloudy with a chance of fog?' (explanation follows shortly!) After Joyce Harman of Core had welcomed us and David Gurteen outlined the process for the Café (generally about half the people who come have not attended one of these events before), Core's senior technology strategist Andrew Driver gave the talk.
The proposition
There is, of course, an advertising process which David runs through his mailing list, so that people are aware of the event and attracted to it. It makes sense then for me to directly quote the topic synopsis which had been circulated about this meeting:
‘If you send and receive email, share photos or documents from your computer, or do your banking or shopping online, you are using ‘Cloud' computing.
‘Hotmail, Skydrive (now OneDrive), iCloud and Dropbox are all examples of cloud computing which we now take for granted.
‘This is IT consumerisation; allowing an individual or a business can buy their IT the way they might buy any other subscription based product.
‘Now we have the 'Internet of Things', the idea of everyday objects like cars and toasters being connected to everything else. What next?
‘What are the wider implications for the future?
‘As well as the many benefits of a more connected world, should we be concerned about a future led by terms such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.
‘Further, what is the gap between what we believe and reality?'
Defining the Cloud
Now, I had been thinking about the assertions in the above text, and doing some reading around, and it seems that the term ‘cloud computing' only really became current towards the end of the 2000s, when it became possible to use ‘software as a service' (SaaS) and remote storage and computation-on-demand services available over the Internet. By this definition, I considered my early use of email and file transfer (via SMTP and FTP) not to be that ‘cloudy', so I asked Andrew early into his presentation for clarification.
Andrew's usage is a very wide one; as far as he is concerned, it is a newly-minted term, but it describes arrangements that have been around for a long time. He said, ‘Cloud computing is whenever you have a collection of computers performing a function [for you], but they are not directly your responsibility.' By this token, the advent of the Internet itself was ‘cloudy' because it pooled the resources of all the participating networks (owned by companies, universities etc), and the routers forwarding data between them; every one of these items may have been owned by someone, but nobody owned The Internet per se.
(I wonder how far the envelope will stretch; and speaking of envelopes, if we remove the requirement for computers to be involved, was the Royal Mail even in Victorian times ‘cloudy' because once you dropped the envelope in the post-box, the business of who fed the horse, drove the train or tramped the pavements to get your letter to Aunt Emily was not your concern?)
Wherever we draw that line, it is clear that people and organisations increasingly use online remote services, some free of charge and some paid for by subscription, to host email accounts and web pages, back up large amounts of data and so on. Helping companies to do this big-time is one of the reason's for Core to be in business.
One can also, said Andrew, have a ‘personal cloud'; at home he has a several-terabyte Western Digital ‘My Cloud' drive attached to his home network (that is, Network-Attached Storage or NAS) where all his Stuff is kept. He can also access that remotely.
Fog computing
Turning to ‘a hint of fog', Andrew revealed Fog Computing as a concept that's been swirling about only in the last couple of years (and yes, there is a Wikipedia page about it). It refers to the sharing of computing resources between larger numbers of smaller machines and devices that are often rather more local to each other towards the ‘edges' of the Internet, in comparison to the more established model of cloud computing reliant on big central data centres. An article in IEEE Spectrum (1), for example, highlights the service provided by Symform, which federates the computing resources of its customers and uses them as a distributed storage resource with good redundancy built in, making it less likely that data will be lost in, for example, a large natural disaster. (Note that a data centre's backups are not *that* secure if the back-up disk sits in the next rack to the primary disk.)
Everything connected?
Andrew then moved on to the ideas of ‘the Internet of Things' (sometimes called the Internet of Everything). This is a vision of things which are not traditional computing devices now being hooked up to the Internet to send and receive messages and data. One example might be a local authority using Internet connections to link its borough-wide CCTV cameras to a control centre rather than having dedicated fixed cables. But there are also stranger ones: Andrew described a refrigerator on the Microsoft campus which barcode-scans the container of milk as you remove it to make your tea, and weighs it as you replace it, to compute when it is necessary to resupply the fridge with a fresh bottle. (Andrew didn't say whether it also can sniff the milk to see if it has gone off.)
We had a bit of fun wondering whether a network-attached toaster might constitute a security risk (horrible thoughts of hackers mounting a Denial of Toast attack). I think it's a bit ludicrous to speak of everything talking to everything else. But generally speaking, we can expect more and more devices (sensors, environmental monitors, GPS locators, whatever next?) to communicate with relevant end-points using the Internet.
There are going to be a lot of emergent applications in health and social care, for example, helping to guarantee safety in independent living for elderly and vulnerable people. Londoners in particular have seen many aspects of cloud-connected things improve the capital's public transport, with GPS-tagged buses, Oyster and contactless-card payments, and bus-stops which offer increasingly accurate estimates of when buses will arrive (though I confess I do have a giggle when the bus-stop ‘crashes' and displays its IP address and an error code).
Machine Learning and AI
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are two more terms with contested scope and meanings, and they do not necessarily imply anything cloudy at all. However, Andrew was focusing on what they might imply in the context of a ‘cloudy world', when the software services which we access are programmed to try to learn more about us and our preferences. Facebook and Google do this to direct advertising at you in a more targeted way. I have recently passed some sort of age threshold, so that Facebook no longer offers me dates with attractive African ladies, and has started to suggest solutions to incontinence and ways of paying for my funeral.
Should we worry? Professor Stephen Hawking has recently offered the opinion that we should be careful about what might emerge from machine intelligence, as they may not turn out to be those benign guardians, those ‘machines of loving grace', as the poet Richard Brautigan dreamed of in 1967. Might it be more like the Cyberdyne Systems ‘Skynet' computing cloud envisaged in the ‘Terminator' film franchise?
Some of us are wary of sharing too much about ourselves online lest machine intelligences get us in their sights; but as Andrew said, many of the younger people we know, the ones who seem permanently wired into social media, seem to care far less.
And so in conclusion, Andrew opened up to us the question, should we welcome the universality of connection, the wired things surrounding us, the machine intelligences keeping an eye on us? What sort of understanding do we have of where this is all going? What is the gap between what we may believe, and what is in fact true or probable?
Table group conversations
The next, arguably the main phase of a Gurteen Knowledge Café, is the point at which the audience stops being an audience, and the table group conversations begin. The idea is that we sit four or five to each table (the small tables at the Rubens pushed us towards three and four per table), and we share whatever ideas come to us around the topic, for ten minutes until David Gurteen blows his magic whistle.
Some of the people at each table should then move to another table, and the reconstituted groups continue for another ten minutes. Quite often this second session includes a period of people sharing what just happened conversationally at the first table group they found themselves in. Chances are that the conversational trend was different at various first-round tables, so the conversation ‘re-fractures' in new directions. After another ten minutes, David blows the whistle again and a third session is initiated.
There will always be some people who say more and who may dominate the table conversation, but having small table groups tends to mitigate against that. However the groups are big enough not to put undue pressure on people to feel forced to contribute.
I made notes and recorded at each of the table groups I was at. However, it makes better sense to skip to the final in-the-round session which in a sense gathered all the conversations together. It's never a complete picture because in the larger group some feel ill at ease speaking out, and back-and-forth reactions will foreground some issues and throw dust over the traces of others. But as a lightly-managed method for knowledge sharing, it does pretty well…
In the round
Following the table groups session, we gathered our seats into a big circle and David asked us to share as we wished. This session lasted about 40 minutes.
The first person to speak said that in the conversations he had had, the issues seemed to be less technical than socio-political. For example, machine learning might make middle class and managerial professionals redundant, and this could result in serious social dislocations.
Andrew referred to a recent conversation with the person at a client organisation moving their email out to the Microsoft Office 365 system; he feared he might be left with nothing to do. No, said Andrew; at present you use the systems you have to facilitate communication in the business, and surely you will continue to have the same job, but using a different technical system.
Several people chipped in with worries about what machine learning and machine ‘intelligence' might do for a tier of middle class support jobs: amongst paralegals, legal researchers and journalists for example. The top fee earners won't be threatened, but the ranks who support them might indeed be replaced by expert automated systems.
One rather scary aspect of machine intervention is represented by the research trend towards ‘autonomous killer robots', drones and missile batteries and battlefield weapons which are coming close to being granted powers to decide whether to kill or not. They may be constrained by their coding, but when there is the need to react quickly, quicker perhaps that human judgement would take, how long will this remain the case? South Korea has automated gun emplacements along its border with the North (the Samsung SGR-A1 system), currently under human control but capable of being made autonomous.
One lady mentioned that South Korea may be the only country which has actually developed an ethical framework for robotic behaviour, possibly akin to what the science fiction author Isaac Asimov put forward in ‘I, Robot' and other books. For South Korea it is significant not just because of the defence system mentioned above, but also because they hope to drive towards each Korean home having a robot by 2020.
Richard Harris, in his book ‘The Fear Index', suggests that we may control the morals and parameters of robotic systems, but it may still be the case that a system decides its behaviours for itself. The scenario is based on automated decisions in the investment banking industry. Now, one hopes that good decisions would be coded in; but it is often the case that we have lost control of the code, and no-one knows how it is working.
As a thought experiment, someone imagined a self-driving car. A small child runs out in front of the car and the car must act. To the left is a bus stop with eight people in the queue; to the right is a precipitous cliff. Which choice should the vehicle make, and would it make that choice?
One of us raised the issue of how different generations think about privacy behaviours and privacy laws.
The conversation took a turn towards the second question Andrew had launched at us, about the gap between perception or belief on the one hand, and reality. Challenged to explain, Andrew expanded by saying that he was often in conversations with people who he might have expected to have a wider vision, but was coming to appreciate that many senior and experienced people have their mindset in a kind of rut, ill-prepared for what is about to bring radical change. For himself, he thinks it behoves us to show an interest in our future.
Someone recalled the perceptual experiment that asks people to count the number of times that a basketball is passed, and hardly anyone charged with this task notices that someone in a gorilla suit walks right through the shot. It's what we might call ‘entrained thinking', the captivating power of mental models, and though mental models have their uses, so does naïvety? Assumptions undermine our ability to understand the world, especially in novel contexts and arrangements.
I asked if any of the table groups had addressed the question of ‘the Internet of Things' and someone replied that yes, on her table they thought it had the potential to create some large security risks and loopholes.
David Gurteen said that as an iPhone user, he recently became aware that when he has his phone plugged in to charge in the same room, he has become aware that ‘Siri' (the natural-language control interface for the telephone) is listening to every second of time and his every word. Siri has imperfect ears, and might hear David and his wife use a phrase in dinner conversation and interject, ‘How can I help you?' I raised the recent news stories about the Samsung voice-control TVs and the talking Barbie doll, both of which use an Internet link to a natural language processing software system ‘in the Cloud' and which therefore are also continuously listening to whichever human is in the same room (though soon, they start to listen and react to each other).
Someone remarked that there is a kind of trade-off between gaining increased machine help and losing our privacy and control over our own information. A trade-off along those lines may be perfectly acceptable, were we able to decide about it ourselves. But do we really understand what are the terms of the trade off? And who is in charge of those terms? Until Edward Snowden enlightened us, how much did we understand about how those trade-off were handing vast amounts of information about us to the security organisations?
What, for example, are we to make of the harvesting and mass pooling of our medical records and genetic data? It has some huge potential to advance medical science through Big Data analysis.
We had a bit of a debate about whether ‘radical transparency' with respect to our data is asymmetric (they want to know everything about Us but don't let us know much about Them), or whether the information flow is more symmetric than that.
In closing out, Andrew Driver suggested we check out a book by Peter Fingar called ‘Process Innovation in the Cloud', which is related to an article called ‘Everything has changed utterly'. The book, he suggested, is not that exciting, but the article is worth a look.
At this point David Gurteen thanked our hosts; he got people's unanimous agreement that it was OK to share emails amongst us, but we demurred at him sharing those with his toaster. And so we rose, and spent some more valuable informal time networking with the aid of wine and beer generously provided by our hosts.
Endnote: Privacy, protection and control
To the above I will add that at my first table group there was a strong focus on issues of privacy and confidentiality in email communications and in personal data in the cloud. For example, medical records are supposed to be kept securely, and this raises worries when suggestions are made that these could be kept ‘in the cloud'. Indeed, the most popular GP records system in the UK, EMIS, is moving to a cloud-based model for data storage, and this does provide substantial protection against data loss (for example in the case of a fire at the surgery). But just exactly where is the data being stored, and who can take a look at it?
Many cloud storage providers use servers based in the USA. When George W Bush signed the USA Patriot Act into force in 2001, its Title II in particular gave unprecedented powers to the US government agencies to snoop on the communications and data of individuals and organisations. This has caused concern amongst organisations in the European Union, which through Directive 95/46/EC has fairly stiff provisions in favour of protecting personal data. Companies operating in the European Union are not allowed to send personal data to countries outside the European Economic Area unless there is a guarantee that it will receive adequate levels of protection.
There is an agreement called ‘US-EU Safe Harbor' which was negotiated between the US Department of Commerce and the EU; this is supposed to provide a fast-track way to assure European customers that American cloud service providers will comply with Directive 95/46/EC, but it has been subject to at least two critical and sceptical reviews as regards to compliance and enforcement. It seems still very important to know where your data is, even if ‘cloud theory' says it isn't!
A further point that came up in one of my table groups was how companies use our information, and whether we mind about that. As has already been remarked, young people seem less concerned about privacy than older people, but perhaps that is a bit of a caricature, and it is more significant to know what value our information is to them, and what we get in return. Maybe we don't mind if by allowing a supermarket to associate our identity with our purchasing habits, by swiping a club card, we get access to special offers. But what about the recent sale of hospital data to commercial entities? Even if it is anonymised, said one person, we are ultimately the providers of that data, so should we not get some remuneration or benefit for allowing out data to join the pool?
The difference between a Knowledge Cafe and a Community of Practice - Comments
I am frequently asked the difference between a Knowledge Cafe and Community of Practice (CoP) as it is not always clear to people.
Etienne Wenger defines a Community of Practice as a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact on a regular basis.
A Knowledge Cafe on the other hand is a highly adaptable face to face conversational process that can be used in many different business situations to bring a group of people together to have an open conversation for a specific purpose.
A Cafe can be run as a one-off event, for example to explore the impact of a new technology or as a regular series of events, for example a series of talks/cafes on a specific theme or a variety of different themes.
A Cafe or a series of Cafes does not constitute a CoP. And although a series of Cafes for people with a common interest may appear very CoP like, in reality a CoP will adopt many different ways of interacting rather than just the Cafe format. e.g. less structured conversations, open space technology sessions and on-line discussion forums.
So in summary, the Knowledge Cafe is a powerful conversational tool that can be employed by a CoP but is not the same as a CoP.
The Red Cross Red Crescent Experience of the Randomised Coffee Trials - Comments
Randomised Coffee Trials (RCTs) are an amazingly simple way of connecting people in an organization, helping to build the social fabric and build community.
The Red Cross Red Crescent have been one of the pioneers to implement them on a global scale.
This report from Shaun Hazeldine describes their experience with them in connecting over 600 people from around the globe to have regular "virtual coffee meetings" with each other once a month. The bottom line: "people loved them".
In the Red Cross Red Crescent the RCTs were implemented as a component of a broader Learning andEngagement Plan for Volunteering Development. A core principle underpinning this plan has been to createspaces (both physical and otherwise) where people could come together and talk, learn from each other andcollaborate for solutions and innovation. The plan focuses on conversation as an underestimated tool forlearning. A number of similar ‘conversational approaches to learning' have also been implemented alongsidethe RCTs in the Learning and Engagement Plan.
Larry Prusak has written an introduction and highlights some of the more important points. Here is the key one he makes:
The first highlight that stands out is the very substantial value the respondents place on the identificationof “critical” knowledge. This is essential, yet often difficult to do. It's essential because without this activityone can drown in the huge amounts of “stuff” labeled knowledge in any organization, which leads to greatwaste. It also gives knowledge activities a bad reputation. At the same time, it is difficult to do, because thevery word “knowledge” encompasses many forms of “knowing” that are more tacit and, not only uncodifed,but often not easily codified at all. We sometimes call this type of knowledge “know-how” or practiceknowledge, and it is often difficult to identify in ways that make it more scalable and effective.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Be a KM Champion! You are changing the culture every time you speak up http://linkd.in/1GDLapV #KM
Do we need to learn or do we need to adapt? - Comments
You are no doubt familiar with Peter Senge's quote of "the only sustainable competitive advantage is an organizations ability to learn faster than it's competition".
But maybe we should take the lead from Charles Darwin:
According to Darwin's Origin of Species, it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.
Is Social Media silencing personal opinion? - Comments
Social media is not living up to its promise of being an online outlet for discussion that mirrors our communications and conversations that take place in the offline world. In fact, people are less willing to discuss important issues on social media, than they are in real life, a new report from Pew Research Center has found.
A major insight into human behavior from pre-internet era studies of communication is the tendency of people not to speak up about policy issues in public -- or among their family, friends, and work colleagues --when they believe their own point of view is not widely shared. This tendency is called the “spiral of silence.”
Some social media creators and supporters have hoped that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter might produce different enough discussion venues that those with minority views might feel freer to express their opinions, thus broadening public discourse and adding new perspectives to everyday discussion of political issues.
...
The survey reported in this report sought people's opinions about the Snowden leaks, their willingness to talk about the revelations in various in-person and online settings, and their perceptions of the views of those around them in a variety of online and off-line contexts.
People were less willing to discuss the Snowden-NSA story in social media than they were in person.
Social media did not provide an alternative discussion platform for those who were not willing to discuss the Snowden-NSA story.
In both personal settings and online settings, people were more willing to share their views if they thought their audience agreed with them.
Previous ‘spiral of silence' findings as to people's willingness to speak up in various settings also apply to social media users.
Facebook and Twitter users were also less likely to share their opinions in many face-to-face settings.
The research confirms some of my observations over recent years about face to face conversation and the problems of creating forums for good online conversations that I spoke about in this recent talk on Smarter Online Conversations at the University of Brighton.
Keynote Talk by David Gurteen on Smarter Online Conversations at ECSM 2014
Leif Edvinsson has been one of the key proponents of the importance of intellectual capital reporting for as long as I can remember, so
I am delighted to see this new book published: Intellectual Capital in
Organizations. Non-Financial Reports and Accounts - edited by Patricia Ordoñez de Pablos and Leif.
The book reviews the development of the field of
intellectual capital reporting, including core concepts, latest
developments, the main components of intellectual capital,
how a statement is built, and key indicators of each
component.
Dialogue Rendezvous: the sageless stage - Comments
My good friend John Girard has a rather nice twist on the Knowledge Cafe/World Cafe process called a Dialogue Rendezvous.
I never wish to see the Cafe process set in stone and I think of it more as a set of principles for designing "interesting conversations" for a specific purpose and so I am always on the lookout for variations.
John uses TED talks to trigger the engagement, thinking and conversation of his Dialogue Rendezvous - an approach I rather like.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: February 2015 - Comments
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Opportunities do not float like clouds in the sky. They are attached to people http://bit.ly/1Ao093G
Sitting down and deciding on a vision, goals, objectives and plan just defers the pain http://bit.ly/1Cg0baz
Don't try to transfer knowledge, instead attempt to grow knowledge http://bit.ly/1DvMAQw
Conversation is more than communication - Comments
Face to face Conversation is far more than just communication.
When we have a Conversation we don't just exchange information.
That's what computers do. It's not what people do.
People filter, interpret and elaborate on what they hear.
Everyone does this differently.
Two people can hear the same thing and take away very different ideas.
In fact, we actually have little idea what others really takeaway from a conversation or what they are thinking.
Conversation is spontaneous and dynamic. It is not planned or scheduled.
We don't plan our response to something that someone says - it emerges spontaneously.
The Conversation can be thought of as being in charge. Conversation takes us where it wants to go.
Conversation is shaped by our moods. A conversation held one day will take a very different path and have very different outcomes compared to the same conversation on another day.
The environment in which a conversation is held also has an impact on the actual conversation.
Conversation held in a quiet room will take a very different form to one in a noisy cafe or one on the train on a boat or in a car or while walking.
And it's not just the words spoken that form the communication.
The speed and volume of delivery, the tone and the emotion in the voice shapes the meaning of the words conveyed.
And the eyes and the smile convey so much along with other body language.
We have evolved to be very sensitive to body language and can detect deceit, lies, stress and other underlying emotions.
Someone said to me recently "I don't quite trust her, she smiles far too much when I talk with her."
Conversation can inspire and motivate us or it can depress and turn us off.
In conversation, we make new connections in our minds and our thinking can be triggered down entirely new paths.
It's probably not an exaggeration to say that a good conversation can entirely change our lives though such conversations are rare and we hardly ever recognise the long-term impact of the conversation at the time.
A single conversation or a series of conversations over a period of time can have a huge impact on us.
We start to make different decisions not realising the influence that earlier conversations have had on us.
A conversation held today is heavily influenced by conversations held in the past.
Conversations shape and mould our minds and thus our thinking and the decisions that we make.
Conversation shapes our lives.
What does research tell us about the effectiveness of lectures? - Comments
Most people who know me are aware of my views about the lecture - certainly, if you have attended one of my knowledge Cafes or workshops you will be.
It was death-by-powerpoint lectures that provoked me to start to run my Knowledge Cafes back in 2002.
But this article by
Dr Tony Bates:
Why lectures are dead (or soon will be)
is a comprehensive review of the lecture, its history and its future.
It is well worth the read and looks at both the strengths and the weakness of the lecture especially in the light of modern day technology and the ability to flip teach
This is what Tony says the research shows about the lecture.
The lecture is as effective as other methods for transmitting information (the corollary of course is that other methods – such as video, reading, independent study - are just as effective as lecturing for transmitting information)
Most lectures are not as effective as discussion for promoting thought
Lectures are generally ineffective for changing attitudes or values or for inspiring interest in a subject
Lectures are relatively ineffective for teaching behavioural skills.
Oh and make sure you read the comments - they are not totally supportive and add some additional insight into what Tony has to say.
An innovative way to document meeting minutes - Comments
I was on the Expert Advisory Group for a large meeting being held in Bangkok recently by the IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies)
We had a long discussion via Skype at one point and I almost fell off my chair when I saw the meeting minutes!
What a great way to write up meeting outcomes with a YouTube video: Expert Advisory Group Minutes 2nd meeting.
Take a look - not only an innovative way to document the outcomes of a meeting but some interesting ideas for making meetings more participatory also.
Step 3 - the idea to consider the four questions from Peter Block came from me - I have used them at meetings and conferences in the past and I think they are a great way to get people to think about the degree to which they will participate in an event and help actually improve their engagement. Question four is the key.
Here are some of my more popular recent tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
The Participatory Narrative Inquiry Institute - Comments
I received this note from Ron Donaldson on the 21st December - a fascinating story and an introduction to the Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI) Institute.
Stonehenge wasn't oriented on the summer solstice sunrise, but the winter solstice sunset - and not to any winter solstice sunset, but one every 19 years that coincided with the New Moon. This would be special as it's the longest, darkest night in the whole 19 year Metonic cycle. And tonight's that night! Tonight the longest night of the year is not broken by any moonlight
It corresponds to a mythical point in time, like the Egyptian Zep Tepi - the First Time, which is the days before or out of time in which the gods were born or the cosmos created; the lack of sun and moon on the longest night are important as this mythic time was thought to have been before either sun or moon were created. - and was seen by our ancestors as the day of re-creation, of an end of one cycle and the start of the new. This night, then, is a repetition of that moment.
The Bronze Age excavation at Flag Fen in Peterborough, where I live, has a causeway that led out to an island in the fens. The Archaeologists have recently discovered/realised that it was completely rebuilt every 19 years, presumably to match this 'day of re-creation'.
With great serendipity, Cynthia Kurtz (author of 'Working with Stories), myself and a few learned colleagues are at the point of launching a new initiative to encourage more people to work with stories. We are inviting anyone interested to join with us around what we are calling the Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI) Institute.
More details and the option to register can be found on our new website at https://pni2.org. All forms of story workers are welcome especially those who engage in any form of participation and return the stories and meaning back to the community where they arose.
Wishing you every success for the next nineteen years, Happy, double dark, Winter Solstice
Cheers
Ron
Ron Donaldson
knowledge ecologist
Ecology of Knowledge Ltd
Over the last 15 years that I have been producing this newsletter, I am occasionally criticised for writing in the first person. I am told that I use the word "I" far too much and that it is a sign of narcissism.
I find this amusing as I quite deliberately use the word. I strive to avoid the passive voice. Both my website and my newsletter are personal endeavours and so it makes sense to write in the first person, but it took me a while to learn that.
In the early days it was feedback from a friend who said, “Hey David, I love your newsletter but it is so much more interesting and authentic when you are ‘yourself' and speak in ‘your own voice' about something you feel passionate about”. That helped convince me to write in the first person.
It was also at that time I first read the book The Cluetrain Manifesto and the thoughts of David Weinberger on voice:
We have been trained throughout our business careers to suppress our individual voice and to sound like a ‘professional', that is, to sound like everyone else. This professional voice is distinctive. And weird. Taken out of context, it is as mannered as the ritualistic dialogue of the 17th-century French court.
But it goes deeper. I was educated as a scientist. I was instructed to write in the passive voice. That's what scientists do. I never really questioned it. Well at least not until I came across an article in New Scientist magazine by Rupert Sheldrake, the biologist and author. Here is how he started his article:
The test tube was carefully smelt.' I was astonished to read this sentence on my 11-year-old son's science notebook. At primary school his science reports had been lively and vivid. But when he moved to secondary school they become stilted and passive. This was no accident. His teachers told him to write this way.
Writing in the passive voice is meant to make science objective, impersonal and professional. Maybe it makes it seem that way, but it cannot disguise the fact that despite the Scienticfic Method scientists have the same cognitive biases that we all possess.
Unfortunately, this style of writing has spilt over into our business world
To my mind one of the best examples of the distortion caused by the passive voice are the biographies of conference speakers. Everyone knows they are not written by an independent person, but by the speakers themselves. So when they read, “Dr John Smith is an internationally acclaimed educator, speaker and trainer … he is a world renowned thought leader, author and practitioner,” you know it is highly likely that you are reading hype.
Writing like this is misleading. It is alienating. But if you write your bio in the first person then it becomes harder to write such rubbish. You are making it personal. And before someone points it out, most of my bios are written in the 3rd person - conference organizers demand them that way but I hope I manage to avoid the hype!
The active voice is more truthful. It gives us ownership of our work. It makes it harder to distort things. It involves us with the subject more. It liberates us to be ourselves.
Bloggers and storytellers have already discovered this.
So I love to use the word ‘I'. I hope you are inspired to write more personally too.
The Running Desk: another form of Randomised Coffee Trial - Comments
When I was at the annual KM Asia conference in Singapore in November one of the speakers was Janan Goh who works for BASF in Kuala Lumpur.
During his talk he spoke very briefly about something he called "Running Desk".
My ears immediately pricked up as it sounded similar to a Randomised Coffee Trial and I asked Janan if he could send me more information.
This he has very kindly done and has also taken the trouble to translate it from German into English. Thanks Janan.
The concept is a little bit more elaborate than an RCT but the essence is the same. It's about bringing people together across silos in an organization to get to know each other better.
In BASF's words: "It creates a better understanding between, scientists, engineers and business people"
Take a look here
I rather like the idea. In any large organization there are buildings that you never get to visit. In a "Running Desk" you get to meet people on their own turf. There is a lot of value in that.
And you don't have to run one exactly the same way as BASF. Take the RCT and Running Desk principles and design your own "silo buster".
Dave Snowden takes down sacred cows, little tin gods and a paper tiger or two - Comments
Dave Snowden - people either love him or hate him - sometimes both at the same time :-)
And for good reason - he speaks his mind - and has a wonderful way of questioning things that we take for granted or have held sacrosanct for far too long.
I don't always agree with him - but even when I don't agree - I am left with a nagging doubt that he may be right or there are elements of truth in what he says.
This causes me to think harder and more deeply about my own views and beliefs. That has always got to be a good thing!
So, I was delighted to see that he is writing a blog post (an attack blog as he calls it) for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas in which in his own words he plans to "take down sacred cows, little tin gods and a paper tiger or two". Here are the first few in the series:
As he posts them, you will find the others here.
Some enlightening (whoops - should not use that word LOL) and enjoyable reading to take you into the New Year. Enjoy!
I intend to slowly build this up as a little resource of short articles on various aspects of conversation.
You may recognise some of them as appearing in my blog or this newsletter in the past.
I hope you enjoy. They have already sparked some interesting discussion.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: December 2014 - Comments
Here are some of my favorite recent intersting tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
There is nothing new about the Knowledge Cafe or is there? - Comments
There is nothing new about the Knowledge Café or is there?
When people say that something is not new, they usually mean that they are familiar with the concept and its in common practice.
To my mind, when this objection is levelled at the Knowledge Cafe - it means that they do not fully understand it.
When I look at how organizations operate and the behaviours of people in organizations - it is quite apparent that people are either not aware of the fundamental principles and the power of good conversation or they understand them but do not to change their way of doing things either out of habit, laziness or choice.
Why in meetings and presentations are we still so dependent on Powerpoint? Why is the dominant format of a talk, a long presentation with lots of Powerpoint slides and a very short time for Q&A? Why is no time included for reflection and no time for conversations amongst the participants in order for them to engage with the topic or issue? Why do we insist on talking at each other rather than with each other.
Why is the dominant layout of our meeting rooms: either lecture style or large tables, when we know from experience and observation that these layouts are not conducive to good conversation? The research shows that good conversations take place in small groups of 3 or 4 people sitting around a small round table or even no table at all.
Why in meetings, especially those where the people do not know each other well, do we not allow time for socialisation and relationship building before getting down to business when again the research shows that such socialisation improves people's cognitive skills.
Why are circles rarely used in meeting's when the research and our own personal experience demonstrates their power?
Why do managers and facilitators seek to control meetings so tightly and are afraid of negative talk or dissent. By surpressing people's fears, doubts and uncertainties - you do not eliminate them - you just drive them underground. Peter Block says "Yes" has no meaning if there is not the option to say "No". You need to bring people's doubts and fears out into the open and talk about them at length.
And why when we know from research that group intelligence relates to how members of a team talk to each other. That it depends on the social sensitivity of the group members and on the readiness of the group to allow members to take equal turns in the conversation. And that groups where one person dominates are less collectively intelligent than in groups where the conversational turns are more evenly distributed, do we allow the same old people to dominate the conversations in our meetings and do nothing to encourage the quieter ones to engage and speak up.
The Knowledge Cafe may not be totally new but it addresses all these issues and more but as a conversational method is still sadly very poorly adopted.
In fact in many organizations conversation is seen as wasting time. But slowly this is changing. More and more people are starting to understand the power of conversation and take a conversational approach to the way that they connect, relate and work with each other. They see themselves as Conversational Leaders.
One of the things I like about conferences is that they trigger thoughts and ideas in my head as I listen to the speakers. Interestingly, the thoughts often have little to do with the subject of the speaker.
Usually I just make notes of these thoughts in my note book but at KM Russia 2014 in Moscow. I decided to tweet a few of them.
A thought: Conversation is a simple tool for making sense of a complex world.
Another thought: We should not try to control the outcomes of a conversation but let the conversation take us where it wants to go.
A thought: Conversation is a powerful tool for helping us challenge our existing mindsets.
A thought: get older managers to have open conversations with their youngest employees to learn about social tools and new mindsets.
Thought: we inspire each other through conversation.
Thought from #kmrussia It's not that communication is key. Conversation is key!
Clearly my mind was focused on the power of conversation.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: November 2014 - Comments
Here are some of my favorite recent intersting tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
A beautiful question is an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something -- and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change.
That definition makes clear that this book is not about grand philosophical or spiritual questions -- Why are we here? How does one define "good"? Is there life after death? -- all of those great questions that spark endless, impassioned debate ... the focus here is on questions that can be acted upon.
Adding knowledge cafés to the repertoire of knowledge sharing techniques - Comments
There are not too many academic articles published on the Knowledge Cafe so I am delighted that
Prof Martie Mearns and
Tracy Lefika at the
Department of Information and Knowledge Management - University of Johannesburg
have published an article on the Knowledge Cafe as a knowledge sharing application.
Martie, Tracy, a big thank you.
Abstract
Knowledge cafés, a fairly new technique used to facilitate knowledge sharing, offer individuals within organisations the opportunity to interact on a face to face level with topics that are relevant to a particular organisation, and enhances knowledge transfer.
One of the major impediments of knowledge cafés is that, to date, there is limited literature concerning this knowledge sharing technique.
For this reason data was gathered through a Delphi study to investigate and discuss various aspects of knowledge cafés as used for the purpose of knowledge sharing.
The results of the study provide guidelines, advantages, disadvantages and similar techniques to knowledge cafés.
The core differences between knowledge cafés and world cafés are also highlighted.
Essentially it is the aim of this article to add knowledge cafés to the existing repertoire of knowledge sharing techniques by firstly reviewing literature on the existing techniques used for knowledge sharing and then elaborating on the value of knowledge cafés as a knowledge sharing application.
I wrote extremely briefly recently about Group Think & Group Polarization
to make the point that two of the biggest challenges facing group conversation are how to overcome Group Think and Group Polarization.
When I get a little bit more time I will write about how to how to ensure that when you design a Knowledge Cafe - you can avoid or at least reduce Group Think and Group Polarization as although the Cafe process naturally tends to avoid these issues, in some circumstances extra care needs to be taken.
Here are some of my more recent intersting tweets.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
All books talk but a good book listens as well. Sarah Rozenthuler @srozenthuler Life Changing Conversations YouTube http://bit.ly/1D1jXap
There is something special about meetings in the flesh, which cannot be replicated digitally - Comments
I wrote a little while back about Serendipity and Randomised Coffee Trials and since then I seem to keep coming across articles on the role and importance of serendipity in organizations. Here are a few quotes from two recent articles.
Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings.
We get a particular intellectual charge from sharing ideas in person.
If you just think of serendipity as an interaction with an unintended outcome, you can orchestrate pleasant surprises.
Silicon Valley's greatest advances came through collaboration -- making serendipitous encounters critical.
There is something special ... about meetings in the flesh, which cannot be replicated digitally.
When Steve Jobs designed a new headquarters for Pixar, he obsessed over ways to structure the atrium, and even where to locate the bathrooms, so that serendipitous personal encounters would occur.
Serendipity has always been a big part of what my Knowledge Cafes have been all about.
You can never predict the outcomes of a conversation.
Conversations have a life of their own - you have little control over them.
They take you where they want to take you - sometimes down blind alleys but more often than not to fascinating places you would have never have visited on your own.
PEER ASSIST! Calling all charters, codes of conduct and guidelines - Comments
Sparknow would love your help. They're currently doing some benchmarking of cultural charters at organisations - knowledge, information, records management, behaviour, values, greenness, diversity, ethics, moral compass, risk management, even running effective meetings - in fact any charter, code of conduct or guidelines that codify and make explicit what's expected of people and what they can expect of each other.
An example of a charter, and of bringing it to life, would be the Natural England's 2008 ‘ask, learn, share' knowledge charter which you can read a little about here
Could you please share with Sparknow
any charters, codes, guidelines etc (by whatever name) at all that you might have been part of making or involved with implementing
any case studies you like, have experienced or know about
any personal experiences of how (not) to get something like this done
They will consolidate whatever they get and share it back of course, upholding a principle of generosity and generating shared resources.
Introduction to the October 2014 Knowledge Letter - Comments
At the risk of getting a little boring I'd like to briefly talk about Randomised Coffee Trials again.
Quite simply, if you have not taken a look at them yet - then give over a few minutes of your time to learn about them.
I also just came across
a service called Global Hangouts which is designed to
"ignite inspiring conversations about pressing global issues by introducing young people from different countries to each other."
It seems a great concept and you can see the connection to RCTs.
I would give it a go myself but I don't quite fit the "young people" profile. Maybe I should create one for "oldies" like me :-)
Actually, I think it would be far more interesting to connect young people with old people across cultural divides - it would make for some potentially interesting conversations.
I am still very excited about Randomised Coffee Trials and their potential in organizations for connecting people, building relationships and delivering all sorts of serendipitous outcomes.
What they are doing is fantastic!
They started RCTs about 10 weeks ago and currently have 400 people from 70+ countries signed up and it grows every day by 5 - 10 people.
They run it in 5 languages and it seems feedback from the first round is overwhelmingly positive.
They have 17 million volunteers and 400,000 staff so there is a lot of space for growth yet.
Recently I also got in touch with Michael Soto - one of the co-inventors of the RCT concept.
I am pleased I did as I discovered he had left Nesta to form Spark Collaboration to take all the admin hassle out of running RCTs
A Randomised Coffee Trial or RCT for short is a rather fancy name for an incredibly simple idea.
RCTs are used to connect people in an organization at random and give them time to meet to have a coffee and talk about whatever they wish.
The original idea was inspired by Pedro Medina and developed by Michael Soto and Jon Kingsbury of Nesta UK in 2013.
Nesta is an innovation charity with a mission to help people and organisations bring great ideas to life.
An RCT can be run in a wide variety of ways but one way is like this.
Anyone interested in taking part, sends an email to a central address and asks to be randomly connected with someone else in the organization.
An administrator collects these requests and enters them into a specially designed spreadsheet that matches people at random.
Some organizations use a simpler technique like drawing names from a hat or use more sophisticated software that automatically does the matching. (See the commercial services listed below.)
The administrator then tells the person with whom they have been connected.
It is then up to them to get in touch with that person and organise a 30 minute chat over coffee.
It need not be a coffee - it could be tea, lunch or dinner. What ever works best for them.
Better still, in a geographically dispersed organization - the meeting could be a virtual one say over Skype.
This is what Nesta says about the benefits
Provides legitimacy to chat to people about things that aren't directly work related. Although every time there have been direct beneficial impacts on various projects and programmes.
Totally random conversations, as well as some very useful work related conversations. Breaks silos at Nesta in a really effective way.
Offers the chance to make time to talk to people they should be talking to anyway, and to meet people who they won't be directly working with but it's nice to know who they are!
It's a really good way of revealing links within the organisation and encouraging us to collaborate. It's interesting that being part of the wider 'RCT' banners gives permission to spend and honour the time. Less likely to cancel a catch up if it's an RCT coffee than a social catch up on a busy day.
They like the prompt to talk to someone new (or someone they already know), and the permission to take 30 minutes just to see what's going on, without any particular agenda or goal.
As of September 2014 in various languages explain how the Red Cross Red Crescent are using them globally via Skype.
Some early feedback from the Red Cross Red Crescent trials
I came to know that in Austria students are teaching the way of building disaster shelters as well as awareness in hygiene promotion and disaster where in my country it's such a technical session we have not introduced in schools. But I realized this is a very good practice and of course I will introduce it here in Bangladesh also.
It was a great experience and I think we definitely will connect again! We also exchanged email IDs to keep each other posted on new youth developments specifically (since we're both involved in youth work).
I have a coffee partner from Trinidad and Tobago. She is a volunteer leader overseeing Red Cross activities for children and teachers in her District. She is so passionate about her work! I was very inspired and will have our next meeting next month
The first round went remarkably well, as I was paired up with a brilliant woman from Australia who provided me with a good picture of the Australian Red Cross and general Australian civil services; amazingly, our different countries have very similar strategies in our communities! We're also planning on keeping in contact with one another for fun / for cultural education (including Red Cross information)
I wanted you to know that I just did the first coffee meeting at 6am this morning before work and it was such a lovely way to start the day! Great idea to link up volunteers and staff from different national societies. As well as a good chat, we both learnt a fair bit and hope to maintain the connection.
What were the chances that I got connected with someone who shared the same name with me! We had a wonderful chat...I am looking forward to my next "hook up" :).
Thank you for providing the opportunity to share and forge links with other volunteers world wide. I had my first virtual coffee trial today and it was an awesome experience. Discussing our work and sharing our experiences just added the right flavor to what we do regardless of the distance. We are not alone . We have a voice. Thank you. Looking forward to the Second Round.
There are a number of commercial organizations that provide an RCT type service:
This is how Spark Collaboration describes their RCT service:
"Spark is a simple tool to help people meet. Colleagues who spend time socializing are more innovative and more productive. The problem is, it's hard to socialize with people you don't already know. That's why Spark was built. It's a tool that introduces people who work together and invites them to meet for lunch or coffee."
Footnote: Where did that seemingly crazy name Randomised Coffee Trails come from? Well its a play on the concept of Randomised Control Trials. Ben Goldacre of Nesta talks a little about them here in this post on his launch of Randomise Me - a free online trials generator.
Two of the biggest challenges facing group conversation are how to overcome Group Think and Group Polarization .
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.
Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints, by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.
Group polarization refers to the tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members.
These more extreme decisions are towards greater risk if individuals' initial tendencies are to be risky and towards greater caution if individuals' initial tendencies are to be cautious.
Ray Ozzie launchesTalko - an app for collaborative voice communications - Comments
Those of you who know me - know I used to work for Lotus Development and of my involvement with Lotus Notes
My website and this newsletter for example, are brought to you courtesy of code I have developed in Lotus Notes (I am still a techy at heart!)
You may also know of Ray Ozzie, the creator of Lotus Notes who went on to create Groove (another amazing collaborative application) that was later acquired by Microsoft.
Ray was named chief software architect at Redmond in 2006, ultimately taking over software strategy from Bill Gates, who stepped aside in 2008. Ray left Microsoft in 2010.
Well it seems Ray has been hard at work on his third startup Talko.
Talko is a fascinating new app for the iPhone. Take a look at how Ray introduces his new baby here
Welcome to Talko! - especially this segment (may emphasis in bold):
I passionately believe that there's immense latent potential in voice -- to convey tone and emotion, to quickly resolve issues, to make decisions and to get things done.
There's simply no faster and no more effective way to express essential emotions such as urgency, anxiety, understanding, confidence or trust.
Quite simply, amazing things can happen when we just choose to talk.
Looks like Ray and I feel the same about the power of voice and of the importance of conversation :-)
This is how TechCrunch describes the app:
Talko ... replaces your usual conference line with VOIP, cloud-based calls between team members. The app records the entire live conversation to make it accessible to those who can't tune in while it's going on. It also enables users to create bookmarks within the conversation and tag other users with action items.
Perhaps most importantly, the conversation doesn't end when a particular call is over. Any member of the team can start a new call or add voice-based follow ups to the conversation, and they will be shared asynchronously with the rest of the participants. By doing so, it makes certain that everyone is on the same page, whether they were able to call in or not. Users in a group can also add text and photos in line with the conversation, which get shared with all participants.
I have many great tele-conversations with people and have long wished to record them in a useful way to play back later and reflect on the ideas and insights that surface and that are so often forgotten. Talko seems to be a great way of doing this and so much more.
If you have an iPhone - connect with me - I need a few people to chat with to experiment with the app.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: September 2014 - Comments
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for August to September 2014.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
The real task of leadership is to confront people with their freedom. Peter Block http://bit.ly/1DzmICV #GurteenTalk
The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization. Sigmund Freud
Introduction to the September 2014 Knowledge Letter - Comments
You may have noticed that some Knowledge Letter's are long, others are short.
It's a function of how busy I have been during the month - the busier I have been, the shorter the newsletter and the later in the month it gets published :-)
This is a short one on account of two weeks in Indonesia. It was mainly holiday with my wife Leni but I got to run three Knowledge Cafes on Conversational Leadership while there.
SatuDunia (Strengthening civil society in Indonesia by sharing information and knowledge both nationally or globally using information and communication technology) in Jakarta, (photos)
A big thanks to everyone I met, especially Rusnita Saleh for all her help in organising the KCafes and my apologies for all those I did not have time to meet but I'll be back,
I am greatly looking forward to visiting Jakarta with my wife Leni in September. We will be there from the 15th to 24th of the month.
It's mainly a personal trip for Leni to see her family and for her to catch up on a lot of stuff as she has been away from Indonesia for 2 years since we married.
So I will have several days free time.
If you would like to meet with me or invite me to give a talk or run a Knowledge Cafe or workshop for your organization then please get in touch.
I will be speaking at KM Asia in Singapore, the week of 17th November and may possibly spend a few days in Bangkok.
I will also be speaking at KM Russia in Moscow the week of the 24th November.
It works! Everyone who hears Dave speak talk about him for days, weeks, even months afterwards. They don't always agree with him or appreciate his style. But he engages them and challenges their thinking!
Some years ago, I recall recording one of Dave's talks and playing it back to myself on the train home, pausing every few moments to take in an outlandish statement of his and reflecting - "Is this really true?" "Have I had this so wrong in my head for so long?" or "Is Dave just saying this to provoke the audience?". Either way he sure gets me thinking.
Another good disruptive technique is to read the descriptions of other speakers and deliberately create the odd virus like the five most dangerous things people say about X which includes paraphrases of points you know will come after.
Good speakers take this in their stride and give as good as they get, others get flummoxed and that is no bad thing as we need better speakers, oh do we need better speakers.
The point about all of this is to create diversity for learning.
Conferences where all the speakers agree with each other are turgid.
Dave also makes the point that "Good speakers stimulate debate and discussion at events and organisers need to provide for that."
It's why I am so keen to promote conversational techniques such as Knowledge Cafes at conferences.
The Cafe is often seen as people talking nicely to each other and thus prone to Group Think.
Some times this is true, some times it is not.
There is nothing I would like to see more in my Knowledge Cafes than more passionate but respectful dialogue and debate around a significant issue.
Some time ago Dave suggested that I run Ritual Dissent sessions in addition or as part of my Knowledge Cafes. Somehow I have never got around to this. It's about time I did :-)
Ritual Dissent is a workshop method designed to test and enhance proposals, stories, ideas or whatever by subjecting them to ritualised dissent (challenge) or assent (positive alternatives).
In all cases it is a forced listening technique, not a dialogue or discourse.
The basic approach involves a spokesperson presenting a series of ideas to a group who receives them in silence.
The spokesperson then turns their chair, so that their back is to the audience and listens in silence while the group either attack (dissent) or provide alternative proposals (assent).
The ritualisation of not facing the audience de-personalizes the process and the group setting (others will be subject to the same process) means that the attack or alternative are not personal, but supportive.
Listening in silence without eye contact, increases listening.
Overall plans that emerge from the process are more resilient than consensus based techniques.
Ritual Dissent is meant to simulate the process of delivering new ideas to management or decision-makers, and to open up new thinking to necessary criticism and iterations.
The process is meant to enforce listening, without disruption.
The scenario replicates real-life proposal making especially with regards to new and non-conventional ideas - as more experimental approaches are commonly met with the most challenges from management.
IKI Talks: Interviews with 34 International Experts in Knowledge Management and Innovation. - Comments
The Institute for Knowledge and Innovation South-East Asia (IKI SEA) at the Bangkok University in Thailand has interviewed 34 International Experts (Practitioners and Academics) in Knowledge Management and Innovation.
They have asked all of them the 6 same questions and are publishing one new interview each week. Six have been published so far, interviews with Davd Snowden, Patrick Lambe, Eric Tsui, Geoff Parcell, Kate Andrews, Waltraut Ritter, Dr. Manasi Shukla and Prof. Rivadávia C. Drummond de Alvarenga Neto.
The six questions:
How do you explain the difference between information and knowledge?
What will be the most important topic in KM in the future?
How do you foresee KM as a discipline in the future?
How do you explain the link between Knowledge Management and Innovation?
How do you foresee the future of Innovation Management?
Why do you think companies are still struggling to implement Knowledge Management and Innovation Management?
You can watch the videos here and while on their site check out their Creative Bangkok six day workshop in October 2014.
At one point, we talked about RCTs (Randomized Coffee Trials. CIMPA knew the concept and liked the principles of it but raised the concern that in the business environments they are used to dealing with there would be a need for tangible business outcomes from an RCT.
In further conversation, an interesting variation of the RCT concept emerged.
take a group of people
take a small collection of business problems/challenges/issues
randomly match two people with a random business issue
ask them to meet over coffee and discuss the selected issue (no reason why they cannot discuss other things too)
at the end of the session, each person writes up a short summary of their conversation and any ideas that emerged - these are posted and shared centrally in someway
a further variation on this idea:
take one big issue and over a period of say a month, run RCTs where all the pairs discuss the same issue
at the end of the month bring them ALL together in a Knowledge Cafe style gathering to discuss the issue further and draw some conclusions
This could be a powerful innovative process.
I think the real beauty and success of the RCTs is in the organic flow of the conversation. Focusing on tangible business outcomes although worthy and useful is maybe a little bit too organised and just a short step away from being another form of business workshop. I therefore wonder, can this variation still be considered an RCT?
What do you think and have you experimented a similar form of RCT?
Introduction to the August 2014 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I'd like to remind you this month of some of the services available to you as a member of the Gurteen Knowledge Community.
If you would like to be an active member of the community and not just receive stuff then you should join the Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on LinkedIn.
It has over 4,500 members and is a great place to meet and have discussions with like-minded people.
You can join here: http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=1539
In addition there are several other services. Here are just three of them:
The Coffee Connector: Can a machine connect two strangers over coffee? - Comments
If you like the idea of Randomized Coffee Trials (where two people are connected at random to have coffee with each other) then I think you will love this coffee machine.
The machine known as the Coffee Connector was created by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and its agencies TSLA, Tellart and Strawberry Frog.
This is what they say about it.
In Asia, Singapore often facilitates connections between companies and successful business ventures with a wealth of resources.
Our machine, the Coffee Connector, is this symbolic idea brought to life.
Designed for high-end conferences and networking events, the Coffee Connector only brews a cup of coffee when two attendees work together to request one.
Once you've found a partner, the machine's exposed kinetic brewing process engages viewers and uses interactive touchpoints to support the EDB's messaging.
I have no idea of the cost but I suspect it's a tad too expensive for wide use at conferences and in any case when getting a coffee at a conventional coffee machine its not too difficult to start up a conversation with the person next to you.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for July to August 2014.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Casually occupying yourself as you putter around an idea increases the quality of ideas http://read.bi/WY0oCn
What does research tell us about the effectiveness of lectures? @DrTonyBates http://bit.ly/1p1D414
I have been designing and hosting conversations in the form of knowledge cafes for the past 12 years or more.
and during this time I have developed some simple principles that help ensure the engagement of the participants and the quality of the conversations.
My focus has always been on face-to-face conversations and not ones mediated through social media
but during this time many people have asked me how to run virtual knowledge cafes or how to improve the way that people hold conversations online.
Online conversations are fraught with difficulties.
Often they are an exchange of monologues - a series of highly crafted statements by the participants.
They are not like normal face-to-face conversations and I would argue that they are not in fact conversations in the strictest sense of the word.
Misunderstandings abound; certain people dominate; trolls deliberately stir up trouble, intellectual arguments and fights break out and conversations rapidly become ad hominem.
Quieter, more reflective people, people who favour dialogue over debate stay away or lurk silently in the background.
In my talk I reviewed what I've learnt about face-to-face conversation in developing my knowledge cafes and how the principles that underpin them might help improve socially mediated conversations.
The talk was videod and if and when I get a copy I hippo to share it with you but in the meantime here are the slides from my presentation.
The dinner was quite fascinating - we sat in pairs, our partner had already been selected and as well as the dinner menu we were given a 'conversation menu' by Theodore.
For each course there were several questions about ourselves we could chose to discuss. We were instructed to only talk with our partners.
The questions were intended to help us discover what sort of person we were talking with, their ideas on different aspects of life, such as ambition, curiosity, fear, friendship and the relations of the sexes.
I enjoyed the experience so much that back in November 2005, I held an "Intimate Conversations" Cafe at the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Then on 8th July 2014 (yes that's nearly 9 years later!) I ran another "Intimate Conversations" Cafe at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in London.
During the evening, I paired people off with each other and give them a short list of questions from which they could choose to discuss.
The questions were designed to be open-ended and to give them the opportunity to reveal as much of their inner-selves to each other as they felt comfortable.
Here are three of the questions:
What are your earliest memories of your childhood?
What brings you greatest happiness when you think back on your life so far?
What would you like to be engraved on your tombstone?
I had 20 people - 10 pairs and
as I knew from past experience that it is possible to be matched with someone whom you don't quite get on with- I broke the conversation into two 40 minute sessions.
I allowed people to have a 1:1 conversation for about 40 minutes and then told them to switch partners but if they really wished to carry on their conversation and stay with thie current partner they could.
Only 5 pairs (half the people) switched partner.
I also let people select their partner - I did not do it for them randomly (that may or may not have been the best way).
We then came back together at the end in a circle for about 30 mins to share our thoughts on the Cafe - almost everyone engaged and was enthusiastic about the event.
What a great way to break down barriers: get people talking about themselves and give permission to go deeper and engage in a way that you would never normally do with a complete stranger.
Credit: Sally Gurteen,Senior Digital Communications Executive
I enjoyed the Intimate Conversations Cafe last night. One of the main things that struck me was how open complete strangers were with me about quite raw events in their life e.g. death when I was open with them.
Maybe this is something we can learn from and adapt in a business environment to make them less of a battlefield?
Credit: Sara Culpin,Head of Information & Knowledge
I was later asked by someone who did not attend -
whether it was transferable in-house to say use as an ice-breaker at the start of internal conferences or alongside Randomised Coffee Trials
which was something I had not considered.
Reflecting on this, and reviewing the questions, I realised that questions like
"Describe your perfect partner?" could become "Describe your perfect job?"
and "When are you at your best?" could become "When do you do your best work?"
So the answer is yes!
If you are interested, get in touch and I can send you the list of questions that I used.
This is a simple and effective way of allowing people to get to know each other better at a deeper level and is no where near as "scary" as it sounds.
Although I had one person say that were not coming as they were not prepared to talk quite so intimately with a complete stranger.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for June to July 2014.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Adidas says “If You Think You're So Smart, Why Don't You Share Your Knowledge? http://onforb.es/1pyozPr #KM
The one conversational tool that will make you better at absolutely everything http://bit.ly/U49OGu
In Googling the topic - I then quickly came across an article with a somewhat different point of view
Is PowerPoint a Strategic Tool?
Take a read! So which is it - evil or strategic? I guess like most tools it all comes down to how you use it and what you use if for! Even I use a few PowerPoint slides in my Knowledge Cafes :-)
Introduction to the July 2014 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I did not know 15 years or so ago when I started to travel the world with my work that I would make so many wonderful friends and learn so much about other cultures and religions.
Least of all to find myself a beautiful Indonesian wife.
During my travels, the most important thing I have learnt is that despite our different languages, cultures and religions, we all have similar fears, insecurities, hopes and aspirations. It's what it means to be human and I have learnt to respect all people.
And so with the ending of Ramadan I would like to wish all my Muslim friends and readers of this knowledge letter Eid Mubarak and to my Indonesian friends Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri.
What if we could bury forced-ranking and focus on releasing the best from our people; start managing talent collectively rather than individually, and reform closed performance management into collaborative knowledge sharing?
Question: What would be the implications for socety if we discovered we didn't have free will? - Comments
I have often thought about posting interesting questions on my blog to include in my monthly knowledge letter.
When somebody tells me what I or society has deeply believed for aons is not correct - rather then get defensive I ask myself the question - "what would it mean if we have been wrong about this all the time".
It's rare that I change my mind on the issue unless faced with strong evidence but it makes for an interesting conversation in my head.
Andrzej Marczewski also spoke on Gamification at KM UK 2014 and an exercise was run to explore how Gamification could be used in a KM environment.
Although Andrzej was an articulate and knowledgeable speaker and removed many of my doubts about gamification I am still not sure that I fully appreciate the concept but these are my thoughts to date:
Gamification is not about turning something into a game.
Gamification is of value (I am no longer quite as sceptical as I was)
When ever I design a system of any sort in the future, I will stop to think how gamification might be of benefit in helping to engage people.
Key "gamification elements": Think about how to give more timely feedback to people; how to introduce elements of competition and how to give frequent small psychological rewards. (I suspect there are a few more I have missed).
Consider carefully the possibility of people gaming the game or other unintended consequences.
Be careful not to undermine intrinsic motivation. Like most "rewards" intrinsic motivation can be easily undermined.
I have yet to see or been told about an application in the KM field that works and does not have any of the above pitfalls. Hence my scepticism.
One of the best examples of Gamification I have come across. It can't be gamed. It does not undermine intrinsic motivation and there are no obvious unintended consequences. But then it is a very simple situation.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for May to June 2014.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
As many of you know, I have been spreading the word far and wide about Randomized Coffee Trials (RCTs) and so I am delighted when ever I hear that my efforts have yielded some results.
Sunita Anderson, Head of KM - Group Commercial at SABMiller (the brewing company) mailed me recently to tell me that she and Sara Bell were both at the February Henley Forum and heard me talk about RCTs
and this inspired the birth of their Random Beer Collaborations (RBCs).
Naturally beer is SABMiller's beverage of choice and at their offices they have a bar area that serves their brands of beer from 4:30pm every day!
The RBC process is a simple one. This is how Sunita describes it:
We created a group on Yammer and through this, internal comms and physical posters we announced the launch of RBC, inviting people to sign up by posting #pairmeup on the Yammer group.
Sara and I randomly paired people up making sure that they did not belong to the same Function. We keep a log on a simple excel spreadsheet.
They are introduced by email and then encouraged to make their own ‘meet up' arrangements. They are not compelled to drink beer – they could meet up earlier in the day over a coffee. Whatever works best for them.
Early days yet but we have asked the pairs to feedback on their sessions via the Yammer group. If new ideas have come up as a result of this collaborative conversation, we hope that they will share these and we have offered a prize to the best idea.
I am now looking forward to hearing stories about Random Tea Learnings, Random Water Sharings and Random Fruit Juice Innovations!
Oh I forget to mention, the Bank of England has a form of RCTs they call CoffeeFours where four people meet up once a month for conversation. There are all sorts of different ways of running these things.
Give them ago, the cost is minimal and the potential outcomes high.
Its always good to hear inspiring stories of how organizations have gone that "extra mile" in their knowledge sharing and learning efforts.
I recently learnt about how Plan Zimbabwe - part of the Plan international development organisation
that promotes and protects the rights of children around the globe
share and learn through regular learning circles and bi-annual staff conferences.
Every three weeks, country office and field staff gather for a two-day ‘Learning Circle' to share their successes, challenges and experiences, and at times to engage with external participants and speakers.
These have helped them understand key developments in their specific area of work, and gain new knowledge and skills from their colleagues and visitors.
Examples have included their finance director sharing insights on global economic markets, the Office Drivers sharing their safe driving techniques and a local attorney advising staff on estate planning.
Initiatives such as these are simple and effective.
Not only do they encourage people to reflect more deeply and more broadly on various aspects of their work, they also encourage them to interact and learn from one another.
Yes - that's two whole days every 3 weeks for the Learning Circles - I'd love to see more organizations take such initiatives.
My Knowledge Letter is available in Russian - Comments
If you are a Russian speaker and enjoy my Knowledge Letter then you might be pleased to know that most of it is now available in Russian
as part of the Журнал Business Case Study Magazine
thanks to the folks at the KM Alliance.
Knowledge Management - Financial Sector Collaboration Group - Comments
Pam Watson, KM Manager at the Bank of England has recently created a Knowledge Management - Financial Sector Collaboration Group on LinkedIn.
You can join here
She has a few members already but it would be good to grow it into a thriving community.
I have been taking part in this annual conference for far more years than I care to remember and this year I will not only be chairing the first day but giving a presentation on Conversational Leadership.
On the second day, my good friend and colleague Paul Corney will be chairing the event. As ever, it looks like being a first class conference with some great speakers including Dave Snowden, Bonnie Cheuk, Paul Corney and many more.
I have not quite decided what I am going to talk about yet - its next on my todo list - but I am tempted to use Cory Doctorow's quote “Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about.” as the title for my presentation.
I would like to get across the point that conversation is our most social of social media and should not be overlooked.
Oh yes and let's not forget I have a London Knowledge Cafe coming up on 4th June on What does Gamification mean in a KM environment?. If you are in London that evening - do come along - the event s totally free.
The shift in the world begins with a shift in our thinking.
Shifting our thinking does not change the world, but it creates a condition where the shift in the world becomes possible.
Peter believes that the key change required in our thinking is to move from thinking of ourselves as the outcome of something done to us i.e. effect,
to thinking of ourselves as the cause of what is happening.
So in any situation, a question to ask ourselves is "What is cause and what is effect?" "Which way around is it?"
What would it mean if our way of seeing a situation was reversed. If we reversed how we saw cause and effect.
Are we the ones actually causing the situation rather than others? Are we trying to solve a problem that we attribute to others that is in reality a problem of our own making?
Did this cause and effect co-evolve - is there no right answer?
Interestingly, Peter says it does not matter if the reversal is true or not but to ask yourself which form of thinking is the most useful - which gives us the most insight and the most power.
So in any situation, you don't have to believe it, just pretend that things are around the other way. What insight does that give you? What would it mean?
Here are some reversals to provoke your thinking (one or two of them especially so) - most of them Peter's but a few of them mine:
The audience creates the performance
The conversation creates the speakers
The consumer creates the marketeer
The subordinate creates the boss
The child creates the parent
The employee creates its leadership
The student creates the teacher
The future creates the present
The listener creates the speaker
An openness to learn creates the teaching
Problem solving occurs to build relationships
Think about it. I believe this is a powerful personal and group thinking tool. I may try to use it in someway in a future Knowledge Cafe.
Business is a conversation because the defining work of business is conversation - literally.
And 'knowledge workers' are simply those people whose job consists of having interesting conversations.
It's always struck me that David didn't say productive conversations or conversations with "hard outcomes" - he simply said interesting conversations.
I recently shared this quote with someone and their response was but "to what aim are such conversations?"
This strikes at the heart of the matter - many managers, to my mind most managers, worry that people will spend their time talking about things that are not important.
They feel the need to control or have oversight of the conversations to ensure they are focused on the business and are efficient.
They don't trust people to decide what to talk about - what is relevant - what is important - what is interesting.
My message to managers "Let your people go - they are in a much better position than you to decide what is interesting and what is not."
Counter intuitive conversational research - Comments
As I research and write about Conversational Leadership I am forever on the lookout for good research papers and articles concerning conversation.
If you are aware of any such papers - do let me know.
Here are the few I have discovered.
Research Papers on Conversation
Recent research that has not been widely published throws some fascinating light on the power of conversation.
Some of it is surprising, even counter intuitive.
Who would have thought that having a friendly conversation can boost your cognitive ability or that team performance can be improved by increasing the amount of face-to-face communication regardless of what is talked about.
Friends (and Sometimes Enemies) With Cognitive Benefits:
What Types of Social Interactions Boost Executive Functioning?
By Oscar Ybarra, Piotr Winkielman, Irene Yeh, Eugene Burnstein, Liam Kavanagh http://spp.sagepub.com/content/2/3/253
Talking with people in a friendly way can make it easier to solve common problems. But conversations that are competitive in tone, rather than cooperative, have no cognitive benefits.
In small, 5-person groups, the communication is like dialogue and members are influenced most by those with whom they interact in the discussion.
However, in large, 10-person groups, the communication is like monologue and members are influenced most by the dominant speaker.
Performance is not strongly correlated with the average or maximum individual intelligence of group members but is correlated with the average social sensitivity of group members, the equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking, and the proportion of females in the group.
I started running my Knowledge Cafes over 10 years ago out of my frustration with death-by-power-point presentations. Little did I know back in 2002 that they would take over my life!
Since then I have run many hundreds of them all over the world and have further developed the concept. What I love about the Knowledge Café is that it works in all the cultures I have encountered.
Gather people in small groups of 3 or 4, remove the barriers to conversation especially fear, allow people to converse in their native tongue around a topic in which they feel passionate and they will engage enthusiastically every time.
Today, my interest has broadened to the concept of "Organizational Conversation" and "Conversational Leadership" and the multitude of ways that conversation can be used in organisational life.
So I was delighted when Dr. Vincent Ribiere of the The Institute for Knowledge and Innovation (IKI) - South-East Asia and Thailand Office invited me to be the editor for the May Edition of their iKnow Magazine for Innovative Knowledge Workers and agreed I could build the issue around the topic of Organizational Conversation.
I am pleased to have some wonderful contributors. First, I take a broad look at conversation. Nancy Dixon looks at what makes a conversation effective. Keith de la Rue talks about conversations for innovation. Shawn Callahan writes about the role of storytelling – a very natural form of conversation. Mariette Peters takes a practical look at what it takes to get lawyers to open up, talk with each other and share their knowledge. And Carla Sapsford Nemman looks at conversations as catalysts for inciting strategic storytelling.
I believe that conversation is our most powerful business tool and that each and every one of us has the potential to leverage our personal effectiveness by taking a conversational approach to our work.
So let's have no more of the "stop talking and get to work" and more "get to work and start talking."
As a result of my recent trip to the UAE to speak at the Leadership Communication Conference (LCME 2014) in Abu Dhabi, I have a few new resources for you that I hope you will find of interest.
Second, I now have an updated version - with Arabic subtitles - of the Knowledge Cafe workshop I ran for the KHDA last year that gives you a good feel for the dynamics of one of my Knowledge Cafe's.
A big thanks to Alaa Zalat of Corporate Excellence Masters International who not only acted as interpreter for my LCME workshop but also for adding the above subtitles.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for April 2014 to May 2014.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Introduction to the April 2014 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I spent the Easter Saturday on an over night flight to Dubai and Easter Sunday speaking on Dubai Eye 103.8 - a Dubai radio station and then travelling on to Abu Dhabi.
I then spent Easter Monday delivering a Knowledge Cafe workshop as part of a Leadership Communication Conference. The Tuesday was the main day of the conference and on the Wednesday I flew home.
So that was my Easter break gone.
I would have rather been at home with my wife as we do not get that many long weekends together but my job means that I need to work anywhere in the world and be available 52 x 24 x 7.
I don't have a problem with that and my wife supports my decision.
So when Euan Semple talks about Proper days off I have a lot of empathy with him .
Some years ago I gave a series of mini-interviews that I posted on YouTube.
(I am not going to check how many actual years it was as I look so much younger then!)
One of them was entitled "How do you make people share?"
You can view it here.
In the video, I talk about the need for ownership of any change you wish to instigate in an organization verses trying to get buy-in through bribes such as rewards.
This is still an issue dear to my heart as I continually see so many organizations get this wrong.
In her email she shared several resources with me including a great handbook entitled Engaging Everyone with Liberating Structures
It is full of useful resources and advise but what quickly jumped out for me was the section on "Ownership verses Buy-in".
Here is what she has to say.
Ownership is when you own or share the ownership of an idea, a decision, an action plan, a
choice. It means that you have participated in its development; that it is your choice freely
made.
Buy-in is the exact opposite. Someone else, or some group of people, has done the
development, the thinking and the deciding, and now they have to convince you to come along and
buy-in to their idea -- so that you can implement their idea without your involvement in the
initial conversations or resulting decisions. Aiming for buy-in creates lukewarm, pallid
implementation and mediocre results.
When it comes to solving intractable socio-technical behavioural problems in systems the notion
of buy-in is just not useful – people in the system need to own the new behaviors.
Anytime you or someone around you thinks or talks about buy-in, beware! It is a danger
signal telling you that your development and implementation process is missing the essential
ingredient of involving all who should be involved.
3 mini-interviews with Kuebel-Sorger Ludger, head of the KM practice at Boston Consulting Group. - Comments
Ankur Makhija recently emailed me to let me know that three new mini-interviews, recorded at the KM India Summit in Bangalore in February with Kuebel-Sorger Ludger who heads the Knowledge Management practice at Boston Consulting Group have been added to the
eClerxServices KM Channel on YouTube. This makes over 40 mini-interviews now, including some early ones with me.
One of the problems of discussing issues in on-line forums is that it is far too easy to be misunderstood.
When you compose a post, you often overlook to explain a lot of the background context and much of your reasoning and so you open yourself up to misunderstanding.
And when reading another person's post, maybe their reply, you misinterpret what they have written in a similar manner.
Unlike face to face conversation, you can't correct misunderstandings easily and quickly. and so it is easy to slide into an argument.
What makes things worse, is that you know there are possibly hundreds of observers watching the exchange and you do not wish to lose face.
You also have the problem that when having a conversation with someone you know well you can read between the lines. Even when they state something badly, you know what they really mean.
But of course the observers don't and so you feel the need to respond to the issues as stated and not as understood else you are in danger of being misunderstood yourself by the observers and thus open yourself up to attack.
This is just one of the reasons why I think online forums are great for sharing stuff but not so good for two way interactive conversations especially where the participants do not know each other well.
Why the Good Share but the Great Collaborate - Comments
My good friend and colleague Andrew Armour invited me to talk part in a Webinar last week with Powwownow on Collaboration.
It was a fun morning in Richmond with Andrew and several of the Powwownow team including Robert Gorby, their Marketing Director who joined us on the show.
You can find a recording of the webinar on the Powwownow blog
One thing I said that seemed to resonate with Andrew and Rob was relationship before collaboration - in other words before you can effectively collaborate in an organization you need to establish good relationships first.
Those of you on the ball will recognise this is an adaption of the words of Peter Block when he says connection before content.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for March 2014 to April 2014.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Introduction to the March 2014 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I have a little Lotus Notes agent that reminds me of birthdays and other important events. It's just informed me that my first blog post was 12 years ago on 26 March 2002!
There was no Twitter then - Twitter did not come along until 2006. Nor was there Facebook - Facebook was not founded until 2004. And LinkedIn started up in 2003.
And I have just checked, my first Knowledge Letter was published on 30 May 2000. I have published it every month for 165 months - that's almost 14 years. One day I will stop but not just yet!
I always thought it was the age my children that dated me - now I am not so sure :-)
It's amazing how social media has bloomed in the last 10 years.
What is it about conversation at times?
I see someone struggling with what to do in a situation. They ask for help.
I want to have an open conversation with them to explore ideas.
But as soon as I start to talk - they start to argue, they defend, they attack -- I say "look just reserve judgement for now" - but they seem incapable of that.
They state assumptions as a matter of fact - I suggest there maybe be other causes/reasons - they are categoric that their view is the only one and the right one.
They turn the conversation emotional.
Actually, this is not really a conversation - it never can be.
Maybe I am not skilful enough - maybe what I say or the way I say it seems like an attack on their judgement - on their intelligence.
But in some situations - how ever I play it - the conversation is turned into a debate - a fight as to who is right and who is wrong.
But maybe there is another way of looking at it?
Advice is unfriendly to learning, especially when it is sought.
Most of the time when people seek advice, they just want to be heard.
Advice at best stops the conversation, definitely inhibits learning, and at worst claims dominance.
Capturing actionable insights from Knowledge Cafes - Comments
I have long wanted a way to capture "actionable insights" and feedback from my Knowledge Cafes that did not get in the way the conversation, was easy, simple; that everyone could do and that allowed me to collate and distribute the items to the participants.
A few weeks ago, after some inspiration from Paul Corney and Mark Field, I decided it was time to try an experiment
and I have developed a system to capture items by SMS and post them to a page on my website that I am calling an "SMS Wall".
Why do it like this rather than use Twitter or some other social tool? Quite simply, I wanted everyone to have the ability to post to the wall.
Not everyone, has a smartphone, not everyone uses Twitter and not everyone has an internet connection but almost everyone has a basic phone with SMS and knows how to use it.
People can also post messages before the Knowledge Cafe, during the KCafe, at the end of the KCafe and even on the train on the way home.
I can also dump the messages to a text file and email them to all the Knowledge Cafe participants as a record of the event.
I'll be trying it out a London Knowledge Cafe very soon. I plan to display the messages on a screen at the end of the KCafe but I think the real value is not so much the ability to see them in real time but to be able to view them in retrospect - say the following day but as I say this is a bit of an experiment and we will see how t all plays out :-)
This of course took a bit of technology to put in place:
a laptop with a 3G modem that receives the SMS messages
a clever bit of software called SMSEnabler - this takes incoming SMS messages on my laptop and sends them on as email
being able to email messages into a Lotus Notes database i.e. my website
about 2 days worth of coding effort by me to write an agent to process the emails and post them to a webpage (my techie background comes in handy sometimes!)
One of the reasons that people often give for not taking a more conversational approach to their work is the lack of time. Many even see it as a waste of time.
But its through conversation that we learn, make better sense of the world, glean insights, spot new opportunities and avoid pitfalls.
The time invested in a conversation almost always has a payback and saves time in the longer term.
Ponder what these 3 great men have to say :-)
The leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells, 'Wrong jungle!' ...
Busy, efficient producers and managers often respond ... 'Shut up! We're making progress!'
If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.
Personally, I would use much of that 55 mins to have conversations to determine the proper question to ask and then time to disscuss the question with other people.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for Feb 2014 to Mar 2014.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Not long left! Free access to Knowledge Management Research & Practice during March! http://bit.ly/1hbzglB #KM #KMers
One of the issues that occassionally comes up when I am designing a Knowledge Cafe for an organisation is the fear that people will use it as an opportunity to dissent about some issue. And managers wish to know how I will prevent that.
What I have never been able to understand is why managers are so afraid of people dissenting - so much so that everyone knows that "no" is not an option and so give lip-service to the agenda on the table and moan or bitch behind his or her back - there is no real commitment.
If people, are not happy then surely, as a manager you would wish to know that.
As Peter points out its your job to surface doubts and dissent. They need to be discussed.
"No" should be the beginning of a conversation and "Yes" really does have no meaning, if we cannot say "No"
Social software tools to facilitate research and researchers in achieving their objectives - Comments
My good friend Professor Dan Remenyi is developing a repository of social software tools which will directly facilitate research and researchers in achieving their objectives.
He is looking to collect examples of useful products and websites and also anecdotes about how they have been used and what type of results have been achieved.
This will eventually be published on a website and in an e-Book and all contributions will be acknowledged.
Please contact him if you would like to make a contribution to this repository of knowledge.
His e-mail is [email protected]
How do we transfer knowledge through everyday meeting talk? - Comments
It's not too often I get the opportunity to help out someone who is doing some really fascinating research into Knowledge Management and conversation.
So could anyone help out Lesley Crane please?
Lesley is a final year PhD student investigating organizational knowledge work - knowledge transfer and sharing.
Her study focuses on how such work is accomplished in everyday meeting talk.
This seems to me to be an original approach in that it locates the study of knowledge in talk and text, and it is this discourse which she is analysing to investigate how and with what effect people share and create knowledge.
She is looking to engage with organizations who would be willing to take part in her study.
It is unobtrusive - she doesn't even need to be present!
All she needs are good recordings of any type of organizational meeting.
The only proviso is that participants need to be English speakers!
Confidentiality and anonymity are guaranteed.
If you would like to help please get in touch with Lesley via email @ [email protected].
If this approach intrigues you as it does me then you will find two of her past papers here
The consequences of wolves and our actions - Comments
One of the things that has long intrigued me is the unintended consequences of our actions.
We do something either intentionally or by accident and as a consequence of that action a whole load of unintended consequences follow.
Those consequences can be good or they can be bad.
If they are bad and we notice them we can take corrective action.
But too often, we either do not notice the consequences of our actions or if we do, we do not attribute them to our original action.
Things change and we have no real idea why and the last thing that we do is to put it down to our own actions.
This little video about wolves in Yellowstone Park is a wonderful example of this in action
The last wolf was killed in Yellowstone National Park in 1926 and they were not reintroduced until 1995.
Seems the impact has been amazing. Would you ever expect less than 100 wolves to actually have an affect on the course of the rivers in Yellowstone Park. Take a look at this video and see why!
How wolves change rivers or read about it here in the History of wolves in Yellowstone.
What else do we do or decide not to do in this world but have no idea of the real consequences - many of them long them where the connection between cause and effect is lost?
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: February 2014 - Comments
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for January 2014 to February 2014.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
The only reason to come together face-to-face is for people to be in conversation with each other @NancyMDixon http://bit.ly/YJHM5A
Disruptive innovation, conversation, requires no enterprise social media, no 2-yr IT project, no so-called management http://bit.ly/1c9v9Vc
Introduction to the February 2014 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I upgraded my iPhone just before Christmas to an iPhone 5S.
I wasn't expecting a great deal. I was expecting it to be faster to have a longer battery life and of course a better camera.
I certainly wasn't expecting it to have a major impact on my productivity.
What is the magic app that is making all the difference?
Quite simply it is the in-built speech recognition facility.
It's quite amazing. If I speak slowly and clearly it is 100% accurate.
I use it all the time to dictate SMS messages.
But more than that I use it to compose emails and blog posts. I am using it right now to create this newsletter.
I gather there is a similar function on other smartphones but I have no idea how good the transcription is compared to the iPhone.
What surprises me though is that I discovered it quite by accident.
Like me, you may not be familiar with the capability.
I have mentioned it to several people with iPhones and they were not using it.
Try it out, if you haven't, you will be gobsmacked.
What is really cute though, is that with a little bit of my own coded Lotus Notes technology I can record a blog post and email right in to my website.
It's a dream!
The Sustainable Organization Library (SOL) - Comments
I was talking with Holly Shukla at the AKISS conference recently and she told me about
the Sustainable Organization Library (SOL) -- an online collection of book chapters, journal papers and cases on sustainability and social responsibility.
If your business is interested in sustainability and CSR (and damn it you should be!) then this looks an extremely valuable resource.
If you would like to know more about the SOL library then contact Holly at GSE Research and if you mention my name she will give you a free trial access and a discount on any subscription you may take out.
Imagine looking into another room through a glass window and as you walked around in your room the perspective of everything in the room through the window changed just as in real life.
In other words, when you move, the video follows, adjusting itself in real-time to give the effect that it was a real window! Everything displayed of course is life size!
The Kinect makes this possible by having a depth detecting feature, allowing 3d video capture.
10 Kinect cameras are used for capture and 1 for tracking.
I am imaging that the screen/window was a cylinder in the middle of the room that you could walk around. Is that possible?
It reminded me of a Knowledge Cafe I ran at an ECKM conference in 2007 in a University in Barcelona where the chairs were actually screwed down to the floor ... so we went across the road and held it in a real Cafe!
Does Pope Francis know something about Knowledge Management? - Comments
Does the Pope Francis know something about Knowledge Management? Here is a recent quote from an interview with him.
To my mind, it's not only the Church that needs to preach less and listen more- we all need to :-)
Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense.
We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us.
Sometimes after a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs.
This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas.
The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good.
And then recently, I was talking to Kitty Wooley on Skype about this and we decided it would be interesting for her to join one of my London Knowledge Cafes virtually as an experiment. So this would be one virtual person in a sea of real people.
My first thought was to have the "virtual Kitty" sit at a table as a laptop or better still as an IPad and to connect via Skype.
It seemed to me that this could even work more generally if there was just one virtual person per table.
But as I reflected on it - I realised that there might be some better technology available than a laptop or an iPad.
My first thought was a remote controlled WiFi webcam such as this one
BESTEX remote controlled webcam
But it was obviously not ideal and so I Googled around a little and found Beam+
Both are wonderful but expensive pieces of technology that I am sure will come down in price overtime and will have their place.
But I wanted something simpler and less expensive and it did not need to be mobile.
I then came across the Logitech BCC950 ConferenceCam
At first glance, it looked as if in combination with a laptop, it might work well until I realised that the person "beaming in" could not control where the camera was looking.
A big disappointment!
But I am sure it is only a matter of time before I can purchase something like this at a reasonable price and simply place the virtual person on a chair with the others at the table and for a good group conversation to take place even though it will still fall short of a genuine face to face, "body to body" conversation!
... The common knowledge management
focus on best practice is in effect contrary to
natural practice; an attempt to impose an
idealistic structured process onto the natural
activity of learning and knowledge transfer
through a focus on efficiency at the cost of
effectiveness.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for December 2013 to January 2014.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Virtual knowledge Cafes: Does anyone have any tips? http://linkd.in/1eLVcGb #KnowledgeCafe#TheWorldCafe
Knowing how to apply knowledge is more important than the knowledge itself http://bit.ly/1cBinOw #KM
Conversational Leadership:Thinking Together for a Change by @HurleyThomasJ & @Juanitabrn http://bit.ly/1aohv2Y #TheWorldCafe #KnowledgeCafe
These have had quite a lot of attention with several people telling me how much they like the idea and I have added the RSA and the KHDA in Dubai to my list of organisations running them.
I am so excited by the concept that I am encouraging more people to take them up and to collect stories and anecdotes about how they have been implemented and the feedback received.
Also, I have now found two organisations that provide an RCT service:
CoffeeWho and Lunch Roulette
Other organisations have mashed up an Excel spreadsheet to administer their RCTs.
If you know of any free simple tool that will make the random matches please let me know.
Making post project reviews more conversational - Comments
I am currently documenting the many ways in which I have seen the Knowledge Cafe taken and adapted by organisations for different purposes.
I am also writing about further ways in which I think the KCafe could be used.
Early last year, I wrote how I thought it could improve the Post Project Review process for a colleague, hoping that we might have the opportunity to try the process out with one of his clients but nothing came of it.
Rather than letting my thoughts sit on my hard-disk for another year or so I thought I'd publish them here. They are a little rough but I hope you will get the general idea.
If anyone would like to experiment with this process then get in touch with me.
Introduction to Conversational Post Project Reviews
Many post-project reviews rely on people filling in forms.
Or on meetings where the whole group is asked a question and people reply individually.
Or where people present their pre-filled forms to the group.
Others are based on interviews.
Often they are highly structured and formal in nature, with check-lists, specific categories of questions, pre-defined questions and pre-allocated times for discussion and so forth.
There is nothing greatly wrong with this structured analytical approach and there is no one way to run post-project reviews but its fair to say that in general they are not very "conversational".
By and large, it is assumed that people already know what the problems were and all that is needed is to capture the "lessons learnt".
The Knowledge Cafe Philosophy takes a different approach by assuming that until people start to talk openly about how the project went many of the problems and missed opportunities and insights will not be surfaced.
It takes group conversation, people talking freely and openly in small groups of 3 or 4 to achieve this.
It's not that the more formal approach does not work, it's that it does not surface the deeper, more important stuff.
The Process
One or more Knowledge Cafes can form part of any larger post-project review process and elements of this conversational process may be built into other activities.
A typical process might be as follows though this methodology can be adapted in many ways to meet the needs of the review.
The cafe process is described to the participants if they are not already familiar with it.
A speed conversation session is run. Here the participants are asked to join each other in pairs and have a brief conversation about anything they wish. Three rounds of 5 minutes each might be sufficient.
Some one talks for 5 to 10 minutes to set the context of the conversation.
They then pose a question to the group to trigger the conversation (more on the question in a moment).
People are seated in small groups, 3 or 4, at the very most 5 people group. There are no table leaders.
The small groups have a conversation around the topic/question and after about 15 mins are asked to change groups.
This change of groups takes place twice thus there are 3 small group conversations.
Everyone comes back together to form whole group. People move their chairs to form a circle and everyone sits in the circle.
The conversation then continues where people share their insights from the small groups with everyone.
Finally, the KCafe leader goes around the circle and asks everyone to share one lesson that they have learnt from the project and/or their KCafe conversations.
Speed Conversations
Recent research (Friends With Cognitive Benefits -What Types of Social Interactions Boost Executive Functioning? by Oscar Ybarra, Piotr Winkielman, Irene Yeh, Eugene Burnstein, Liam Kavanagh)
shows that talking with other people in a friendly way makes it easier to solve common problems.
Conversations that are competitive in tone however, rather than cooperative, have no cognitive benefits and actually suppress the ability to solve problems.
This is the reason for the short round of speed conversations at the start of the Cafe. It relaxes, people, gets them talking about uncontroversial things and actually boosts their thinking ability.
Group Size
The essential ingredient of the Cafe is the small group conversations and the fact that each group is only 3 or 4 people in size (never less than 3 and never greater than 5).
Research on group size (Group Discussion as Interactive Dialogue or as Serial Monologue: The Influence of Group Size by Nicolas Fay; Simon Garrod; Jean Carletta) shows that in small groups the communication is like dialogue and members are influenced most by those with whom they interact in the discussion.
However, in larger groups, the communication is like monologue and members are influenced most by the dominant speaker.
Large groups tend to be dominated by one or two members to the detriment of the others.
In other words, if you are looking for highly interactive conversation that connects observations, thoughts and ideas and surface new things, then a small group size of 3 or 4 is essential.
The whole group is more suited to reporting back and sharing knowledge rather than surfacing or creating it.
The Circle
The circle that is used for the whole group conversation is a very powerful.
By sitting in a circle, first and foremost everyone is equal.
Everyone can also easily see and hear each other. Its not easy to hide and its actually more difficult to dominate.
Importantly, the Cafe leader can also see everyone and through eye contact and body language to some degree can shape the conversation by indicating to dominant people they should talk less and encouraging the quieter members of the group to speak up.
The Question
There is usually only ever one question asked in a Knowledge cafe and as it is the trigger for the conversations that ensue it is of the upmost importance and it is essential to think about it and craft it carefully.
The KCafe is about creating a conversational experience.
In some ways the question should not be designed so much as to get answers to specific issues but to generate engagement.
Engagement at times can be important then content.
We are not looking for surface issues here we are looking for deep ones.
If the KCafe is held early on in the post project review, maybe it is the first item, then it sets the conversational scene for the remainder of the session.
We want people to feel relaxed, free from fear, energised and engaged.
One way to do this is to make the questions personal, responsibility and action oriented.
For example:
What did you personally learn from this project?
In what ways do you feel personally responsible for the outcome of the project?
What would you personally do differently next time as a result of your experience of working on this project?
What opportunities did you miss to do things better?
What was the most valuable thing you accomplished in this project?
Building elements of the Cafe into the post project review process
One very simple adaptation of the KCafe process is to build time for conversation into your existing process.
For example, at present, you may ask the participants as a whole group to answer a specific question and let some sort of conversation emerge around that question.
The KCafe approach, would be to have people seated in small groups of 3 or 4 and to ask them to discuss the question in their small groups first before coming together to discuss as a large group.
Forming a circle for the large group conversation is also a powerful KCafe technique to adopt.
Conclusion
There is not one, prescriptive way to do this but I think we need to get away from the rigidness and formality of so much that we do in corporate life and make processes such as this one more relaxed, engaging and conversational.
If you like these ideas, experiment and let me know how you get on.
Listening to ignite rather than listening to reply - Comments
Twenty or more years ago I came across this statement from Stephen Covey in talking about his fifth habit "Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood" and it has had a profound impact on me.
Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.
She thinks that the attention of one human being to another is an act of creation. Watch the video - it's only 2 mins long. Although, I have never quite articulated this in this past its always been an implicit principle behind my Knowledge Cafes.
It may seem strange but listening although usually seen as passive can be very powerful action!
I have long thought that the real value in an after-action review was not all the lessons captured and stored but simply taking the time to "pause and reflect" together and the actual conversation that takes place,
so I was pleased to see this blog post
‘Pause & Reflect' session or an ‘After Action Review'?
from Paul Corney.
Pausing and reflecting is probably also an easier concept to introduce to an organisation than more formal after-action reviews.
I also like the idea of "the power of 3" - that most people can remember 3 things and act on them.
I lean much more to "the power of 1" though :-)
I think people are far more likely to remember and act on just one thing than three.
It's why at the end of most of my Knowledge Cafes, I go around the circle and ask everyone to share one "actionable insight" with the group - one thing that they are taking away from the conversation and plan to do or has had a significant impact on the way that they see things that will almost certainly alter the course of future decisions that they make.
Paul also mentions reverse brainstorming.
I am not too sure if its the same concept that I work with but It probably is as I learnt it from Victor Newman whom Paul mentions in his post.
This is the Reverse Brainstorming process that I use.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: December 2013 - Comments
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for November to Decembr 2013.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
This Post Will Make You A More Effective Communicator In 90 Seconds http://linkd.in/1jkDwGb /such a simple but effective idea
YouTube: Knowledge Sharing by Guru David Gurteen at KHDA, Dubai http://bit.ly/1jkQyn4 #KM#KnowledgeCafe #GurteenTalk
2 separte orgs, one in UAE & other in Norway told me this morning that they are starting Randomised Coffee Trials http://bit.ly/J5Or67
Introduction to the December 2013 Knowledge Letter - Comments
Every Christmas, this knowledge letter gets shorter and shorter and later and later.
This month is no exception! But then I hope you have far better things to do then to take the time to read it :-)
I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to an exciting 2014!
Introduction to the November 2013 Knowledge Letter - Comments
When I first started this knowledge letter back in May 2000, yes it is in it's14th year,
the idea was that I still regularly blogged but selected some of my more interesting posts at the end of each month to include in the knowledge letter.
It hasn't quite worked out that way.
Throughout the month, I capture ideas and half-formed draft blog posts that get published at the end of the month in a blitz over a day, maybe two.
And then nearly all of those posts end up in my knowledge letter.
What is interesting is how much many of the posts have in common although they have come from different sources or inspirations over the month..
The two posts in this month's knowledge letter - both on the subject of serendipity are such an example.
I feel we really need to find more and effective ways of connecting with each other and having meaningful conversations.
One of these ideas is Peter Block's Conversations for possibility rather than Conversations to solve problems.
Peter is one of those people who sees the world through a very different lens from most of us.
I suspect many will have difficulty with what he has to say and his style of writing but he espouses some very profound ideas that I find invigorating food for thought.
One example is that maybe our ideas about what constitutes action are all wrong as he says here:
My belief is that the way we create conversations that overcome the fragmented nature of our communities is what creates an alternative future.
This can be a difficult stance to take for we have a deeply held belief that the way to make a difference in the world is to define problems and needs and then recommend actions to solve those needs.
We are all problem solvers, action oriented and results minded. It is illegal in this culture to leave a meeting without a to-do list.
We want measurable outcomes and we want them now.
What is hard to grasp is that it is this very mindset which prevents anything fundamental from changing.
We cannot problem solve our way into fundamental change, or transformation.
This is not an argument against problem solving; it is an intention to shift the context and language within which problem solving takes place.
Authentic transformation is about a shift in context and a shift in language and conversation. It is about changing our idea of what constitutes action.
The booklet also talks about a conversational process that has much in common with my Knowledge Cafe. If you are interested in change and the role of conversation in bringing about change then this document is a must read. I am reading and re-reading it several times over to integrate the ideas into my own thinking and to assess its potential impact on my Knowledge Cafe process.
Serendipity and Randomised Coffee Trials - Comments
Back in the summer at KM UK I was talking with someone at a KM Clinic who asked me about the Knowledge Cafe and whether it could be run online.
I am often asked this question and my simple answer is No.
Yes, you can do things online but to my mind they fall so far short of a face-to-face conversation that they are two very different ways of coming together.
The woman I was talking with was looking for ways in which she could connect people across a far flung global organisation and to help them build working relationships.
To my mind trying to run an online version of the Knowledge Cafe would not be very effective but as we talked an idea emerged in my mind and that was to connect people at the individual level using Skype.
The idea was to match people at random across sites and get them to have a Skype based conversation. It would be one to one, face-to-face and should work quite well.
That was it. As far as I know she did not follow up on this.
But then more recently I was talking with Susan Chan and she told me about Randomised Coffee Trials (RCTs) that were being run in the UK's Cabinet Office.
I was excited, as the concept was so similar to my Skype idea but face to face - why oh why had I not thought of that :-)
In Googling around, I found that the idea had originated at Nesta (an innovation charity with a mission to help people and organisations bring great ideas to life).
This how Nesta describes the RCTs:
Nesta staff that have opted-in are sent a weekly randomized match with another Nesta staff member and the two are invited to grab a coffee together.
There are no requirements or obligations regarding the topics discussed, some [randomized coffee trials] are spent entirely on work-related matters, others are entirely personal in nature.
It is just a coffee, but at the same time it is much more.
The power of this idea is strong and it is so easy to implement. Take a good look and see what you think. Could you do this in your organisation?
Footnote: Where did that seemingly crazy name Randomised Coffee Trails come from - well its a play on the concept of Randomised Control Trials.
Ben Goldacre of Nesta talks a little about it here in this post on his launch of Randomise Me - a free online trials generator.
"What is co-creation?"
This is a question that Vadim Shiryaev, president of SOMAR and partner of the Russian KM Alliance repeatedly posed to everyone he met at KM Asia recently.
He explained to me that it was his way of learning and I rather like the approach.
It was not a term I was familiar with, though having Googled it, it turns out that I am much more familiar with the idea behind it.
This is the definition I like the most.
At its core, co-creation is about involving a community outside your company in the ideation phase of the new product or service development.
With co-creation, the participants -- which may include customers, suppliers or the general population -- are made aware that they are contributing towards the development of ideas and concepts.
Through a series of steps, people are invited to contribute, evaluate, and refine ideas and concepts.
And elsewhere "Co-creation works best when you build a strong community. People share ideas, build on each others' work, critique, praise, and compete. It takes more than financial rewards to keep smart, creative people engaged."
A small group of us convened by Vadim talked a lot about what the principles might lie behind a co-creation methodology and
a key insight for me is that I have the core of such a methodology in an emerging, expanded vision of my Knowledge Cafe.
"The Knowledge Cafe is a highly adaptable conversational methodology for bringing people together to have conversations to achieve a common purpose."
A day or two ago I came across this post on Serendipity as a style of life.
It immediately resonated with me as like the writer I have been making a point to talk to strangers for some years now.
I never thought about it as a serendipitous act before - I have just been looking to strike up interesting conversations with people.
We go through life missing great opportunities to meet and have conversations with interesting people.
As the writer explains, it is actually quite easy and a stock of a few simple open ended questions do the trick.
It's also rare that people do not respond, if you approach them in a warm friendly manner with an unthreatening question or comment..
Comments often work best as they are the least threatening and do not call for an answer.
Having read the post, I am inspired to do it more.
Interestingly having just got back from KM Asia in Singapore - some of the most amazing conversations I have ever had are with elderly Chinese taxi drivers. They seem to have a lot of wisdom for their years.
The most recent conversation, while I was there, was with a Chinese taxi driver who had a few years earlier, lost his business, his wife and most of his family and almost committed suicide but for the love and support of his youngest daughter.
He was starting to rebuild his life.
And the taxi driver from Bangladesh in Dubai recently, who when I told him my wife was Muslim, proceeded in a very charming and low key way to try to convert me to the religion! LOL
There is an even more interesting story from Singapore some years ago that reminded me of a fundamental principle - "people can have every different perspectives on life - don't make assumptions that they feel the same as you do".
I must write up the full story - watch this space.
Theodore Zeldin even organises Conversation Dinners where you get to have dinner and maybe more importantly intimate conversation with someone you have never met. To some degree, its also art of what my Knowledge Cafes are all about.
Go on! Next time you get the chance to start up a conversation with a stranger - do it.
You may surprise yourself how easy it is and how rewarding.
It's about time the kids taught the teachers! - Comments
This recent post from Euan SempleHiding from ourselves reminded me of the many conversations I have had over the years where people put down social media or a particular social media tool with a degree of nastiness and spite.
If they just said, "Oh I have taken a look at the tool and it does not works for me." - that would be fine but why the venom?
It's also interesting that when I probe a little (not too hard as they get even angrier) - they have not looked at the tool in question and only have some vague misguided idea of what it all about - often picked up from the popular press.
As Euan, so rightly comments "What are they so afraid of?"
I had two school teachers do this to me recently. With the pace of change, sooner or later, the kids are going to have to start to teach the teachers! Now that's a wonderful idea - a two way teaching process.
There is so much that kids could teach us adults! Imagine a school where they actually did that. Someone must be doing it :-)
The topic of the show was "Conversation making across cultures: How to talk to each other truthfully without causing offence or conflict."
In the hour before I joined the show, Suzanne and Dylan talked about misunderstandings and common sayings and meanings across cultures.
And when I joined we explored in more detail the art of conversation, sharing of ideas and relationship building.
Here is a podcast of the session, thank goodness I was still wide-awake despite having landed at 6:30am local time, 3:30am UK time on an overnight flight from London in time for the show!
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: November 2013 - Comments
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for October to November 2013.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Serendipity as a style of life http://bit.ly/Ik7mcE /oh this is wonderful, I practice this myself but not as well as this!
The World Cafe: the intimacy of a small group is critical http://bit.ly/1h53KKD #KnowledgeCafe#TheWorldCafe
YouTube: Touchy Feely Crap - If we don't get close we are not going to create anything @Peter_Block http://bit.ly/18STQn9
Why The Next Big Thing In Computing Is Conversation via @NeridaHart http://bit.ly/1b4gX2c
How to Create Success By Being Ruthlessly Focused by James Caan http://linkd.in/187eIa5 /good advice
Inserting managers into a network decreases connections between workers and creates bottlenecks @HJarche http://bit.ly/1cL7Faw
I will be taking part in a radio show on Dubai Eye this Sunday 27 Oct 2013 at 11:00am GST (7:00am GMT) - Comments
This Sunday 27 October 2013 at 11:00am GST (7:00am GMT) I will be taking part in a show on Dubai Eye 103.8 (@DubaiEye1038FM) a Dubai-based talk radio station.
The topic of the show this Sunday will be "Conversation making across cultures: How to talk to each other truthfully without causing offence or conflict."
Suzanne tells me that in the hour before I join the show that they will be talking about misunderstandings and common sayings and meanings across cultures.
And then when I join they will explore in more detail with me the art of conversation, sharing of ideas and relationship building.
One of my community members recently e-mailed me to say that one of the ideas she had proposed to the conference committee of which she was a member was to run a Knowledge Café as an evening event at one of their conferences.
The idea was to tie it in one of the keynote speakers, allowing participants to dig deeper in to the concepts presented by the speaker.
A question would be posed by the speaker and tie back to the keynote from earlier in the day.
This would in turn tie into an on-line community that would continue the conversation, post lessons learned and insights gleaned from the conference.
Guess what? She was voted down by the other members of the committee.
It still amazes me how conservative people are about running Knowledge Cafes or similar conversational events.
The above idea is a perfect way in which to experiment with conversations.
If you get the chance to do something like this - grab it!
By the excessive promotion of leadership, we demote everyone else - Comments
I love the way that Twitter points me to interesting stuff and causes me to Google, think about and research things that I might otherwise have not.
I read things that resonate with me and I am almost compelled to follow them up.
This re-tweet by Harold Jarche@HJarche was one such provocation:
By the excessive promotion of leadership, we demote everyone else --- Henry Mintzberg – via @flowchainsensei
Googling turned up the full quote and source as follows:
By the excessive promotion of leadership, we demote everyone else.
We create clusters of followers who have to be driven to perform, instead of leveraging the natural propensity of people to cooperate in communities.
In this light, effective managing can be seen as engaging and engaged, connecting and connected, supporting and supported.
I have long had a problem with books, blog posts and articles that are written for leaders ...ones that are titled "How effective leaders do so and so .... ".
I like to think we all leaders in our own way, in our own time - that sometimes we chose to lead, other times we chose to follow.
Like Mintzberg, I'd much rather we viewed things as "people cooperating in communities than leaders leading the not so charismatic, motivated or informed".
In Googling, I also found a few good YouTube videos of Henry Mintzberg talking about his ideas and I decided to start to curate a Mintzberg playlist.
Make sure you check out his Introduction to CoachingOurselves video - so much in common with my Knowledge Cafe concept.
What could be more natural than to see our organizations not as mystical hierarchies of authority so much as communities of engagement, where every member is respected and so returns that respect? (p. 233 – 234)
Note my emphasis in bold. This is what it is all about "curating stuff that appeals to you" - not curating stuff that you think will be of interest to other people.
It's helped me make some amazing friends all over the world - many whom I have never met. I think all good bloggers/curators naturally do this.
Many of you will have noticed, either through my Facebook updates or my newsletter, that I like to point to interesting things. Whether stunning images, quirky insights, or ideas that interest me, they are all things that have made me think "Ooh that's interesting."
The things I find interesting say something about me. Shared links are like the clothes you wear, they project an image of yourself that you hope some people will find attractive and be drawn to. This process of curating stuff that appeals to you allows you to be found by people who share your interests. This helps start relationships and build networks. This is how you get to do interesting things with interesting people.
Curatorship adds as much value inside organisations as it does for freelancers like myself. If you don't already have one you need to find a platform on which to carry out and share the results of your own curatorship. It can be as simple as sharing links by email.
Early link blogs were a way of pointing to stuff and saying why it was interesting. Nowadays there are all sorts of tools to curate your stuff from Pinterest to Pinboard, but the principle remains the same.
Take your curatorship seriously, become known for your discernment and as someone who finds good stuff, who adds more signal than noise. Do this and interesting things will start to happen.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for August to September 2013.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Choosing conversations that work for knowledge sharing http://bit.ly/H5vkI2 #KM #KnowledgeCafe
Growth is Obsolete: Society needs to realize growth does not equal prosperity http://bit.ly/H5uJGi #SocialGood
What did Einstein know about Knowledge Management? http://bit.ly/19LBvKk #KM /love the infographic
Just browsing the discussion and reflecting on the topic, it seems to me that
there are a whole range of conversational styles from chit--chat to dialogue to debate to emotional argument.
Each of these styles can lead to learning though the learning is heavily influenced by the context of the relationship - in particular how well people trust each other.
But in general:
Chit-chat builds relationships.
Dialogue reveals assumptions, surfaces new ideas etc
Debate determines the truth of a subject but can too easily get emotional and lead to argument.
Argument is about winning or losing. In the context of a strong relationship it is not too harmful but lacking that trust, relationships can be so easily destroyed.
So yes,conversation, if it turns to argument can be a barrier to sharing knowledge..
Introduction to the September 2013 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I gave a talk at an internal company conference in Munich a few days ago on Knowledge Networking to business managers from all over Europe. I would have preferred it was a Knowledge Cafe but that was not what was asked of me.
The closest I got to initiating some conversation was towards the end of my talk when I asked the audience to turn to each other in groups of 3 or 4 (it was lecture style seating) and to have a brief conversation on the following
What are the realities we are not currently facing and what are the conversations we should be having?
There was no guarantee that this would provoke any reflection or that any interesting conversations would result. But it seemed the closest I could get to triggering some meaningful conversation in the organisation. I hope I hear back that it did.
So what conversations should you be having in your organisation right now and what are the questions you should be asking?
Think on it - even have a conversation with someone about it :-)
Not many organisations are large enough and so committed to KM as to hold their own internal KM conference but Wipro did just that only a few weeks ago in Bangalore.
Wipro extended its spirit of Knowledge Management by inviting academicians, external KM experts and business leaders along with delegates from over 48 organizations to collaborate, share, network, and grow by bringing them all under one roof with a daylong for Wipro KM Confluence 2013.
I have a new section on my website entitled Gurteen Talk.
It is essentially a list of Tweets that I have posted on Twitter with the hash-tag #GurteenTalk.
Each tweet contains a link to a substantive article or blog post that focuses on "Organizational Conversation" or other related topics.
If you click through on any of the links you will be taken to a page on my website that not only contains the Tweet but a fuller description of the article that it links to.
This may seem a strange thing to do but it is part of a long term project of mine to use Twitter as a shared book marking tool to book mark such blog posts and articles
In doing this, I am not only building up a library of articles on "conversation" for my own use but it is also automatically shared with people with similar interests.
KM Asia - Why is trying to engage people so difficult? - Comments
At KM Asia 2013 in Singapore in November I will be running a Knowledge Cafe as part of the plenary session and facilitating a post-conference workshop.
I always love visiting Singapore and hope to see many of you there from SE Asia and even farther a field. :-)
Gurteen Knowledge Cafe: Why is trying to engage people so difficult?
Trying to engage people or to motivate them to share their knowledge and to work more collaboratively together is a challenge for many organisations.
What are we doing wrong? What are we missing? Is there something we don't understand about human nature? Are our actions such as rewards and recognition only make things worse?
These are the questions that will drive the conversation in this Gurteen Knowledge Cafe.
Workshop: Conversation: Our most powerful Knowledge Management tool
Face to face conversation is our most effective Knowledge Management tool. It is critical in communication, learning, knowledge sharing, and relationship building.
It could even be argued that it is our most powerful business tool.
Conversation is the medium through which we make sense of the world. It is the key to better decision making and innovation.
To communicate effectively takes dialogue - face to face conversation in which we enter with a willingness to learn - not to win an argument.
Our primary role as KM leaders is to architect such conversations and to convene and facilitate them.
We have an array of tools at our disposal to do this: peer-assists, after-action-reviews and knowledge cafes to name just a few.
In this highly interactive, conversational workshop, we will explore the role of conversation in business and the conversational tools that are available to address a diversity of business issues.
I am often asked questions by email about KM and other business topics for that matter. I get maybe 3 or 4 such emails each week.
I don't mind questions, in fact I encourage them, especially ones pertinent to my work around "organizational conversation" and my knowledge cafes.
I love questions that I can't answer as these often provoke a lot of thinking and googling on the issue on my part and consequently some good learning.
But far to often, I get questions like "David, could you tell me everything there is to know about Knowledge Management?" Yes, really I have had that question.
If I am feeling churlish I give them this link
here where they will find everything they could possible ever want to know. LOL
If I am feeling more charitable I point them to the
Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on LinkedIn.
The discussion forum has now grown to over 4,000 members and is one of the more active of the KM LinkedIn groups.
Its a good place to get answers to your questions though there are many other KM forums to chose from.
I felt rather guilty as Stan Garfield has been running the community for over 7 years and this is the first time I have listened in or taken part. Its a simple format for giving talks over the web but works well.
Over the years Stan has had some great speakers and has more coming up.
Take a look, join up and tune in to the next talk :-) If you are new to KM its a great way to learn and get up to speed on KM topics and issues.
The SIKM Leaders Community is a community of Knowledge Management leaders from around the world. It was created in 2005 and is open to all KM practitioners. The goal is to share experiences and insights on implementing KM programs. Diverse opinions are welcome if expressed in a supportive and collaborative manner.
The community hold calls on the third Tuesday of each month from 11am-12pm US Eastern Time. The 100th call was held in September, 2013.
Past presenters have included Kate Pugh, Larry Prusak, David Gurteen, Etienne Wenger, Thomas Vander Wal, Richard McDermott, Kent Greenes, Jack Vinson, Frank Leistner, Raj Datta, Shawn Callahan, Tom Davenport, Dan Ranta, Verna Allee, Steve Denning, Carla O'Dell. John McQuary, James Robertson, John Hagel, Marcia Conner, Patrick Lambe, Bill Ives, Patti Anklam, Arthur Shelley, Nancy White, Hubert Saint-Onge, and David Weinberger.
Future presenters include Alexis Adair, Murray Jennex, Nancy Dixon, Catherine Shinners, Steve Wieneke, Steve Kaukonen & Thomas Hsu, Thomas Blumer, Karla Phlypo, Gordon Vala-Webb, Curtis Conley, Tony Byrne, Marcie Zaharee & Frank Linton, Lee Romero, Mary Abraham, Al Simard, and Roberto Evaristo.
To join the community, go here and click on + Join Group.
Once you have joined, to see future calls, go here and click on Date
three times.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: September 2013 - Comments
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for August to September 2013.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Is this Knowledge Management's most effective tool? http://bit.ly/19ktzxO #KM #GurteenTalk /imho yes it is!
Earlier in the year I ran a Gurteen Knowledge Cafe masterclass in Copenhagen.
One of the participants was Mille Holm Nielsen, so I was delighted to receive this little email from her a few days ago.
Dear David
Last week I held my first Knowledge Café, and it was a great success.
We were approximately 20 people together (from management to engineers) and needed to discuss how to ensure that we use learning and improve our daily business, processes etc.
I had 5 tables of 4 people and ran 3 rounds with the big circle in the end.
The feedback I have received has been very positive.
They enjoyed that they could just focus on the conversation and discuss a lot of different ideas with different people, and all the time got new inspiration when they changed tables.
So it was a very good experience, and I will definitely use it again, when I see a proper topic for the occasion.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Best regards, Mille
Mille Holm Nielsen
Siemens A/S
Copenhagen, Denmark
Have you run a Knowledge Cafe yet? If not, then ask me for a copy of my tipsheet to help get you started. I have it available in a number of languages. Or ask my about my masterclasses. I have several planned around the world in 2014. The first in Oslo late January.
I hated it then, mainly as it was gamed, long before I fully realised the consequences and its impact on knowledge sharing and collaborative behaviours.
One of the most valuable things I learned was to give the appearance of being courteous while withholding just enough information from colleagues to ensure they didn't get ahead of me on the rankings.
Have we also learnt nothing from W.Edwards Deming and his fourteen key principles for management for transforming business effectiveness?
Note items 8 and 11b!
Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and stay in business, and to provide jobs.
Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, learn their responsibilities and take on leadership for change.
Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.
End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease cost.
Institute training on the job.
Institute leadership – the aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers.
Drive out fear , so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and use that may be encountered with the product or service.
Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.
a. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.
b. Eliminate management by objective . Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute workmanship.
a. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.
b. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by objective (See CH. 3 of “Out of the Crisis”).
Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
Put everyone in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everyone’s work.
We talk all the time in the KM world about sharing, transferring or capturing knowledge.
But we can't really do this.
Knowledge only exists in the human mind. On paper, or in a database or even when encoded in our voice it is information - a fuzzy, poor representation of our knowledge at one moment in time, incomplete and lacking full context.
It means that I cannot give you my knowledge directly and you cannot give me yours.
It is always transferred via some encoded form of information.
Knowledge is encoded as information and then knowledge in the mind of the receiver is used to reconstruct that information back into knowledge. A funny kind of process in which so much gets lost and distorted along the way.
Yes, you can argue that knowledge is ultimately shared or transferred but it is far from a perfect process.
When we talk or interact, neither of us has any control over what the other pays attention to or takes away in their heads.
Its the same with reading, two people will read the same book or report and learn and draw very different conclusions from it.
It may be a lot. It may be nothing at all. It may be the opposite of what we were trying to convey. It may even be confusion.
We know this but we still talk about knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer. We simply can't transfer knowledge in the true meaning of the word.
Its the wrong metaphor to describe the process that takes place though we seem to be stuck with it.
All we can do is to help each other develop each others knowledge.
Knowledge is not static. It is not a thing. It is dynamic and ever changing.
In conversation, new knowledge can emerge. Knowledge in my head and knowledge in yours. It will never be the same knowledge.
And as we go away and reflect on things and connect things it will change. And each time we recall it, It will emerge a little different.
Funny, ethereal stuff is knowledge. No wonder we find it so difficult to "manage".
David Gurteen
Theodore Zeldin sums it up nicely here:
Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits.
When minds meet, they don't just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, and engage in new trains of thought.
Conversation doesn't just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards.
Weibo is the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
As of 2012 it had approximately 503 million registered users and 100 million daily tweets verses Twitter's 500 million users and; 340 million daily tweets so its not so far behind.
Not too surprisingly YouKu is the equivalent of YouTube. It is it is the second largest video site in the world with an Alexa ranking just after YouTube.
Am I fluent in Chinese? No! Lesley set them up for me and Google Translate is just about sufficient to see me through.
I have not posted a lot yet but then I have no followers. So to my 375 community members In China and the Chinese diaspora around the world - follow me and I will start to post.
Oh yes, Lesley has done one more thing for me. She has translated my Knowledge Cafe Tipsheet into Chinese. Drop me a line if you would like a copy.
Introduction to the August 2013 Knowledge Letter - Comments
These days my mission is more and more focused on the role of conversation in business and in particular the development of the Knowledge Cafe. To this end, I have a whole load of Knowledge Cafes coming up in various guises.
Most of them are public, so come along if you can make it and get to know what it's all about.
I am sorry these events are mostly in the UK but if you would like me to run a Knowledge Cafe or workshop in your area or for your organisation then drop me a line and I will send you a document that describes the various ways in which I teach and run the Knowledge Cafe.
This is what she says about herself in her blog "Nancy Dixon focuses on the people side of knowledge management. Our most effective knowledge sharing tool is conversation. The words we choose, the questions we ask, and the metaphors we use to explain ourselves, are what determine our success in creating new knowledge, as well as sharing that knowledge with each other."
It should prove to be a great two days. I hope to see you there :-)
What is Knowledge Management and why do we need it? - Comments
Some time back I shot a whole series of mini-interviews where I asked people "What is Knowledge Management?" and I posted them to Google Video and embedded them on my website.
That of course turned out to be a bad decision as when Google bought YouTube they canned Google Video and all the uploaded videos along with it.
Well, I have at last tidied everything up and seem to have only lost one or two of the videos.
You can find them here on YouTube as playlist.
If the mood takes me when I next get the opportunity, inspired by this blog post
Cracking the KM code: start by asking why not what
by David Griffiths, I will shoot a few more videos and ask the more interesting question "Why do we need Knowledge Management?".
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for July to August 2013.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
We Know More Than We Can Say: The Paradox of Tacit Knowledge - Part One http://bit.ly/1eDsZxY
Nancy Dixon and I are looking for stories - Comments
Nancy Dixon and I are both interested in the role conversation pays in business and we are looking for stories.
Nancy is specifically looking for stories like this one that she recently posted in her blog
Collective Sensemaking: How One Organization uses the Oscillation Principle.
This is an inspiring story of an organisation that has applied what Nancy calls the "Oscillation Principle".
In global organizations or teams, effective performance outcomes are associated with the rhythmic oscillation between lengthy periods of mediated interaction interspersed with short intense periods of face-to-face collective sensemaking.
The deep rhythm of oscillation between face-to-face meetings for collective sensemaking and virtual work, addresses one of the greatest deficits of a virtual work force, that is, one part of the organization takes action without reference to how that action may impact other parts of the organization or impact the whole.
Through collective sensemaking all perspectives on a topic are given voice so that an understanding of the whole emerges as well as clarity about the relationship between the parts.
In such conversations organizational members often discover assets of which they were unaware.
Of equal importance, the periods of collective sensemaking renew the trust and relationships which are a precondition for the collaboration and information exchange that are limited to mediated interaction when organizational members are again at a distance.
Credit: The Oscillation Principle by Nancy Dixon
Many organisations may be doing this but not have a label for it. If your organisation is doing anything like this or if you know of one that is or if you know of articles or blog posts that describe this sort of organising principle or anything a little like it then we would be interested to know.
My interest is broader, I am looking for stories of organisations that have taken the role of "conversation" seriously in their business and are deliberately using it to share perspectives, to make better sense of their environment, to build relationships, make better decisions and to innovate.
What role does conversation play in the work you do? - Comments
I recently emailed an old friend whom I had not seen for a long time and who works in the knowledge transfer field to catch up. In my email I asked her:
"What sort of role does conversation play in the work you do?"
To which she replied:
"What a bizarre question, what role do conversations play? Interesting space you are operating in these days!"
and in return I responded:
"Maybe I should ask more such questions of people ... not looking for an answer but to provoke thought but of course I have no control over what thoughts I provoke in people's minds - it could just be ridicule LOL. What I had in mind - was more "what role does conversation play in transferring knowledge in what you do" or is it just the explicit stuff that you deal in?
She hasn't replied to me yet so I can't speak for her but it occurs to me that many people do not recognise conversation as a "knowledge transfer" tool.
But I do like the idea of asking more people the question "What role does conversation play in your work?". Is it so bizarre a question? What role does it play in yours?
KM UK 2013: Knowledge Cafe: Should we be using rewards and recognition to motivate knowledge sharing? - Comments
At the end of the first day of KM UK recently I ran a Knowledge Cafe but with a difference. When it came to setting the theme and posing the question I used a short video compilation that I had put together using the YouTube Video Editor.
Here is the video.
It starts with a series of short clips that I used to seed the conversation. Clips from Alfie Kohn, Dan Pink, The Office and myself.
Next I posed the question "Should we be using rewards and recognition to motivate knowledge sharing?"
The video then includes a clip of the small group conversations in the Cafe itself, followed by some comments by Paul Corney (the conference chair) and interviews with Mark Field and Florence Kiff, two of the conference participants.
It gives a good feel for the Cafe concept and the event on the day but note that the tables were far too large for a good conversation as many of them had 6, 7 or 8 people, some even more.
The Cafe works best with people sitting in groups of 3, 4 or 5 in touching distance of each other.
I got some good feedback - here is the complete unabridged list :
Thought-provoking, useful.
Good time for conversation. Great use of video.
Very energizing. We need more of these. Would have preferred more talking.
At last. A chance to talk and listen. Was there any consensus/answer?
Good refresher in conference to have group discussion. Have more of these break-outs.
Knowledge café always very powerful and interactive.
Brilliant as usual.
Great debate on reward and motivation.
Very interesting session and good finish to the day (but too long!)
Enjoyed the knowledge of café experience.
Perhaps the example was a little out of date but achieved its purpose of getting people to exchange ideas and a refreshing change to move around. Thought-provoking, useful.
The 3 Davids of KM: Knowledge Management Workshops - Comments
On the evenings of 24th and 26th September, TallyFox is hosting a Knowledge Management Workshop and networking reception at BAFTA in London.
And then again on the afternoon of 9th October they are hosting another in Frankfurt.
There will be three speakers with whom I hope you are familiar - David Snowden, David Griffiths and myself - "the three David's of KM". Interestingly, all three of us are Welsh as well.
This a great opportunity to hear our thoughts about KM and to have some interesting conversations.
Drum Struck at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - Comments
You may remember that at the ICKM Conference in Joburg last year I ran a combined Knowledge Cafe/Drum Cafe event to open the conference with Warren Lieberman who became a good new friend.
As I said at the time "Knowledge Cafes bring people together to connect and to have conversations while Drum Cafes connect and energise people through Interactive Drumming. A wonderful combination."
Well, if you will be at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 1 - 26 Aug then get along to Drum Struck
There is a drum on every seat for the audience to play along with the world's finest drummers, dancers and singers.
Learn to play an African drum, and meet the Ubuntu Queen.
This show is guaranteed to enchant, enthral, lift your spirits and send you off on a high.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for June to July 2013.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Seems Eventifier collates all event related contents from various social media streams like Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, Slideshare and more. Its a great idea to pull all this stuff into one central archive. I hope it catches on.
I am looking forward to hearing how the conversatonal format worked this year and I am looking forward to chairing the event next year. Sydney is one of my favorite cities.
My daughter Lauren is a writer and a lover of stories - Comments
I have two daughters who love to write and both love cats, hence their blogs: The Curious Cat and The Cafe Cat
My daughter Lauren aka the Curious Cat clearly gets what a blog is all about as evidenced in a post at the start of the year. Here is an extract:
... I've always been good at keeping a diary or in recent years - a blog.
There are few rules to keeping a diary. It is personal so you can write how you want.
You can go off on tangents, leave untied ends ... a diary is not a work of art that needs to be tailored and edited.
It is a collection of musings and thoughts ... it is like the mathematical workings out on a page before you reach the answer ... and sometimes you never reach the answer. It suits my wondering brain just fine.
Even as I write these words I have no idea when I will draw a close to this entry.
If I grow bored and fancy switching to another task I'll wrap things up rapido.
If I'm feeling more thoughtful I'll work a little harder to shape the words into a nice general conclusion.
... I write for me and me alone. I write because it clears my head, I write because it helps me to explore my thoughts and feelings - like that mathematical equation simile I just made.
I write because I enjoy it, it makes me happy. It is my hobby and I like how it compliments my life. I will dare to call myself a writer even if I have no backlist of 'serious' work to support the claim.
One way of talking that inhibits the exchange of knowledge is speaking with conviction.
That may seem contrary to what we've all learned in communication and leadership workshops, where one of the lessons often taught is to speak with confidence- “sound like you mean it”.
Yet, as I examine conversations in the work setting, stating an idea with conviction tends to send a signal to others that the speaker is closed to new ideas.
When speaking with conviction people sound as though no other idea is possible, as though the answer is, or should be, obvious.
I agree with Nancy.
I think even when we are totally convinced that what we believe is true, it serves no useful purpose to say it with great conviction other than to annoy people.
If you wish to convince someone then you have got be open to being shown to be wrong or to discover that you are talking at cross-purposes.
Several people have told me over the years that when the see someone doing or saying something wrong that they just have to point it out to them in no uncertain terms - that they "have to learn".
Now this might make them feel good but in my experience and from what I can see from the behavioural research it does not work. It only serves to harden their opinions and increase their dislike of you.
If you wish to convince someone then you have to be open to a two way conversation of equals.
Nancy's post also reminds me of the work of Ellen Langer and her book The Power of Mindful Learning.
Ellen is a professor of psychology at Harvard University and her behavioural research challenges many myths about learning.
One of the pervading views in education is that in order to learn a skill one must practice until the action takes place without thought. Performing a skill over and over again so that it becomes second nature may lead to thoughtless or mindless interaction with the skill or concept. Mindlessness is a hindrance to discovery. Discovery often occurs because of a variance of the "basics".
Teaching in a conditional manner allows the learner to recognize that there may be varying situations that require a varied response. Teachers often eliminate factors that would lead students away from the "correct" outcome. We come to learn that events occur in a predictable manner and lose sight of some of the factors that contribute to the outcome. For example, physics students are instructed to neglect friction for most of the situations they deal with. This produces a discrepancy between actual and theoretical results and may dampen a students ability to see distinctions.
Research has shown that information presented conditionally versus in absolute form enhances the creativity of the students. In a study done by Alison Piper, groups of students were given information on a set of objects conditionally and in absolute form. The students that were given the information conditionally had a tendency to be more creative than the students that had the information presented in absolute form.
The standard approach to teaching new skills rely on either lecturing to instruct students or using direct experience to instruct students. Ellen Langer proposes a third approach which she calls "sideways learning". Sideways learning involves maintaining a mindful state that is characterized by openness to novelty, alertness to distinction, sensitivity to different contexts, awareness of multiple perspectives, and orientation in the present. The standard approach involves breaking down a task into discrete parts which may stifle novelty and alertness to distinction. Sideways learning makes it possible to create unlimited categories and distinctions. The distinctions are essential to mindfulness.
Langer asks and answers the question, "Can a text teach mindfully?" She gives examples of obscure tax code and the ability of students to apply the code to a variety of situations. Students that read the section of tax code in its original language had a more difficult time adjusting to situations that weren't spelled out in the code. The group of the students that studied the code that was slightly altered with "could be" and "possibly" instead of "is" were more successful in application.
Margaret Tan is the Associate Professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Madan Rao is a KM author and consultant based in Bangalore.
The book focuses on 12 organisations from the Singapore Public sector that won the knowledge management excellence awards in 2008, 2009 and 2010 run by the Information and Knowledge Management Society of Singapore
Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA)
National Library Board (NLB)
Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS)
Ministry of Finance (MOF)
Singapore Armed Forces (SAF)
Jurong Town Corporation (JTC)
Supreme Court of Singapore (SC)
Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS)
Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC)
Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC)
Singapore Police Force: Police Technology Department (SPF-PTD)
Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)
The book shares the knowledge, experiences, perspectives and practical learning of these organisations' KM journeys.
Whenever, I visit Dubai I can't help but draw comparisons with Singapore but I am sure I only see the surface similarities.
This article Dubai vs Singapore - Economy written in 2010 gives a more in depth analysis.
It would be interesting to compare the approach to KM in the two public sectors.
Can you really optimise an organisation's performance? - Comments
A pet peeve: I squirm whenever I read an article or an ad that talks about "maximising profits" or "minimising costs" or "optimising performance".
For me, the author's credibility drops through the floor.
You may be able to optimise the performance of a machine but in the complex social as world, it is impossible to minimise, maximise or optimise anything there are always unintended consequences, trade-offs and balances.
You may be able to increase worker productivity by putting them under pressure or cut costs by paying them less but when they leave the organisation as a result, you lose valuable knowledge and experience and incur hiring and training costs.
There is a balance to be struck and there can never be any optimisation as such.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for May to June 2013.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
I'll be at KM UK this week in London and look forward to seeing a few of you there.
I'll be running a Knowledge Cafe at the end the first day. Given that all the research says rewards are ineffective, if not downright harmful, I will be asking if we should still be using rewards to motivate knowledge sharing.
I will be setting the context for the KCafe using a re-mixed YouTube video that I have created that includes video clips from Alfie Kohn, Dan Pink and a scene from the American version of "The Office". If you have not taken a look at the YouTube video editor yet, it is a powerful tool and exceptionally easy to use. I can see myself using it a lot more in the future.
I have only ever trigged a Knowledge Cafe with a video once or twice in the past so this is a bit of an experiment. I will release the video after the event.
It seems that we over estimate the learning that we gain through a well delivered presentation such as a TED Talk and that in reality we only learn marginally more from a fluent presenter than we do from a boring one who just reads his or her notes.
We need to keep in mind that this was a rather limited study and probably does not represent fully the true picture. Nevertheless, its a significant and somewhat counter-intuitive finding.
One personal reflection though is that people may be over estimating the value as they enjoyed the more fluent presentation.
They were better entertained and felt more stimulated but in reality did not learn a whole lot more than a boring talk.
There is a big difference though between enjoying something and it being beneficial or good for you!
Another thought. For me what makes a good talk is not the "learning value" but the "inspirational value".
The value for me in a talk is if it provokes me to go away and take some form of action such as to do more research of my own on the topic or to actually follow through on some of the "new trains of thought" that an inspiring talk has triggered in my head.
Or the conversations it inspires and triggers.
In other words, maybe the real value of a good talk is not in the learning at all.
What is a MOOC? It's a Massive Open Online Course. - Comments
If you have ever wondered what a MOOC is but never taken the time to Google it then take e a look at this blog post by Stephen Dale MOOC's – What Are They?
It's a really good overview based on his own experience of participating in one.
What jumped out at me towards the end of the post was this:
Education is primarily driven by motivation, and online learning doesn't do anything to address people's motivational needs. In fact, the nature of online education strips away many of the components that keep students engaged and committed.
Many of the factors that online education advocates claim are a benefit, such as time flexibility and the lack of classrooms, are actually a hindrance to learning.
Studies have shown that a fixed structure and the sense of belonging that comes from a student body improve completion rates.
Allowing students to study on their own removes these components of the support system resulting in lower rates of course completion.
The words we choose, the metaphors we use, reveal our personality; our attitudes and our thinking.
This is true of face to face conversation and to a lesser degree compuer-based communication.
When we communicate electronically we have the ability to edit what we say before we send it but in face to face conversation - things we intend to conceal slip out in the heat of the moment.
But what I think really reveals us - even betrays us - is what we find funny - the jokes we tell and what we laugh at or even what we don't find humorous.
Often a grin or a wry smile gives us away.
Our sense of humour is something we find hard to fake or suppress
There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for April to May 2013.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Dan Pink says, then networks are a much better vehicle for rewarding work than organizations can ever be http://bit.ly/12YyBOW #KM
There's kids in here who don't learn like that, they need to learn face-to-face. - Comments
You may well have seen this video as it has gone viral.
In it, Jeff Bliss, a High School Student in Duncanville, Texas rants at his history teacher about her teaching methods after being kicked out of class.
Here are a few things he says in the rant:
"If you would just get up and teach them instead of handing them a freaking packet, yo. There's kids in here who don't learn like that, they need to learn face-to-face."
"You want kids to come to class? You want them to get excited? You gotta come in here, you gotta make 'em excited, to change him and make him better, you gotta touch his freakin' heart.”
And later in an interview he says this: "I want to see a teacher stand up and interact with the students, get involved, discuss, talk, question and dig deep into the subject."
I was educated at a traditional boy's grammar school - most of the teaching was by "chalk and talk" delivered by crusty, aging, male school masters.
Strangely, it was considered a good education at the time but one would have hoped that the world had moved on in 50 years since I was a boy.
If this teacher was really "teaching" her class by "handing them freaking packets" then surely that's a retrograde step.
If we are to stand any chance of saving our civilisation education must be transformed.
Introduction to the May 2013 Knowledge Letter - Comments
Many of you who have participated in one of my knowledge cafes or masterclasses in the past will have received an English version of my Knowledge Cafe Tipsheet.
I am now translating it into a number of local languages.
So far I have the Norwegian (thanks Renny Amundsen), Danish (thanks Bent Schou) and Malaysian (thanks Bank Negara Malaysia) versions complete with Dutch, German, Portuguese, Arabic and Thai in the works and many more planned.
Let me know if you would like a copy of the tipsheet in your language or contact me if you would be happy to translate it into your language for me.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for March to April 2013.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Why We Work: A Look at What Motivates in the Knowledge Economy http://bit.ly/11nesBh #KM
The Knowledge Management Association announces the launch of the KMA web site http://linkd.in/11g84dw #kma #km
2013 Top 100 Twitter Influencers in Knowledge Management - Comments
MindTouch has recently analysed Knowledge Management influencers and produced a top 100 list.
They add the caveat that they know there are several profoundly influential people not represented on the list and that it should be clear that the list constitutes a core group of influencers in the KM space on Twitter.
I am honoured to be number two on the list but take it with "a big pinch of salt" - ignore the order and it's not too difficult to spot anomalies but if you are looking for KM people to follow its a good resource.
Interactive Dialogue or Serial Monologue: The Influence of Group Size on conversation - Comments
Over the years, in running my Knowledge Cafes, I have discovered through trial and error and careful observation that the ideal size of a group for interactive conversation is four people.
If not four, then five is OK but three is better.
Anything more than five and the conversation does not work so well: one or two people tend to dominate; the conversation breaks into two, even three; frequently one person is totally cut out of the interaction and there is little energy in the group.
This research paper (via Keith de la Rue) confirms my observations.
Current communication models draw a broad distinction between communication as dialogue and communication as monologue.
The two kinds of models have different implications for who influences whom in a group discussion.
The experiments reported in this paper show that in small, 5-person groups, the communication is like dialogue and members are influenced most by those with whom they interact in the discussion.
However, in large, 10-person groups, the communication is like monologue and members are influenced most by the dominant speaker.
The difference in mode of communication is explained in terms of how speakers in the two sizes of groups design their utterances for different audiences.
"Lectorial" rooms: shifting the emphasis to active student-centred learning - Comments
Stuart French emailed me a while back to tell me that they had held their last KMLF meeting in Melbourne at the new RMIT Swanston Academic building
and that he thought you might like to know about the custom designed “Lectorial” rooms that have been especially designed for the teach-discuss-share model to encourage the students to participate in a collaborative and constructivist style of learning.
"Literature indicates that shifting the emphasis to active student-centred learning has
significant outcomes in terms of increasing student engagement, problem solving ability and
positive learning outcomes."
Do not pursue life sitting upon another man's shoulders - Comments
Quotations are extremely effective at capturing and concisely communicating thoughts and ideas.
They can be inspirational but more importantly quotations can help us reveal and assess the assumptions, values and beliefs that underlie the ways in which we perceive the world.
I have compiled nearly 1,000 quotations and short excerpts on my website. It is an eclectic mix but most of them are inspirational or insightful in nature and relate to knowledge, learning or personal development in some form.
If you love quotations then you may like to subscribe to receive a quote once a week or more frequently by e-mail.
Here is one that popped up in my in-box the other day from one of my favourite human beings of all times - Henry David Thoreau.
It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support.
If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders.
Some sound advise here from David Ogilivy.
We send an email when we would do better to walk around to the person we wish to engage and have a conversation with them or failing that pick up the phone.
In reading this, I made a connection with a statement by Peter Block that struck me when I read it at the time.
Connection -- We must establish a personal connection with each other.
Connection before content. Without relatedness, no work can occur.
It's basically the same idea, we need to engage people and build a relationship with them before we get down to the nitty-gritty. The best way to do this is face to face.
Free Access to Knowledge Management Research & Practice (KMRP) until May 10th - Comments
Knowledge Management Research & Practice has been included in Palgrave Macmillan's ACCESS ALL AREAS campaign throughout this April - enabling free online access to Palgrave's complete portfolio of journals spanning Business, the Humanities and the Social Sciences.
Palgrave have kindly extended free access to KMRP for an extra few days to the Gurteen Knowledge Community - so if you haven't had time to browse the journal so far, then you have a little more time to do so!
The bottom line is that I am in almost total agreement with Dave and Johnnie.
I would love to see richer, more engaging conferences with a variety of presentation and interactive sessions as they suggest.
The problem is that is that most commercial conference organisers are not ready for this. And its not just KM conferences :-)
My idea is a simple one.
It is to add a short conversational element to the traditional lecture style talk which form the majority of sessions at any conference.
To move FROM
presentation + no time for q&A TO
presentation + reflection + conversation + q&a
This is only meant to be a baby step in the direction of better learning events. My hope is that once conference organisers realise how effective this format can be it will give them the courage to go further. Time will tell.
Interestingly, in Googling for other people's views on conferences, I found this post by Nancy Dixon from 2009.
A Rant on Are There Any Questions?
This is how she starts
Every good speaker knows that at the end of a presentation, you have to leave time for questions.
Hogwash! Leaving time for questions is the worse learning process we could have invented.
We've all been brainwashed into the pseudo learning theory that asking for questions at the end of a presentation makes it a better learning experience for the audience. Wrong!
In each case, the submission is held in a queue until I have checked it out and categorised it. This normally only takes a day or two. If the item is off topic or I feel it is inappropriate for any other reason I reserve the right to delete it. The service is free.
Looking for partners to help promote and run my Knowledge Cafes - Comments
I am looking for business partners in various countries around the world who will work with me to deliver my public and in-house Knowledge Cafe masterclasses and other related Cafes and workshops.
Ideally, I am looking for organisations whose business is organising events though societies, networks and occasionally individuals who may have the capability to work with me.
If you are interested or can help then please get in touch and I will send you more information.
Conversations are spontaneous and emergent, not planned and structured - Comments
I often ask during my Knowledge Cafe's if people think that it is possible to have online conversations or are they really just an exchange of messages. Is face to face conversation so different from online conversations that is warrants being given a different name?
Usually only a handful of people see any real difference and many get quite passionate about the fact that they can have great conversations with people online or by email and even texting.
I am not so sure. To me face to face conversation is so different to computer mediated conversation that I always say that "real conversation" can only take place face to face.
Yes, am aware I am playing with the definition and accepted use of words here. Conversation is always going to be the everyday term for conversation however mediated.
As part of the resources I am pulling together for a future book on conversation I have bookmarked this blog post from Chris Rodgers whether he says that Theres no such thing as on-line conversation that "Conversation is an ongoing, 'real-time' exchange" and that "Conversations are spontaneous and emergent, not planned and structured".
I could not agree more.
And, oh yes, when people ask me if you can run Knowledge Cafes online. I say "Yes, but it is so different you can no longer call it a Knowledge Cafe!"
It implies that if I am stating an argument to convince someone else of the reasonableness of my position, I would be wise to pause periodically to give the other person an opportunity to articulate his or her thinking on what I've said.
Even if the other's response is only to offer a counter argument, that person will learn something new about their own position by “the way they have organized information differently ... to present it.”
It implies that if I deliver a presentation or a lecture it would be helpful to make time for those listening to have a conversation with each other -- a way for them to make mental connections that otherwise might never be made.
It implies that if I want another team to learn from the lessons my team or project has garnered, the transfer would work better if I arrange a conversation between the two groups than as a document.
The conversation would provide the opportunity for the recipient to think out loud about how the lessons relate to their own work.
It implies that I read an great article I will incorporate the ideas more fully into my own cognitive map, if I tell a colleague what I have just read (or write a blog about it).
It implies that in the debrief of that great project my team just accomplished, the team is more likely to be able to understand how they achieved that success, if I gather the group to talk to about what they learned. They will learn what they learned in the talking.
Sharing Tacit Knowledge - Nancy Dixon tells the story about Xerox Copy Repair Technicians
Xerox thought it taught its copy repair technicians everything they needed to know. But they discovered that technicians still had a need to learn from each other through conversation.
I was at first pretty upset to hear the demise (or the "retiring" as Google put it) of Google Reader.
Over the years I have come to depend on it.
I am subscribed to over 180 feeds and I keep up with most of my professional news through both the Windows and iPhone versions that nicely sync with each other so that an item marked as read on my iPhone syncs with Windows.
Its no exaggeration to say that Google Reader is was my information life blood. At first I could not imagine how I could live without it.
Until, I discovered Feedly.
It has almost identical functionality and it is beautifully implemented. So much so, I prefer it the old Goggle Reader.
What's more it literally took me minutes to switch.
If you are in the same boat as me and have not found an alternative yet - then take a look at Feedly. It seems they have acquired more than 500,000 Google Reader users in recent days.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for February to March 2013.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Resilience, the future of Knowledge Management? @kmskunkworks http://bit.ly/104b13x #KM
Learning before, during and after - how to embed KM http://bit.ly/Y1K4cZ #KM #learning
Kill Your Meeting Room - The Future's in Walking and Talking http://bit.ly/Zqrper
People need to learn how to connect to new people on a regular basis http://bit.ly/Z0usKi
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: February 2013 - Comments
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for Januay to February 2013.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Short animated video on 70:20:10 Learning by Charles Jennings http://bit.ly/XtwnU4 #learning
Rather shockingly, it seems that much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong
and that doctors are still drawing upon misinformation in their everyday practice.
Dr. Ioannidis has spent his career challenging his peers by exposing their bad science.
He analyzed 49 of the most highly regarded research findings in medicine over the previous 13 years.
And of the 49 articles, 45 claimed to have uncovered effective interventions.
Thirty-four of these claims had been retested, and 14 of these, or 41 percent, had been convincingly shown to be wrong or significantly exaggerated.
A couple of highlights from the article:
Simply put, if you're attracted to ideas that have a good chance of being wrong, and if you're motivated to prove them right, and if you have a little wiggle room in how you assemble the evidence, you'll probably succeed in proving wrong theories right.
This array suggested a bigger, underlying dysfunction, and Ioannidis thought he knew what it was.
"The studies were biased," he says. "Sometimes they were overtly biased. Sometimes it was difficult to see the bias, but it was there."
Researchers headed into their studies wanting certain results -- and, lo and behold, they were getting them.
We think of the scientific process as being objective, rigorous, and even ruthless in separating out what is true from what we merely wish to be true, but in fact it's easy to manipulate results, even unintentionally or unconsciously.
"At every step in the process, there is room to distort results, a way to make a stronger claim or to select what is going to be concluded," says Ioannidis. "There is an intellectual conflict of interest that pressures researchers to find whatever it is that is most likely to get them funded."
This problem is not unique to the medical or scientific world, I suspect it is far more prevalent in the business world.
We make up our mind and then select the evidence to support it!
To me, this is the sort of issue that Knowledge Management should be addressing - how do we avoid or at the very least minimise such cognitive biases?
And, its not the only one, the list of our cognitive biases is endless.
Footnote: In searching the web for information on how to overcome cognitive bias I came across this gem of a website:
This is a group blog on why we believe and do what we do, why we pretend otherwise, how we might do better and what our descendants might do, if they don't all die.
Personal Knowledge Management and Harold Jarche - Comments
Looking at my records, I first ran a Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) workshop in Singapore in 2002.
Yikes that's over 10 years ago now!
Over the years I have stopped using the term as to me PKM is actually what KM is really all about.
It is social, it is about people and deeply personal.
Most of the technical stuff has little to do with KM and is more about information management.
Important and essential, I always say you need to do good IM, before you do KM but its IM nevertheless.
In fact the term does not seem to be greatly used these days though there is Wikipedia entry for PKM.
But there is a place where the term PKM dominates
and that is in the blog of Harold Jarche.
You will find his blog here and the PKM section here.
He tweets at @hjarche.
And, if like me you get your news through your RSS reader you can subscribe to his main RSS feed here
[Note if you use Google Chrome as your browser then install the RSS Subscription Extension to make it easy to view and to subscribe to RSS feeds embedded in websites. Why on earth, this is not a standard feature of Google Chrome I do not know!]
Harold really understands what KM and PKM are all about and he is a prolific blogger with lots of good graphics to illustrate his points.
PKM: A set of processes, individually constructed, to help each of us make sense of our world & work more effectively.
I think the last KM Europe conference I attended was held in 2004 and it was a sad day when the conference came to an end as each year it helped pull the European KM community together.
So I am delighted to see that the Ark Group is relaunching the event.
The conference will be chaired by Mireille Jansma and run to a conversational format.
Dave Snowden is giving the keynote on the first day and I will be keynoting on the second.
Along with some great talks and case studies it will provide a wonderful opportunity to connect and network with KM practitioners from all over Europe.
I really look forward to seeing as many of you there who can make it..
And note if you quote my name when you book you will receive a 20% discount..
It's so good to see that KM Australia is adopting the conversational style of conference that I have been advocating for the last few years.
This is the third year in which they have done so since I chaired the conference to this format for the first time in 2011. This is how they describe the event on the conference website.
What is a conversational event?
This congress will follow an interactive conversational format. Each speaker will present a case study for 25 minutes and conclude their presentation with a question to the audience.
The remaining 15-20 minutes of each session will be given to the audience to discuss the speakers talk and the question at their tables before going into a traditional Q&A.
This conversational format is intended to create an informal, relaxed atmosphere in which you, the conference participants, can get to know each other, learn from each other and build relationships.
The Ark Group have been running other conferences to this format for the past couple of years such as KM UK and KM Legal Europe.
Karuna Ramanathan and I also chaired KM Asia in Singapore to this format last year.
And this year both KM UK and the relaunched KM Europe will be chaired in this manner.
For many traditional conference organisers, barcamps, unconferences and open space sessions are a step too far. These formats feel risky.
But making time for conversation as part of each presentation carries very little risk. Its a great first step to more open, participatory conferences.
If you have anything to do with organising conferences could I suggest you try this format.
I am writing some documentation on how to run them. Get in touch and I will send you a copy when complete.
Death Cafes: increasing the awareness of death and making the most of our lives - Comments
I have all sorts of ideas for Knowledge Cafes.
I have always thought they would make good vehicles to discuss taboo subjects though I have never had or made the opportunity to experiment with this idea.
I am sure though that such Cafes have been run - probably to the World Cafe format.
Talking about Death is one of our biggest taboos.
So I was delighted although a little surprised when someone recently told me about Death Cafes and pointed me to this article:
Death Cafes Grow As Places To Discuss
There is even a
Death Cafe
website.
I rather like their mission statement:
At Death Cafes people come together in a relaxed and safe setting to discuss death, drink tea and eat delicious cake.
The objective of Death Cafe is "To increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives".
Introduction to the February 2013 Knowledge Letter - Comments
Organizations are starting to wake up to the power of open conversation and my Knowledge Cafes are proving to be more and more popular.
In the coming year I plan to document the process more fully.
To start with, I have created a short Knowledge Cafe Tip Sheet as a two page PDF.
If you thinking of running a Knowledge Cafe for the first time then it is a good little guide.
I recently distributed it to over 5,000 people who have attended one of my Knowledge Cafes or Knowledge Cafe workshops over the past 10 years or have expressed an interest in the Knowledge Cafe concept.
Surprisingly, I thought at first it was only 2,000 people but after a more careful processing of my database I realised the figure was much higher!
If you did not receive it and would like a copy then drop me an email and I will send it to you.
Also, if you are interested in my public or in-house Knowledge Cafe training workshops or my tailored in-house Knowledge Cafes
then I can send you a document that describes the various ways in which I teach and run the Knowledge Cafe.
A participant on one of my Knowledge Cafe workshops in London last year was Andrew Armour.
Andrew has since taken my Knowledge Cafe process, adapted it for a Marketing context and dubbed it the "MarketingCafe".
Here is what he says about in his blog.
A MarketingCafe works by continually re-mixing small group conversations (ideally only three to a table) focused on carefully constructed open questions.
It's a structured way to generate the kind of great conversations you may have with good colleagues in the pub, hotel lounge or café, rather than those found more often in the boardroom -- or brainstorm.
Participants are encouraged to ask more questions rather than jump in to solve the question as more curiosity not instant solutions is the aim.
The loose, small group format helps the more confident to take a step back and therefore allows the space for the often introverted, technical and creative specialists to contribute more.
The Café is deceptively simple and yet highly effective.
You may recall I wrote about Proactive Reviews back in June 2011.
Proactive Reviews are a variant of After Action Reviews (AARs) that were first used by the US army as a method for debriefing miliary actions during the Vietnam War.
The Proactive Review was developed much later by Ditte Kolbaek while she worked at Oracle and are a more business focused form of AAR that have been well documented in her book Proactive Reviews - how to make your organisation learn from experience.
It's an excellent book with a detailed description of the process and is packed with case studies.
I have recently been reading her book again more deeply, to help sharpen up my Knowledge Cafes as both are conversational tools and have much in common.
If you are already familiar with AARs then this is the heart of the difference between AARS and PRs.
While an After Action Review consists of 4 questions:
What was the goal/what did we set out to do?
What happened?
Why did it happen?
What should we do next time?
Proactive reviews add four more questions:
What is the Purpose of this Proactive Review?
What was the goal/what did we set out to do?
What happened?
Why did it happen?
What should we do next time?
What are we going to report, to whom, when and how?
Which of our topics are important for the organisation?
What was your personal highlight from this Proactive Review?
I don't think I need explain the importance of the additional questions and why Ditte has added them but what I observe is that the first and last questions correspond well with my Knowledge Cafe process.
In recent years, my ideas around the Knowledge Cafe have developed beyond it being solely a tool to "seek a deeper understanding" of a topic.
Today, every Kcafe I run is customised. In designing a Kcafe, I start with several questions.
The first of which is "What is the purpose of this Knowledge Cafe?" This is later shared in the Kcafe itself.
It reminds me - in every thing we do, we should start with Steven Covey's second habit "Begin with the end in mind".
And finally that last question in the Proactive Review corresponds to the end of my Kcafe where I go around the Kcafe circle and ask each participant in turn "What is your one actionable insight you would like to share with everyone?"
This final question is frequently the most revealing and what often surprises me is that people take away from very different learnings from a Kcafe - even conflicting ones.
And there is no harm in that. Knowledge is very personal stuff.
Humans are "designed" for conversation. - Comments
Many people find it difficult to give a speech and it is not always easy to listen to one but we are all pretty good at holding a conversation.
Why is this?
Surely, delivering a monologue or listening to one should be easier than dialogue?
Think about it for a moment.
We face all sorts of difficulties when we have a conversation. Here are just a few:
We tend to talk in short, obscure, fragmentary utterances and so listeners need to fill-in the missing information and interpret what we are saying.
This means a listener must often wait a while for something to become clear or must interrupt to clarify a point.
We cannot plan a conversation ahead of time as we never know what our conversational partners may say or ask.
A conversation has a habit of going where it wants to go and not where any of the participants wish to take it.
When speaking we need to consider our listeners and modify our use of language on the fly so it is appropriate to the context, our listners evel of understanding or in a way that does not offend them.
We need to decide when it socially acceptable to interrupt the person speaking - to come in at just the right moment.
We need to plan how we are going to respond, if at all, while at the same time listening and in a multi-party conversation decide who to address.
It shouldn't be easy should it?
But like me, I suspect you have never given it a second thought.
If you are interested in a scientific answer then take a look at the paper Why is conversation so easy? by Simon Garrod and Martin Pickering.
They say its because the interactive nature of dialogue supports the interactive alignment of linguistic representations but I will leave you to make sense of that :-)
But the simple answer is that evolution has "wired" our brains for dialogue rather than monologue.
If we are "designed" for conversation - not for monologue then why do we inflict lectures on each other?
Credit: Thanks to Stephen Mugford. for pointing me to this paper
David Weinberger at KMWorld 2012: facilitating knowledge sharing - Comments
A little while back I blogged about David Weinberger Education as a public act has tremendous power where he says "In the knowledge network ... the idea is ... that all learning should be in public and be something that makes the public better".
I love his work and as you can see from this web page I have been blogging about him since 2002.
As ever, its a deeply insightful talk but what I particularly like is where he talks about the power of conversation, how it works and how we make rooms smarter.
He sums up by saying:
We're going from a time of thinking that the smartest person in the room is the one at the front, or that the loudest, most obnoxious person, the person who dominates is almost always a male, [to a time] where we have the next level of intelligence, which is from the network of people who are in the room physically or virtually.
This of course is what my Knowledge Cafes are all about - "making rooms (of people) smarter".
David also talks a lot about the importance of differences in conversations. Many people think my knowledge cafes are about people being nice to each other and not disagreeing. But this could not be further from the truth. Yes, my cafes are not about debate as debates, especially amongst people who do not know each other well, can quickly become emotional and slide into argument.
My Cafes are about dialogue, engaging with each other respectfully. As soon as you start to show any form of disrespect in a conversation then the conversation is effectively ended.
It becomes a debate or an argument where each person tries to impose their view on the other or where they simply walk away from the engagement.
You can deeply disagree with someone and still show them respect and thus keep the conversation alive. The longer you can so this the more likelihood that interesting things will emerge.
On the other hand, if you don't value the other person or the relationship or the opportunity to explore an issue or why someone should have such a profoundly different perspective to you then you can chose to put them down or wind them up and get some perverted pleasure out of the conversation that way.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for December 2012 - January 2013
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
A reductionist eye cannot see emergence or play enough to see novelty http://bit.ly/VHl6lQ #KM
Productivity revolutions and the most misunderstood man in history http://bit.ly/VWRVIB
Why we need more conversation and less brainstorming http://bit.ly/VKEKdF #KM #KCafe
Introduction to the January 2013 Knowledge Letter - Comments
To kick off 2013, I'd like to remind you of some of the services available to you as a member of the Gurteen Knowledge Community.
If you would like to be an active member of the community and not just receive stuff then you should join the Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on LinkedIn.
It has over 3,500 members and is a great place to meet and have discussions with like-minded people.
You can join here: http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=1539
Here are my main engagements over the next six months or so.
Its prime purpose is to allow you to know where I will be so you can attend my public events if you wish or to meet or hire me.
You can see a list of my immediate activities below or you can find a full list here.
Two great newsletters worth taking a look at - Comments
If you have the time and the passion for reading newsletters then here are two that you may like to subscribe to.
Both are from people working broadly in my field and whom I greatly respect.
He reminds me a lot of the late Stephen Covey.
He looks a little like him, he sounds a lot like him and his presentation style is similar. At times, I even get the impression he was influenced by Stephen, especially when he talks about empathic listening.
In Googling him I was sad to discover that he died in 2011 not long after the this video was recorded.
He was one of the leading experts in verbal self-defence tactics and trained law-enforcement agencies around the world.
This is what Wikipedia says about Verbal Judo:
Verbal self-defense, also known as verbal judo,is defined as using one's words to prevent, de-escalate, or end an attempted assault.
It is a way of using words as a way to maintain your mental and emotional safety.
This kind of "conflict management" involves using posture and body language, tone of voice, and choice of words as a means for calming a potentially volatile situation before it can manifest into physical violence.
This often involves techniques such as taking a time-out, deflecting the conversation to less argumentative topics, and/or redirecting the conversation to other individuals in the group who are less passionately involved.
The benefit of Verbal Judo is clear when it comes to law enforcement but I think there is much we can all learn from the concept when we get into "arguments" with people whether in the workplace or in the family.
Too often when someone gets emotionally upset and angry with us, we pour fuel on the flames and not water.
If you have any interest in education then this is well worth the read. Here are a few excerpts that resonated with me and might wet your appetite.:
School, he thinks, has turned into a funnelling process for Universities. This is a big mistake. His solution is to have lots of curricula and allow people to follow their curiosity and interests, as this is what drives real, meaningful and useful learning, as opposed to memorisation and hoop jumping
Schank ... wants to abandon lectures, memorisation and tests. Start to learn by doing and practice, not theory. Stop lecturing and delivering dollops of theory. Stop building and sitting in classrooms. We need to teach cognitive processes and acquire skills through the application of these processes, not fearing failure.
I always like it when someone gives a name or a label to a concept that has taken a sentance to describe in the past.
Often its a simple metaphor that makes it easy to remember.
In this case, I like the concept of "working out loud".
In other words, doing your work transparently in such a way that other people can "see it" or as John Stepper says narrating your work and making it observable.
Yes, I realise we are mixing metaphors here LOL
Harold Jarche has some thoughts on how to get started.
It's really quite easy.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: December 2012 - Comments
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for November 2012 - December 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Euan Semple @euan rants about IT and losing our grip on reality http://bit.ly/S99HLK /we are in big trouble
Why conversational skills are needed to create a high-performance, engaged, networked organization http://bit.ly/U2t1JH #kcafe
Earlier this month Google+ rolled out a new feature called Google+ Communities, which is similar to Facebook Groups.
Google+ allows you to create public or private communities.
Up until now I have not been a big user of Google+ but the communities might just make all the difference
and so I have created a
Google+ Gurteen Knowledge Community.
I am not too sure how this will develop given the active LinkedIn forum but let's see.
I much prefer the implementation of the Google+ communities to the LinkedIn Groups as they are easier to use and more functional.
There is also not the annoying Linkedin limit where you can not be a member of more than 50 groups.
Incidentally, there seem to be a number of interesting communities emerging on Google+. This one on
Conversation I particularly like.
You may recall that I am getting married on 27 December to Leni so this Christmas is going to be a very special one for me and my family.
Here's wishing you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year too :-)
"There is no way I share my ideas" : how to modify this behaviour in a corporate culture?
3 days ago, I had a conversation with a friend who told me ironically: "Why should I share my ideas? Ideas are valuable, they give power. If I have a good idea, it will help me in my career, but if I share it someone else could steal it".
Even though it was a joke, I believe this is the kind of attitude we may find in some organisations. And I don't have any answer to this type of barrier!
The Al Jazeera Cafe: not quite a conversation - Comments
The Al Jazeera Cafe is about bringing people together around a table, from all backgrounds, all walks of life, in different corners of the world.
Crucially, the show is always set, as the name suggests, in a cafe - whether in Amman, Jordan, Bradford England, or Mexico City, Mexico. There are no television studios, no invited audiences. Just a relaxed yet robust discussion on the key issues of the day in an intimate, everyday setting.
I travel across the globe, to talk with people on the ground about economic inequality, democratic reform, sectarian conflict and national identity.
The show is a democratic forum for ideas; the perfect platform for discussing global themes. And my guests range from ministers to bloggers, Islamists to secularists, Democrats to Republicans.
You will see passionate people arguing over controversial issues.
Whether it is the war on terror or the war on drugs, the death of multiculturalism or the rise of Islamophobia, The Cafe cuts through the spin and gets right to the heart of the subject.
This is a great idea but to my mind it is flawed. Watch this so called "conversation" The Cafe - One state or any of the conversations.
They are not conversations in a true sense.
Notice how Mehdi Hasan is really in charge. He is driving and controlling the conversation.
Often it is not even a conversation. He asks questions of an individual participant and they reply. It is a series of monologues.
Such a shame, its so close to being a unique piece of journalism but there is that need to control the conversation all the time.
Maybe I am expecting too much, maybe the control is necessary to keep the focus and extract the intellectual entertainment value out of the conversation.
I just wish, that at least once they would relax the controls and let it become a real conversation. One of equals.
Some of the Cafes' are a little better - this one on Kenyas unwinnable war for example.
For me it gets particularly interesting at 06.25 where Ken starts to talk about the top three HR priorities (engagement, talent retention and leadership development) and then ties them in to the role of conversation.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: November 2012 - Comments
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for October 2012 - November 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
I just bought: "Wilful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril" by Margaret Heffernan via @KindleUK http://amzn.to/UHXEC0 #KM
Blogs are potent teaching and learning tools - Comments
Donald Clark is a prolific and insightful blogger on all aspects of education, teaching and learning but I love him most for his recent talk Dont lecture me where he criticises the lecture as a form of teaching.
It was of course my exasperation with the lecture format that prompted me to design my knowledge cafes.
But coming back to blogs, when I first learnt about them and started blogging myself way back in March 2002, I immediately saw their potential as teaching and learning tools. Ten years later, to my mind, they have still not reached their full potential in this area.
Blogs are a potent and vastly underused teaching and learning tool. The habit of regular writing as a method of reflection, synthesis, argument and reinforcement is suited to the learning process. Blogs encourage bolder, independent, critical thinking, as opposed to mere note taking. For teachers they crystallise and amplify what you have to teach. For learners, they force you to really learn.
Introduction to the October 2012 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I came across this cartoon posted on Facebook recently. This was the conversation:
So ... what do you do?
I'm a cashier.
Oh I didn't mean what do you do for money?
... I mean what do you do for the world?
Credit: A visual image posted on Facebook - source unknown
It's an interesting question to ask yourself. I am not looking to judge. I am not too sure that I do a great deal. But is little or nothing an acceptable answer? And is bringing up a well balanced healthy family a sufficient answer. I don't know but as I say - worth reflecting on.
BNM KM Conference Knowledge Cafe Visuals Oct 2012 - Comments
A few weeks back at a KM conference run by Bank Negara Malaysia Knowledge Management Centre in Kuala Lumpur, I gave a talk on the Knowledge Cafe and the relationship of conversation to organisational performance.
They had a visual artist at hand to capture the talk that can be seen here as a slide show but maybe the best visual image that captured my talk in a single slide was drawn by Masitah Babjan.
Thanks everyone - its great to have the kcafe captured visually.
Introduction to the November 2012 Knowledge Letter - Comments
Its been a busy few months with trips to Rotterdam for a knowledge cafe workshop; Johannesburg for ICKM 2012 and an assortment of knowledge cafe engagements; the Central Bank of Malaysia KM Conference in Kuala Lumpur and the annual KM Asia Conference in Singapore where I ran knowledge cafe workshops and more recently to Dubai where I run a series of knowledge cafes for the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA).
My knowledge cafes and knowledge cafes workshops where I teach people the principles behind my kcafe process and how to facilitate them have taken over my life these last ten years since I first started to run them in London in September 2012.
I feel I have only just started to scratch the surface of what is possible with the knowledge cafes and similar face-to-face conversational tools and slowly I am better understanding the critical role of conversation in business.
There has been a recent book published Talk, Inc.:How Trusted Leaders Use Conversation to Power Their Organizations where the authors
Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind show how effective leaders are adapting the principles of face-to-face conversation to pursue new forms of organizational conversation. Unfortunately the book only focuses on how senior management in many large organisations are starting to communicate with their employees through conversation and says little about how employees themselves can use conversation to communicate among themselves but it is a start.
In 2013, expect to see a lot more about "organizational conversation" from me.
Why, when an individual or maybe a small scattered group of people see the error of our ways - is it so hard to get others to see it too?
To me, this is a big part of what Knowledge Management should be about but sadly it is too often about a technology system such as SharePoint. Dave Snowden sumed this up very well recently with this witty quote:
SharePoint is to Knowledge Management, what Sick Stigma is to Innovation
David Pottinger in his post highlights this quote from the The Journal of Radiological Protection about Alice Stewart.
Had she been able to discuss her ideas more openly, accepting the criticism that is an inevitable part of the scientific life, she might have changed thinking in key areas - especially the risk of obstetric irradiation and the ante-natal origin of childhood tumours - more effectively and sooner than she did.
It reminds me of a conversation I had recently with someone who told me that whenever he hears someone say something that he thinks is wrong - he just has to "put them right" even if it means an end to the relationship.
To his mind attempting to putting things right is more important than the relationship. But if you forfeit the relationship you lose the opportunity to continue the conversation and get your point across or possibly see that you are the one who is in fact wrong or that the answer is context dependent or that there is an alternative view on which you can both agree.
We need to stop debating and arguing with each other and learn to converse more openly if we wish to understand the world better.
Dialogue is an opportunity to proceed as climbers do - Comments
I love Johnnie Moores blog - so many great little posts - so many wonderful insights.
But given my interest in conversation and dialogue I must point you to this recent post Climbing and dialogue. In it he quotes Antonio Dias:
Dialogue is an opportunity to proceed as climbers do.
We are tied together and are able to alternately anchor each other as we move into precarious territory.
We can rely on each other to warn us of dangers beyond our own views.
Within dialogue we can go where it is impossible to go any other way.
When I teach my Knowledge Cafe process many people have a problem that there are no traditional hard outcomes. This is what I say about the Knowledge Cafe:
A Knowledge Café is not about group decision making or reaching a consensus or a documented proposal. A Knowledge Café is about individual learning and insights; the surfacing of assumptions, issues, problems, and opportunities; seeing things that have not been seen before or seen only dimly.
Credit: David Gurteen
These are still outcomes - soft ones - not traditional hard ones. But there are few or no conclusions. Not that they are not needed in life at times - just that they are not the purpose of the KCafe.
Can being connected make us more successful and can social tools help? - Comments
Last week I held an open Knowledge Cafe at Capco in London where the theme/question of the evening was "Can being connected make us more successful and can social tools help?".
It was a good evening and I have posted a few photos on Facebook.
Several people told me it was one of the best they had been too for a long time. Now I am not too sure what ingredients go to make an exceptional knowledge cafe but maybe the wine had a lot to do with it
To my mind there is no doubt that being well connected can help contribute to one's professional success.
As you will be aware, I am a prolific networker as I have learnt over the years that this is where I not only get my best ideas and insights but also where pretty much all of my work comes from. I connect with people through the web and social media but more importantly at conferences and my open knowledge cafes face to face.
This recent article Never Say No to Networking by Kathryn Minshew sums it all up for me and in particular this passage:
I can't tell you the number of times I've gone to an event and exchanged a few warm sentences with someone I haven't connected with in a while only to hear from them a few days later: "This opportunity to speak / present / fundraise / partner / win an award crossed my desk, and I thought of you." Why did they think of me? Because I'm a good fit for the opportunity, and they saw me yesterday.
What do you think? Can being connected make us more successful and can social tools help?
You can join the conversation at my on-line LinkedIn Gurteen Knowledge Cafe Forum.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for September 2012 - October 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
But the upshot of it all is that I now have my Introductory Knowledge Cafe down to a fine art having ran so many over the years.
Each one is customised and typically lasts 3 hours including a short coffee break and runs for between 20 to 30 people.
It's a great way for a small, often cross-functional group, within an organisation to learn what the knowledge cafe is all about in a very practical sense and to pick up on the concept and run them for themselves.
If you are interested in my running one for your organisation get in touch.
Gurteen Knowledge Cafe: SMARTlab at the University of East London
Knowledge Cafés as KM Tools. KM India 2010
Gurteen Knowledge Cafe at KMPAP 2006 in Hong Kong
Introduction to the Knowledge Cafe, Greenwich 2006
Friends With Cognitive Benefits: How friendly conversation can boost your cognitive abilities - Comments
Talking with other people in a friendly way can make it easier to solve common problems, a new University of Michigan study shows. But conversations that are competitive in tone, rather than cooperative, have no cognitive benefits.
A recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan tested 192 undergraduates to determine which types of social interaction helped and which didn't.
The researchers concluded that engaging in short conversations where participants were instructed to get to know one another person boosted their performance on a variety of cognitive tasks.
When participants engaged in conversations that were competitive in nature, their performance on cognitive tasks showed no improvement.
"This study shows that simply talking to other people, the way you do when you're making friends, can provide mental benefits," says University of Michigan psychologist Oscar Ybarra, lead author and researcher of the study reported inSocial Psychological and Personality Science.
Explore the range of possibilities then experimentally evolve - Comments
I love the work of Dave Snowden as he questions so many things we take for granted.
One such thing he questions, is the idealistic approach we take to achieving things in this world.
I think these two quotes of Dave's sum up his view quite nicely.
In the idealistic approach, the leaders of an organization set out an ideal future state that they wish to achieve, identify the gap between the ideal and their perception of the present, and seek to close it.
This is common not only to process-based theory but also to practice that follows the general heading of the "learning organization".
Naturalistic approaches, by contrast, seek to understand a sufficiency of the present in order to act to stimulate evolution of the system.
Once such stimulation is made, monitoring of emergent patterns becomes a critical activity so that desired patterns can be supported and undesired patterns disrupted.
The organization thus evolves to a future that was unknowable in advance, but is more contextually appropriate when discovered.
This of course would not be the right approach in the "simple domain" or "complicated domain" of his Cynefyn Framework such as putting a rover on the surface of Mars but would be a more realistic and innovative approach in the "complex domain" for the real challenging complex problems we face in the world such as hunger, poverty, terrorism, global warming, environmental destruction and more.
Dave has posted several other blog entries on Sidecasting if you are interested further.
A wonderful combination of a Knowledge Cafe and a Drum Cafe - Comments
As part of the opening ceremony at ICKM 2012 (the International Conference on Knowledge Management) in Johannesburg on 5 Sept 2012, I ran a Knowledge Cafe combined with a Drum Cafe facilitated by Warren Liebermann.
Knowledge Cafes bring people together to connect and to have conversations while Drum Cafes connect and energise people through Interactive Drumming. A wonderful combination.
In both cases the focus is not on the facilitator, but on the participants.
We broke the one hour session into 6 ten minute segments. Three for drumming and three for conversation.
A big thanks to Prof. Adeline du Toit who came up with the idea of a "joint cafe" and connected me and Warren.
This video playlist captures the energy and engagement in the room. It was a great way to connect people and to start the 2 day conference.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: September 2012 - Comments
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for August 2012 - September 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
What is it like to be fully alive, right now, engaged with what you are doing? That's the psychology of flow http://bit.ly/OscOrq
A lesson about the benefits of an open society + the costs of excessive concentration of political + economic power http://read.bi/RZHoss
80% of companies in a recent survey said that they had KM initiatives under way.
Of those companies, 85% had no clear stated objectives for their KM initiative.
I am not too sure of the accuracy of this statistic but it certainly stacks up with all my experience
and gives added weight to my "Don't do KM" mantra and the KM talks that I give:
You don't do KM! You respond to business problems and develop business opportunities using KM tools.
This is what he says in conclusion, starting at 3:43 :
In the knowledge network ... the idea is ... that all learning should be in public and be something that makes the public better.
It improves the public. The act of learning, the act of education or teaching are done in public so that others will learn from.
And this idea of education as a public act has tremendous power, tremendous benefits, because it makes the entire network, the entire ecosystem smarter.
If we can apply this within our businesses, our educational system and beyond then our own knowledge network will become much smarter, much faster.
I agree with David. The potential to transform the world through open, public learning is huge and I beleive there is no stopping it.
If you don't know of him, David is a very interesting guy with some very deep knowledge and insights as to the nature of knowledge and learning. He has had a huge influence on my thinking on organizational conversation and my knowledge cafes.
Introduction to the September 2012 Knowledge Letter - Comments
Some people keep their private and professional lives apart. Facebook is reserved for family and close friends and Linkedin for professional contacts. Bloggers blog about their personal lives or their professional lives but never mix them.
Others, like myself, make little distinction between their professional and personal lives. In fact, I rarely think of a client as a client or a customer, I consider them friends.
And I use Facebook and Linkedin to connect with everyone I know though I do keep Facebook a little more personal.
I can think of one blogger who never ever blogs about his personal life and never strays off the topic of his profession
and I can think of others who largely stay on focus but will on occasions blog about their personal lives, often relating it to their work, and who will blog off topic on issues they are passionate about.
I find these bloggers who reveal something of themselves more authentic and more human and consequently more interesting. To me blogging is an innately personal experience.
It's also so much easier when you don't view your life as a series of different compartments, each with different rules, as then life gets pretty complicated.
But there is no right or wrong - you go with what you feel most comfortable with.
Those of you who know me, know that I often go way off topic and on rare occasions blog about my family.
Which leads me to a piece of very personal news that I would like to share with you.
My fiancee Leny joined me in the UK last Friday (Sept 14th 2012) from Jakarta. We are both so happy together and plan to get married at Christmas. I am so looking forward to our life together.
Introduction to the August 2012 Knowledge Letter - Comments
Every month, I receive a half-a-dozen or so emails from people asking me all sorts of questions about knowledge management.
If I have the time and feel sufficiently knowledgeable in the area of their question then I do my best to reply but whether I can reply at length or not I always point them to the Gurteen Knowledge Community forum on LinkedIn.
Let me give you an example. Anita Malik recently emailed me to ask whether I thought the number of Communities of Practice in an organisation should be limited or unlimited.
I shared with her my view on the topic that they should not be too tightly controlled but I was well aware that many other people had different perspectives and experiences who could answer her question and help her far more than i ever could and so I pointed her to the forum
where you can see the lengthy discussion that emerged.
Clearly, Anita got far more out of this discussion than any answer I could ever have givne but the value is far, far greater.
By posing the question publically everyone who took part in that discussion got to learn and of course also those who on only read the thread benefited too.
And this discussion is now there as a record. If anyone asks me the same question again - then I can point them to the discussion and so can others.
This open or public form of learning is very powerful indeed and I believe over time will have a transformative impact on the world.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for July 2012 - August 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
4 Ways to Avoid Paying for Hotel Wi-Fi http://on.mash.to/OTdJBh /I take my airport express with me - has saved a fortune
HR has a vital role to play in the management of knowledge resources, so why is it not generally happening? http://linkd.in/OW06Bp #KM #HR
Three Eras of Knowledge Management by Nancy Dixon @nancymdixon - YouTube http://bit.ly/OTetXd #KM
From Learning Management to Personal Knowledge Management http://bit.ly/MMybrS #KM
The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) finds that twice as much potential value lies in using social tools to enhance communications, knowledge sharing, and collaboration within and across enterprises. MGI's estimates suggest that by fully implementing social technologies, companies have an opportunity to raise the productivity of interaction workers -- high-skill knowledge workers, including managers and professionals -- by 20 to 25 percent.
They hardly mention the term Knowledge Management never mind Social Knowledge Management in their report but this is what they are really talking about.
Death by degrees, certification and accreditation - Comments
If you are wrestling in your mind with the problems faced by education today or maybe more narrowly the issue of knowledge management certification and accreditation then I think you will find this article Death by Degrees a very provocative and stimulating read with a great deal to think about and reflect on.
Here is a taste:
The original universities in the Western world organized themselves as guilds, either of students, as in Bologna, or of masters, as in Paris.
From the first, their chief mission was to produce not learning but graduates, with teaching subordinated to the process of certification -- much as artisans would impose long and wasteful periods of apprenticeship, under the guise of "training," to keep their numbers scarce and their services expensive.
For the contemporary bachelor or master or doctor of this or that, as for the Ming-era scholar-bureaucrat or the medieval European guildsman, income and social position are acquired through affiliation with a cartel.
Those who want to join have to pay to play, and many never recover from the entry fee.
I have always been attracted to the idea of doing away with certificates, exams and all forms of testing and accreditation as I believe the downdside is too great -
see what Alfie Kohn has to say on the matter.
Having read the article, I am close to being convinced - imagine the joy of learning if it were untainted by tests, certificates and exams.
People are untrustworthy or is it just our bad judgement? - Comments
I love the perspective of Anthony de Mello when he says that its is not that people are untrustworthy but it is more about our lack of understanding of human nature and our own bad judgement.
In other words it is as much our fault as theirs when they let us down. In fact, he is putting it stronger than that - it is totally our fault.
You may not agree. It's hard to swallow but worth reflecting on :-)
A young man came to complain that his girlfriend had let him down, that she had played false. What are you complaining about? Did you expect any better?
Expect the worst, you're dealing with selfish people. You're the idiot -- you glorified her, didn't you? You thought she was a princess, you thought people were nice.
They're not! They're not nice. They're as bad as you are -- bad, you understand? They're asleep like you. And what do you think they are going to seek? Their own self-interest, exactly like you. No difference.
Can you imagine how liberating it is that you'll never be disillusioned again, never be disappointed again? You'll never feel let down again. Never feel rejected.
Want to wake up? You want happiness? You want freedom?
Here it is: Drop your false ideas. See through people. If you see through yourself, you will see through everyone. Then you will love them.
Otherwise you spend the whole time grappling with your wrong notions of them, with your illusions that are constantly crashing against reality.
Stimulating conversation with the Marketing Cafe - Comments
Every so often I meet someone who comes along to one of my Knowledge Cafes or Knowledge Cafe workshops who immediately gets the concept and goes away and applies it their own domain.
Andrew Armour is one of those people and has become a good friend and a regular participant in my open London Knowledge Cafes.
But in a recent blog post on Stimulating Conversation And The Marketing Cafe
he talks about how he has adapted the knowledge cafe to create what he calls a Marketing Cafe - in other words a knowledge cafe that focuses the questions on marketing issues.
Naturally, I love it as the KCafe process can be taken and applied in so many different ways - something I teach in my workshops
Here are a couple of quotes from Andrew's blog post.
A lack of important conversation between the right people prevents many businesses from becoming truly innovative . Too often the important questions, the ones that may challenge the status quo and help paint a picture of the future – are left unasked or dominated by the usual suspects.
Most meetings, workshops and conferences are not viewed as an opportunity to converse, listen, build dialogue and explore solutions, but a means to present, report, control, persuade -- to control your own plan, to get buy-in, to approve or deny.
No wonder then, that when the time does arise for focused, innovative, open and progressive conversation that most of the time --we fail.
As many of you know Stephen Covey died recently.
I first discovered Stephen in 1990 when I bought his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
This book has gone on to sell over 25m copies and at one time I made my own little contribution to that number by giving copies to friends.
In 1993, I attended one of his Principle Centered Leadership courses at the Covey Leadership Centre in Utah. Interestingly, a good friend of mine at the time managed to get us a free invite. We only had to pay for our airfares.
It's no exaggeration to say that the book, the leadership course and Stephen's work changed my life.
It wasn't just what Stephen had to say but he introduced me to many other "mentors" such as Scott Peck, Henry David Thoreau and Viktor Frankl.
I use a number of quotations from Stephen in my presentations and workshops,
My favourite of his seven habits and the one I most teach is Habit 5.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.
There are no solutions to anything. We don't solve problems we respond to them. - Comments
When I run my knowledge management workshops, one of the points I make strongly is that there are no solutions to complex problems.
There are always unforeseen and/or unintended consequences. Side-effects in other words.
I suggest to people that they never talk about solutions to problems, that they avoid the word "solution", so loved by IT vendors, and replace it with the word "response".
We don't solve problems we respond to them! We are walking on a trampoline.
Unintended consequences get to the heart of why you never really understand an adaptive problem until you have solved it.
Problems morph and "solutions" often point to deeper problems.
In social life, as in nature, we are walking on a trampoline.
Every inroad reconfigures the environment we tread on.
Given this view, I warmed to this podcast interview with
James Howard Kunstler: Its Too Late for Solutions: Consequences are coming & we better start facing them soon.
As he points out, we are always looking for solutions to things - we want a quick fix so that we can carry on the way we are working now without realising that it is impossible.
We are discovering more and more is that the world is comprehensively broke in every sphere, and in every dimension and in every way.
There are no quick-fix solutions in this world, only responses.
Why are we suckers for fictional stories? - Comments
Every so often, I come across a little story that someone has shared or re-shared on Facebook, or Twitter or by email.
There is always something either touching or outrageous about it.
And for a moment, I am suckered in. But then I read the story again carefully and it just does not ring true or seems too good to be true.
So I Google it. Never takes long and find the true story.
These are just three I have spotted but I have been taken-in myself at times. Why are we suckers for such stories and worse still why do we pass them on without any due diligence?
I don't know. But please, next time you read a story that seems just a little too good to be true - check it out first before sharing it.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for June 2012 - July 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
You will flourish by concentrating on aspects of life that you can control rather than by reacting to external forces http://on.wsj.com/Lugb3v
Whenever I am in the shower, walking, driving or sitting relaxing my mind wanders in thought and often I try to catch myself doing this and observe the nature of those thoughts.
What I have learnt is that my mid flits around at times quite aimlessly. I suspect that's the nature of all minds.
When I do this and observe my mind (I still find it amazing we have the ability to do this) I think of Emerson's quote and try to pull my thoughts back to the important things in my life.
Which reminds me of another quote from Henry David Thoreau who was mentored by Emerson.
Our life is frittered away by detail ... Simplify, Simplify.
It's an interesting discussion on knowledge with over 200 comments.
What is amazing is the wide variety of definitions. Everyone has a different perspective.
For now, I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions from that but you might like to take a look and see how your view stacks up against all the others and ponder whether this lack of a common understanding of knowledge is a problem for a knowledge management.
I recently ran a knowledge cafe workshop in Kuwait hosted by Bibi Alajmi and sponsored by VIVA - a Kuwaiti mobile telecommunications service provider.
As with all my workshops, it went well and reinforced for me that the Knowledge Cafe works in any culture - given the right environment people love to talk.
It also introduced me to the Kuwaiti dewaniya which was a lovely cultural surprise.
While there I also ran a Knowledge Cafe organised by VIVA for about 20 senior executives and CEOs from leading companies in Kuwait, including Zain, Wataniya Telecom, Gulf net, Fast-telco, Zajil Telecom, Mada Communications, Samsung Dealership, Hayat Communications, Future Communications Company, Quality Net, UPS, KNET and Kuwait Concierge.
The topic of the Cafe was "What are the future possibilities for the Kuwaiti MobileTelecoms Industry?
There was some interesting conversation, followed by even more conversation over lunch. You can find the
Viva press release if you are interested.
I wish I could say more about it but clearly the conversations were confidential.
What I did learn though is that using a Knowledge Cafe to bring senior executives together from different companies to have conversations over common interests with no predetermined outcomes is a very powerful tool indeed. There is a story here that I hope I may be able to share at some point.
The Dewaniya - a form of Kuwaiti Knowledge Cafe? - Comments
During my recent trip to Kuwait, I discovered a feature unique to Kuwaiti culture - a dewaniya.
While running a knowledge cafe workshop someone commented "So the Knowledge Cafe is a little like a dewaniya." - to which of course I replied "What's a dewaniya?"
It was explained to me at the time but since then I have done a bit of Googling and in addition to the Wikipedia definition I have constructed one of my own.
A dewaniya is a reception area where a man receives his business colleagues and male guests. The term refers both to a reception hall and the gathering held in it.
It takes place in the evening in a special room or annex which is usually separate from the rest of a man’s house.
Only men are present and they sit around on soft benches or cushions, conversing casually, smoking, nibbling snacks and relaxing over beverages such as tea, coffee or the like.
Relatives and friends come and go throughout the evening. The host's job is to be hospitable and entertain his guests.
What topped off my visit on the last evening was to be taken to a dewaniya by Dahem Alqahtani (a friend of my host Bibi Alajmi).
And I had a wonderful evening joining the other men in conversation. I was surprised how many had studied in England or were Manchester United fans :-)
It is a quite a fascinating idea and although not really a knowledge cafe - a great way to socialise and has got me thinking even more about the role of conversation in society. We need more opportunities and places to bring people together in conversation both in our business lives and our personal ones.
At school, did you ever question the class schedules? - Comments
I love it when people question things that are so deeply rooted that we take them for granted and never think of questioning them.
At school, did you ever question class schedules? In my day, every 40 minutes, a bell would ring and everyone in the school would shuttle from one class room to another for a different subject.
But why? Why was that considered a good way to learn? I've no idea!
What if we removed the passive course-to-course drudgery of the school day? What if there was no schedule?
What if students were left with a list of coyly worded benchmarks targeted at creating quality humans, and we just waited to see what they could do?
What if teachers were seen as mentors for projects designed to help students meet those benchmarks?
What if the students initiated these projects and the teachers spent their time recording TED-style talks that would serve as inspiration and help students generate benchmark-related ideas?
Another inspiring commencement speech, this time from David McCullough from Wellesley High School near Boston ( I almost lived there at one time, when I worked for Lotus Development in Cambridge back in 1989 ... so long ago now).
Like accolades ought to be, the fulfilled life is a consequence, a gratifying byproduct. It’s what happens when you’re thinking about more important things.
Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view.
Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you. Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly.
Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion -- and those who will follow them.
And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself.
The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special.
Why Crowded Coffee Shops Fire Up Your Creativity - Comments
The next time you're stumped on a creative challenge, head to a bustling coffee shop, not the library.
Instead of burying oneself in a quiet room trying to figure out a solution, walking out of one's comfort zone and getting into a relatively noisy environment may trigger the brain to think abstractly, and thus generate creative ideas.
This works for me. Once or twice a week I head out to a local Starbuck's towards the end of the day and quote deliberately think about the things I am doing and am planning. It's where I get some of my best ideas.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for April 2012 - May 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Creating participatory conferences - challenging the assumptions http://bit.ly/pTR4um
Introduction to the June 2012 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I am still a little surprised when I talk, for example, to teachers and I ask "What do you think of flip teaching?" or "Do you like the work of Sal Kahn?" and I get the reply "What's flip teaching?" or "Who is Sal Kahn?".
Or, when I ask "Have you watched the TED talk by Dan Pink?" And they have not even heard of TED.
But its not just education, its in all spheres. It's not easy to keep up with the latest ideas and developments - the world is moving fast.
I keep up with things in my realm of interests through RSS and Twitter feeds and many of the other social media tools. But even then I miss stuff.
One of the things I try to do in this knowledge letter is to help disseminate emerging ideas and the work of leading thinkers.
If you read one item in this knowledge letter every third month then I think it worth my time, especially as I now have over 20,000 readers.
But coming back to some of those ideas and people with ideas. Here are five for you. If you haven't heard of them - they are worth a click through. All are YouTube playlists that I have curated.
I met with Karl-Erik Sveiby for a few beers while I was in Helsinki recently and was delighted to hear that he has just published a new book
Challenging the Innovation Paradigm
At one point early in our conversation, I agreed with Karl-Erik that it was mainly innovation that had got the world into the mess its in today. To which he replied "Well if innovation got us into this mess what makes us think that more innovation will get us out of it?"
An interesting point. Sounds like a potential great knowledge cafe conversation.
The problem with innovation is that there are often long term unintended and unforeseen consequences of that innovation. I am sure, for example, that the early technological pioneers of the industrial revolution did not think for one moment about the possibility of global warming.
What is really interesting is what inspired Karl-Erik to think about this in the first place.
It was his research into Aboriginal culture when he lived in Australia that resulted in an earlier book of his Travelling Lightly.
He learnt that the Australian Aborigines knew very well the risks and advantages of innovation and that there was a darker side - the environmental and society; consequences of new products.
Partly as a result of this awareness and taking responsibility for their community and those of other their civilisation lasted 40,000 years or more.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for April 2012 - May 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Formal education is bricks and mortar, social learning is clouds and streams http://bit.ly/Kn3QYm
RT @coachourselves: A must read on 70:20:10 development model from Charles Jennings http://bit.ly/JTORbL
Leading Issues in Social Knowledge Management - Comments
I am delighted that I'm the editor of a new book "Leading Issues in Social Knowledge Management" that has just been published by Academic Publishing International.
The book is a collection of ten academic papers that I have carefully selected to create the volume and I have also written a short editorial comment on each paper.
So I did the relatively easy bit, all the hard work was done by the contributors in this important emerging field. There are 19 contributors so a few too many to mention.
I have agreed with the publishers that members of my community may obtain GBP5.00 off the price of the book by entering "Gurteen5" in the discount code field when you place your order.
We sacrifice conversation for mere connection. Or do we? - Comments
If you are interested in the impact of the Internet and social media such as Facebook on interpersonal relationships and conversation then take a look at this article
Friends Without a Personal Touch or this one The Flight From Conversation by Sherry Turkle.
I am more in the Dave Cormier camp than that of Sheryl Turkle even though she is a Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Her observations just do not stack up with my own. For example, she says:
Self-reflection in conversation requires trust. It's hard to do anything with 3,000 Facebook friends except connect.
This in my experience is simply not true. How does the number of "friends" I have on Facebook (2,151 at the last count - yes I know many of them are not friends in the true sense - they are just connections - but that's not a problem) have any affect on the much smaller number of close friends that I have, that I do trust and can and do have real conversations with? It doesn't. In fact many of those friends I first met through the web.
Maybe some people do confuse mere connections with friends but I know many people who don't and who can enjoy and make the most of both type of relationships: close friends and loosely connected "friends".
But its far worse than this, as typified in Seth's example of someone cheating on a work-out by making the measure look good but avoiding doing the real exercise required to get fit.
It's a major problem and one that I am increasingly hearing about in the educational system. Students want the grade or the exam certificate (the metric) and will lie, cheat, plagiarise and even pay people to write their dissertations for them to obtain the metric.
The measure has replaced the objective of a good education. The goal has become achieving the metric at any cost.
What is as bad, are teachers and others in the educational system who also cheat to make their targets and are thus complicit with the students in totally undermining the worth and credibility of an exam result.
Interestingly, Seth has a large part of the answer in another blog post care more.
Its not about meeting the metric. Its about caring about what you are doing.
We are not human resources or human capital. We are human beings. - Comments
I think you know how much I dislike the term "human Resources" - its only marginally better than that awful term "human capital".
I have written about it before.
I do hope you realise that it was Catbert, Dilbert's evil feline Human Resources director, who invented the term human capital back in 2002 :-)
Video: A Gurteen Knowledge Cafe in Singapore, Feb 2012 - Comments
Earlier this year in February 2012, I ran an open Knowledge Cafe in Singapore.
The KCafe was very kindly hosted by William Chua, CEO of eLC, a training and learning organization in Singapore at the Brewerkz Riverside Point alongside the Singapore River.
This was not the first time I have held a knowledge cafe in a pub/bar though it was a first for Singapore. William and his staff did an excellent job organising the event with free food and beer to help along the conversation. A big thanks to you all.
If you have ever run knowledge cafes yourself or plan to run them then watch the start of the fourth video where I ask for someone to start the conversation. It takes 1 minute 15 seconds or so before someone takes the mike.
Believe me, standing at the front, that seemed more like for ever! And although I encourage people to start the conversation, I did not start it myself. I never have and I never will. If I am patient and wait long enough someone will always start.
Note also how the conversation got off to a slow start but once people get engaged and realise there is nothing to fear, the conversation gathers pace.
Also keep in mind, that a knowledge cafe works best with a smaller number of people where microphones are not needed and a circle can be formed at the end for the whole group conversation. In this situation, I encourage people to talk more to each other rather than report back to me or ask questions of me.
Business is a Conversation - It's Good To Talk - Comments
Why, for all our knowledge, do we so poorly understand what is going on in our business world?
Since the advent of the world wide web and corporate intranets we have had unprecedented access to information.
Are we that much more effective, productive or creative? I don't think so.
I could give you all the information you desired. Perfect information. But would you be able to readily act on it. Probably not!
We don't need more information or knowledge. We need to understand what we have better. We need to make better sense of it all.
How have human beings made sense of the world since the dawn of time? Through conversation! Through storytelling and anecdotes.
Conversation allows us to become aware of different perspectives; it allows us to better crystalise and articulate our own thoughts and views. It improves our understanding.
And better understanding leads to improved decision making and innovation.
What's more, open conversations, learning conversations or dialogue - help build relationships. And its through relationships that everything gets done in the world.
Good conversation about subjects that matter also help surface people's passion and engagement and their propensity to act.
So why then, do so many mangers stifle and inhibit conversation within their organizations and teams when it is good to talk?
The Knowledge Cafe and the World Cafe are simple ways of encouraging and supporting conversation within organisations and thus improving understanding, decision making and innovation leading to deeper engagement and action.
Credit: Business is a Conversation - It's Good To Talk, David Gurteen
I wasn't expecting any comments but Bob Kanegis has stimulated the beginnings of an interesting discussion by posing the question So why then, do so many managers stifle and inhibit conversation within their organizations and teams when it is good to talk?
Why do you think conversation is so undervalued by many managers? Hop on over to the World Cafe and join the conversation but note its a closed forum, so you will need to join to read the discussion and to participate.
There are a number of conversational tools that can be used to great effect to improve learning and sharing in organisations.
The Knowledge Cafe and World Cafe are two such tools.
But you can also include peer-assists, after-action reviews and post-project reviews in the list along with tools such as Open Space.
Collectively, I refer to these tools a "Conversational Cafes" as they are all about face-to-face conversation.
But there is another conversational tool that is far more widely known and used than any of the above and that's the brown bag lunch
You are not familiar with the concept then quite simply a brown bag lunch is an informal training or information or knowledge session during a lunch break.
The term brown bag comes from the fact that in the USA meals brought along by the attendees are often packed in brown paper bags.
From a knowledge management perspective, a brown bag lunch is a structured social gathering during an organizational lunch time period which is used specifically for the purpose of transferring knowledge, building trust, social learning, problem solving, establishing networking or brain storming
They are an excellent way of stimulating informal conversation and connecting people but note they do not have to take place at lunch time, they can take place during any break including breakfast and a brown paper bag is not a requirement!
Reading PDF and HTML articles on my Kindle - Comments
A few months ago I bought a Kindle. Funnily, I did not buy it for reading books, I bought it for reading PDF articles.
So many papers and articles are only available in PDF format and I find them almost impossible to read on-line, especially if they are formatted in two columns.
I used to have dozens of the things printed-off and lying around at any one time on my coffee table, by the side of my bed, in my book case and I could never find the one I wanted when I needed it and even then they were never easy to read even on paper.
What is great about the Kindle, is that I can email my PDFs to Amazon where they convert them to the Kindle format and usually within the hour, like magic, they appear on my Kindle.
I love it. But it gets better.
I often find interesting articles on a website in HTML format. I don't want to read them there and then and I don't want to read them online or print them off with all the headers, footers and margins.
bookmark the page with Instapaper (Instapaper is a free web service that saves articles for later reading on web browsers, Apple iOS devices, and Amazon Kindle in a sripped-down text format.)
later, go to the stripped-down text document in Instapaper
print the plain text to a PDF file (I use a free printer driver called CutePDF Writer)
save the PDF file to a folder on my laptop. I have created one called Kindle PDFs just for the purpose.
email the file to my Kindle
I have just discovered, however, that I can configure Instapaper to send articles I have bookmarked directly to my Kindle. It will even compile several articles into one file. Now that's really cool.
You can forget facts but cannot forget understanding - Comments
This short video clip Confessions of a Converted Lecturer from a talk by Professor Erik Mazur who teaches Physics at Harvard is quite mind blowing.
Professor Mazur discovered that his
students can "learn" something conceptually and re-iterate it and pass exams but still fail to understand the subject or acquire the ability to apply that learning in real world situations. No amount of "lecturing", how ever good, solves this problem.
In the first video, you get to learn his solution "to teach by questioning rather than telling".
Note how he says to the students "So turn to your neighbour and see if you can convince one another of the correct choice" and then observe the conversation and engagement with the topic and how the students effectively teach each other.
This is the essence of my Knowledge Cafes and why I feel conversation is so important in business. Its the way we really get to engage with the world and to understand stuff. It's good to talk!
Too many students 'get by' and seek tactics that lead to good marks not good learning.
'Never praise a child, praise what they did' says Professor Black, and by this he meant praise the work of the learner and not the learner.
To praise the student encourages two ideas that are powerfully corrosive in learning; a) the idea that it's all down to ability b) the idea that the 'teacher' likes me.
To counter this, teachers must praise the work and effort, not ability of the student. Nor should teachers compare students with other students.
Praising the person also stops students from trying harder. Learners must believe they can change for the better.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for March 2012 - April 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Women in Science: Einstein's Advice to a Little Girl Who Wants to Be a Scientist http://bit.ly/HQOKxE
Workshop: Implementing Knowledge Cafes, 2 May 2012, London - Comments
My next Knowledge Cafe workshop is in London on 2 May 2012.
As many of you know, I started running my public Knowledge Cafes in London 10 years ago out of my frustration with death-by-powerpoint type lectures.
Very soon I found myself facilitating them privately for clients and discovering they had far greater power than I could ever have imagined.
They can be applied in a wide variety of ways, including:
transform traditional management training courses where younger managers learn from more experienced ones
as a powerful sales tool to engage with customers and thus better understand their needs and for them to better understand your product or service
surface hidden problems and opportunities that exist in the organisation or in a department or project - especially ones caused by lack of communication
help break down organizational silos and build internal relationships
give people a voice so that they feel heard and are thus less cynical and more engaged in their work
bring managers and technologists together after a merger to build relationships, surface new opportunities and address cultural issues
solicit input and obtain buy-in for a new project or initiative
In the workshop you will learn the fundamental principals and benefits of the Knowledge Café process and how to apply it to different business issues.
You will also participate in a Knowledge Cafe on the role of conversastion in business; experience the benefits first hand and get to reflect on and discuss the experience.
You will find more information here: (watch the first little video and you get an idea of the energy and passion KCafe conversations can generate).
Any theory of adult learning which does not place care at its centre is simply wrong. - Comments
When I first came across this article on Learning as Care I jumped to the conclusion that this was about teachers not caring.
Over the last few years it has become clear to me that whilst people certainly derive much of their learning from the mechanisms that we share with animals - classical and operant conditioning, observational learning - that there is a large area of human learning that works differently, and which we will never understand until we appreciate that learning is characterised by care. To put it another way: any theory of adult learning which does not place care at its centre is simply wrong.
But as I started to read, I realised that the post was all about the need for the learner to care not the teacher as I had first assumed. Some highlights from the post:
if people really cared about something we would have no work to do. And if we can't make people care, then we have usually done no work
we disseminate information without giving people a reason to care
we fail to provide learning resources to people who do care
don't tell people what is important, tell them why, tell the story
care is the central mechanism at the heart of all human learning - it governs both how we store information and how we subsequently use it
I love the way that people have taken my Knowledge Cafe or the World Cafe and adapted it in various ways for a specific business purpose. Then on the other hand, many people have quite independently developed their own conversational processes that work well for them in their own environment.
I recently received this email from an old friend Paul Hearn who works for the European Commission in Brussels and thought I would share with you his story.
Hi David,
I saw your blog post about "holding conversations rather than meetings" and it inspired this email.
I've held more than 80 Tuesday Conversation meetings in the European Commission over the past 4 years.
These are informal gatherings of staff (from the lowly secretary to the Director General) held over lunchtimes on Tuesdays.
I have listed some of the topics below - it is amazing what you can talk about in and around work! We've had around 2.000 attendees in total.
I invented the TC because there was nothing like it, and it was sorely needed.
I developed a methodology for this event based on the principles of Open Space
whoever come are the right people (we have had 1 person and up to 54, but the show still goes on)
must leave if you are not getting what you want (law of 2 feet)
I also developed some "guidelines for speakers", called TC spirit, which you might find amusing see below.
It is all work in progress and hangs together on a shoestring as I have no budget and no administrative support and I do it alongside my normal work ... but hey, who every got anything good for free? I certainly never got any recognition, but that is not why I did it :-)
A selection of recent topics
Science in Society: Ethics and new and emerging fields of science and technology
Supercomputing meets the cloud and the checkbook: The future of distributed computing infrastructures for Science in Europe?
Social innovation: Revolution or just spin?
The Save the Whale Project: Walking my Talk as a Sea Shepherd Antarctic Communications Officer
Strategy and Operations at the US National Science Foundation
Managing Innovation in the Health Sector: Challenges and opportunities
Decarbonisation of the Power Sector - The Role of Smart Grids
No Silver Bullet: Creative Commons and the Future of Open Licensing
Reshaping Scientific Knowledge - Dissemination and Evaluation in the Age of the Web
Discussion with Center for Research and Development Strategy Japan
Market Economy, Democracy and Human Nature: On the Societal Systems and their Governance
Cross-disciplinary Research Leading culture change and getting the message across
How European SMEs Use ICT to Engage in Global Virtual Collaboration
What's wrong with the EU ... Dr Hix's prescription
Confidence in the Digital Economy - Data Protection & privacy in Europe
Energy - Future Emerging Technologies
Measuring success of research policy: Setting milestones on a very long highway
Grid Activities and e-Infrastructures in China
Grid Computing in Peking University
Research Communication Costs, Emerging Opportunities & Benefits: Approaches and methods
Opportunities for Public Technology Procurement in the ICT-related sectors in Europe
20/20 Vision Lessons from 20 years in the Commission, and the challenges for the next 20 years
The Open Innovation Paradigm - What is it? And how important is it?
Open innovation strategies: Examples from two large-scale projects in Sweden
Cheers Paul
Credit: Paul Hearn, European Commission, Brussels
And here are Paul's guidelines:
Spirit of our Tuesday Conversation Meetings
preliminaries:
Powerpoint presentation only if absolutely necessary and in any case limited to 30 mins or so, so we can have a good conversation after for 60 mins
Generally we ask a lot of questions, and there is quite a lively debate. We also commonly interrupt speakers if we are not getting what we want.
As it is the lunch hour, people will be going in and out, sometimes arriving late and leaving early. Speakers should not see this as reflecting anyway on themselves or the presentation (participants are instructed to feel free to move around :-).
we try to capture the spirit of urgency:
we try to find out why we need to be discussing this topic? what is urgent? what has changed recently?
what is the opportunity? what are others doing around the world? what should we be doing?
would anyone be against such a strategy? if so, why?
we try to shoot from the hip:
Getting "off the record" with our speaker. It is very nice to know, for example, what our speaker really thinks, beyond any protocol or institutional viewpoint.
we look for personal views and anecdotes, not institutional views. We are more interested in "one (wo)man's dream" than in the official view of institution X or Y. We like to see personal passion.
we cut to the point
we are not particularly interested in introducing ideas at length, being exhaustive, crediting everyone involved, etc.
we are OK with slightly politically incorrect. We like to do some preliminaries like briefly introducing the speaker, context, but then we like to get to the meat of the discussion - what is this, and why does it matter, what is the vision here and do we share it?
we try to look forward, not back
we are interested in knowing what the opportunity is, what might change in Europe on in the world if we can realise a futuristic vision?
we like to be stimulated
- we like presentations that pose more questions than they answer, and we like speakers who can be provocative, polemical and lead a debate.
Based on these thoughts, speakers are asked not to see this as a "normal meeting" (whatever that is), but as an informal meeting of staff from across the institution that are taking time out over lunch to learn something which is perhaps new and may help them in their work...
Credit: Paul Hearn, European Commission, Brussels
None of this is difficult. Why not start some "Tuesday Conversations" in your own organisation.
Paul says "I have no budget and no administrative support and I do it alongside my normal work" but that did not stop him.
Offering free places to students at conferences - Comments
Spatial is a Kuwaiti Conference organiser who are organising a KM conference in Kuwait at the end of April.
This is what they say on their home page.
Spatial's Social Responsibility
In Spatial we believe that students are the country's future; therefore, we actively seek to involve them in our events. We dedicate free-of-charge at least 15 seats to students at our events. We also make available a corner for students to display their projects.
KM mini-interviews with Edward Rogers (CKO Of NASA) - Comments
Ankur Makhija of eClerx Services informs me that they have recently uploaded a few more KM mini-interviews to their YouTube channel.
The latest are with Edward Rogers (CKO Of NASA) and include:
Most Common KM Mistakes
Difference Between Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management
Inspiring action is more important than gaining insight - Comments
In the early days of Anecdote we believed the key purpose of story-listening was to gain insight.
Shawn wrote in a 2005 blog; "Listening to stories is one of the best ways to understand what is happening in a complex and dynamic situation ... Stories clarify the emerging patterns upon which effective interventions can be formulated."
What we have now come to realise is that, although stories do provide huge amounts of insight, the more important outcome of undertaking story-listening is that working with stories inspires action.
We see it time and time again. The energy changes in the room when people are immersed in stories from their own organisation.
The move from being spectators on the terraces to players on the pitch.
Our biggest challenge is sometimes stopping them leaving the workshop there and then to go and make some changes back in the office!
This was how Anecdote opened their February 2012 newsletter. It resonated with me as I find the same with my Knowledge Cafes.
After all, the KCafe is as mcuh a platform for telling stories as it is anything else.
Yes insight and improved understanding is important but being inspired to action more so.
Its all keeps coming back to that favourite quotation of mine
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for Feb 2012 - Mar 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Introduction to the March 2012 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I find it hard to believe that I have been blogging for ten years. My first blog post was on 26 March 2002. It wasn't much a post but it was a start.
Back then I was often laughed at for blogging. Few people in the business world saw their power. So much has changed in 10 years and more and more people are using blogs as powerful knowledge sharing tools but we still have a long way to go.
Here is a slightly modified version of an article I wrote for Inside Knowledge Magazine in 2006 on blogging and RSS feeds. I was using Bloglines as my RSS Reader then but it died a death a few years later and today I use Google Reader.
It is interesting to note how I called blogs by their full name "weblogs" - a form of the word that is rarely used today. And in the early days there was the concept of a knowledge-log or k-log - a term that never did catch on. My blog is still called the "Gurteen Knowledge Log"
I discovered weblogs back in 2002 when a colleague suggested I take a look at them. At first I stumbled across the mass of personal weblogs that held little interest for me but then I found a single weblog that changed my life.
It was unusual for a weblog in that it was co-authored by three people: Dan Bricklin, Bob Frankston and Dave Reed. I knew all three of these gentlemen from my days with Lotus Development in Cambridge Mass. Dan Bricklin was the inventor of the spreadsheet VisiCalc back in 1982; Bob Frankston was his co-developer and Dave Reed was the Chief Architect for 1-2-3 in the late 80s.
Here were three exceptionally bright, talented people blogging about the development of the Internet - they were sharing their thoughts, musings and ideas out loud. Instantly I saw the value of weblogs as knowledge sharing tools and by the end of the evening I had developed and integrated a weblog into my own website!
Back then I used to tell people about weblogs and their potential whenever I had the opportunity but few took the time to listen or understand. After one talk I gave on weblogs at a conference, a member of the audience was overheard to say "We have been blogged and klogged to death by David Gurteen." To which his friend replied "Yes he really ought to get a life." I still chuckle about this today.
But in the intervening four years more and more people have come to see the power of weblogs as powerful social tools - tools that allow people to share, learn and collaborate. But I am still shocked at people's head-in-the-sand mentality at times. Recently when I mentioned weblogs to a senior manager he replied "Oh you mean the ramblings of the ill-informed". When I explained their power I was greeted with the response "But how do people find the time to read them; never mind write them. They need to get a life".
But it's not about lack of time - we are already overloaded. It's about a lack of understanding of their benefits and prioritising our time accordingly. I subscribe to thirty or so RSS feeds - news channels that get pushed to my own personal "newspaper" each day. Some of these feeds are from the BBC and other mainstream media but many of the feeds come from weblogs and websites.
My RSS reader keeps me informed of all the things that are important to my professional development. The information obtained in them I could find no where else - not in books, magazines, newspapers or TV. I keep abreast of new products; new technologies and new ideas. I simply could not do my job without them!
So I still find it surprising when I come across against such resistance to weblogs and RSS readers. Too many people, to my mind, are prejudiced against them without ever taking the time to really understand what they are really about and their benefits.
You don't have to write a blog to benefit. Find an RSS reader such as Google Reader and start to subscribe to just a few of the millions RSS feeds on the web. Very soon you will wonder how you ever survived without it
Credit: Inside Knowledge Magazine 2006, David - Get a Life! by David Gurteen
Knowledge is the ability to make effective decisions and take effective action.
Credit: Adapted from Peter Senge
This tallies nicely with my view and that held by many that knowledge only resides in our heads, everything captured or written down is just information.
For me, one of the clearest examples of IM verses KM, is my recent story about the work at the ING Bank Academy.
There a small team of people gather articles and reports about relevant trends in management, banking and finance that may impact the bank. They then broadcast “Research Alerts” to interested parties by e-mail.
This sort of activity ifs often seen as a KM activity but it is not - it is IM. What's more, in most organisations such activity stops there. Getting information to people is seen as enough.
But at ING Bank, they go one critical step further - they help people make sense of the information. If the Alert deserves attention they host a Knowledge Café to discuss it's implications, impact, risks and opportunities and if need be to take action.
This is clearly Knowledge Management. in fact, it's a conversation.
The characteristics of conversations map to the conditions for genuine knowledge generation and sharing: they're unpredictable interactions among people speaking in their own voice about something they're interested in. The conversants implicitly acknowledge that they don't have all the answers (or else the conversation is really a lecture) and risk being wrong in front of someone else. And conversations overcome the class structure of business, suspending the organization chart at least for a little while.
If you think about the aim of Knowledge Management as enabling better conversations rather than lassoing stray knowledge doggies, you end up focusing on breaking down the physical and class barriers to conversation. And if that's not what Knowledge Management is really about, then you ought to be doing it anyway.
More and more, I see KM as being about enabling conversations: "Business really is a conversation".
And this brings me to my Knowledge Cafe workshops.
I am running another one on 02 May 2012 in London. The workshop is not just about the Knowledge Cafe as a conversation or KM tool but explores the broader role of conversation in business; its relevance and importance.
Do come along if you are interested and join the conversation. You'll find more information here.
As I first watched the film and the complexity of the game started to dawn on me, I was highly sceptical that these 4th graders could possibly cope with it.
I was wrong, so damned wrong!
Watching the kids handle the complexities and ambiguities of the game is absolutely delightful. I'd have little problem with putting them in charge of the world tomorrow!
Take a look at the trailer below - it gives a fair insight into the game and kids.
This is what education should be like and be about. I am so impressed with John Hunter. Jamie - a big thanks for sharing this with me.
World Peace...and other 4th-grade achievements interweaves the story of John Hunter, a teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his students' participation in an exercise called the World Peace Game.
The game triggers an eight-week transformation of the children from students of a neighborhood public school to citizens of the world.
The film reveals how a wise, loving teacher can unleash students' full potential.
The film traces how Hunter's unique teaching career emerges from his own diverse background.
An African-American educated in the segregated schools of rural Virginia, where his mother was his 4th grade teacher, he was selected by his community to be one of seven students to integrate a previously all-white middle school.
After graduation, he traveled extensively to China, Japan, and India, and his exposure to the Ghandian principles of non-violence led him to ask what he could do as a teacher to work toward a more peaceful world.
Hunter teaches the concept of peace not as a utopian dream but as an attainable goal to strive for, and he provides his students with the tools for this effort.
The children learn to collaborate and communicate with each other as they work to resolve the Game's conflicts.
They learn how to compromise while accommodating different perspectives and interests. Most importantly, the students discover that they share a deep and abiding interest in taking care of each other. World Peace ... and other 4th-grade achievements will inspire others by documenting the unheralded work of a true peacemaker.
The flipped classroom: turning traditional teaching on its head - Comments
I have been talking more and more recently about the concept of flip teaching. Its one of the most exciting developments have come across in quite a while and I am convinced it is going to transform traditional education.
I am interested in education and its effectiveness but what really interests me is that the philosophy behind flip teaching is the same as my Knowledge Cafes and the work at the ING Bank Academy.
We don't learn well from being lectured at but we do learn well from engaging conversations.
Bookwormery: fuelling your children's desire to know more - Comments
I have two amazing daughters, Lauren and Sally, who both blog. And I have one amazing son, Jonathan, who doesn't blog.
Both my daughters love cats and so the names of their blogs will come as no surprise.
Neither of the blogs have anything to do with KM - thank goodness. More insights into their lives.
One of the things I am so pleased I took the time to do when they were little was to read to them at bedtime. It was never a chore, part of the enjoyment of being a dad
And so this post on Bookwormery by Sally is a lovely kind of thank you from her.
From a very early age, our father would always read to us. He would take us to the bookshop at the weekend and we would buy books to read in the week. We would listen to his warm voice and fall asleep to it. As a result of this, while the other children at school were reading books recommended for their age, I was given the privilege of reading whatever I liked and I often chose older, more challenging material, which only fuelled my desire to know more!
How do we tackle the complex, interrelated challenges of the 21st century in a coherent and effective way? - Comments
It is perhaps the defining question of our time: How to tackle the complex, interrelated challenges of the 21st century in a coherent and effective way?
The answer, I am convinced, lies in what I call the diplomacy of knowledge, defined as our ability and willingness to work together and share our learning across disciplines and borders.
When people achieve the right mixture of creativity, communication and co-operation, remarkable things can happen.
I was pleased to come across this article by David Johnston, the Governor-General of Canada.
It's a question I ask myself almost every day. What David Johnston refers to as the "diplomacy of knowledge" is to me what KM should be all about.
David makes some excellent points in his article though I must admit I have sympathies with one of the commenters who says "A nice Pollyanna, apple pie, motherhood essay."
Working together and sharing together across disciplines and borders as David advocates is good but I don't think sufficient. There is something fundamental missing.
I believe Peter Block is thinking along the right lines when he says we need to change our thinking about what constitutes action.
My belief is that the way we create conversations that overcome the fragmented nature of our communities is what creates an alternative future.
This can be a difficult stance to take for we have a deeply held belief that the way to make a difference in the world is to define problems and needs and then recommend actions to solve those needs.
We are all problem solvers, action oriented and results minded. It is illegal in this culture to leave a meeting without a to-do list.
We want measurable outcomes and we want them now.
What is hard to grasp is that it is this very mindset which prevents anything fundamental from changing.
We cannot problem solve our way into fundamental change, or transformation.
This is not an argument against problem solving; it is an intention to shift the context and language within which problem solving takes place.
Authentic transformation is about a shift in context and a shift in language and conversation. It is about changing our idea of what constitutes action.
Gurteen Knowledge Tweets: February 2012 - Comments
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for Jan 2012 - Feb 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
DeskTime, a firm that automates time sheets, posted an absurd infographic yesterday http://bit.ly/y5V4MV
Perplexing that so much of society and culture is expressed in commercial terms @Downes http://bit.ly/zzoEH4 /agreed
Announcing a Virtual Knowledge Cafe on Social Artistry - Comments
Michele Martin and Brent MacKinnon are organizing a 9-week Knowledge Cafe that they plan to run online, starting February 20, 2012.
It's open to anyone who's interested in learning with them about the skills and talents of social artists and who want to explore how social artistry might fit into their professional practice.
I am delighted to learn that they will be adapting my Gurteen Knowledge Cafe model and Bo Gyllenpalm,s Virtual Knowledge Cafe as a learning framework. If you do nothing else take a look at Bo,s Virtual Knowledge Cafe concept. It's a very powerful adaptation of the Cafe model to an online environment.
If the term social artistry is new to you then here is a simple definition but click through to Micheles blog post to understand the term better. Its one of those concepts that's hard to pin down and define in one or two sentences.
Social artistry is about creating space for change and transformation, which is what learning is really all about. How do we create the space for people to be together, to learn from their experiences and connections and to move them to make a difference in their part of the world? How do we help people grow into their possibilities?
The role of Creative Commons Licences in a KM environment - Comments
Paul Corney sent me this email recently:
Dear All,
In a couple of week's time I am going to be in Sudan at a KM event for Africa and one of the discussions is going to focus on the role of Creative Commons Licences in a KM environment.
In the development arena some organisations publish under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licences and I was wondering how successful the use of these licences are in other industries in fostering collaboration.
I considered whether to post this on various km lists but thought some people might not want to respond in public so could I therefore ask you to respond to a few simple questions (I will not attribute your response unless you ask me to):
Have you published works under a creative commons licence and if so which one?
What was the work about and why did you publish via a creative commons licence?
Can you give a personal example that illustrates the benefit from publishing in this way?
Thank you for taking the trouble to look at this.
And finally every best wish for a healthy, peaceful and prosperous 2012.
I have been publishing almost all of my work under a creative commons license for five years or more.
For example. here is the slide that I have at end the end of all of my presentations.
This license says you are free:
to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
to make derivative works
to make commercial use of the work
Also:
Attribution: you must give the original author credit.
Share Alike: If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a licence identical to this one.
I do this for several reasons:
I am building on the shoulders of others, I have no legitimate claim over most of my material
If they really want to, people are going to take and use my material whatever I say (and am I really going to take them to court over it!)
My business strategy is to give most of my written material away as marketing material and to charge for me in person
I want to encourage people to take my material and remix it and attribute me where appropriate
But more than anything I do it to encourage others to do the same and to share freely.
Do I have a personal example of the benefit of using the licence? No nothing specific, other than people do take my material, reuse it and remix it and thus help spread some of the messages I am keen to spread.
best wishes David
You will find more thoughts on this subject in an article of mine: Raising all the ships on the sea where I talk about the tangible and intangible "commons".
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.
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
Is Knowledge Management Losing Sight of the Bigger Picture? - Comments
In this recent article by Waltraut Ritter she says:
Knowledge management practices are often narrowly focusing on internal operations
and not addressing larger questions about the nature and sustainability of the
knowledge driving the organization. There seems to be a separation of KM from the
overall business strategy, a general neglect of addressing the larger questions about an
organization's knowledge and how such knowledge may create societal value beyond a
company's financial gains.
How can we, as knowledge management professionals, engage in a deeper conversation
and exchange about value creation through knowledge, allow more critical questions
about existing practices which only touch the surface of real knowledge challenges, in
organizations and society?
To my mind, Waltraut is spot on here. This is what KM should be about.
And of course, its one of the aims of my Knowledge Cafes "to engage in that deeper conversation".
Henley KM Forum Conference and Positive Deviance - Comments
Those of you in the UK may be interested in attending the Annual Henley KM Forum Conference on
Wednesday 29 February and Thursday 1 March 2012 at the Henley Business School in Henley on Thames. There is a great line up of speakers, including Hubert Saint-Onge, Chris Collison, David Griffiths, Victor Newman, Elizabeth Lank and Nick Milton.
I have attended this conference almost every year for the last 12 years and I highly recommend it.
The Henley KM Forum brings together business practitioners, industry thought-leaders, experts and academics to help organisations tackle the challenges presented by the knowledge economy.
It's this rich blend of people and the interactive, engaging style of their events that I enjoy.
I love to spark conversations and at the conference dinner, I will be speaking for 10 minutes before we eat on one of my favourite topics Positive Deviance
Positive Deviance is an approach to
behavioural and social change based
on the observation that in every
community there are individuals or
groups of people (so called Positive
Deviants) whose behaviours and
strategies enable them to find better
solutions to problems than their
peers even though they have access
to the same resources and face similar
challenges. In this talk, David will take
a look at some of the principals that
underlie Positive Deviance and what
he thinks KM practitioners and leaders
can learn from the approach
I will then ask everyone to spend a little time during conversation over their meal to discuss my talk. We will then spend 20 mins or so at the end of the evening sharing our thoughts with each other.
Visionary knowledge management: Trends and Strategies - Comments
It's not very often I get called a KM visionary and I am not so sure that I am one but its good to be included in this German article on Visionary Knowledge Management: Trends and Strategies
The authors of this article go to the question of how organizations in 2020 to deal with knowledge. For this they have analyzed in a first step, national and international knowledge management conferences, publications and Internet publications to locate knowledge management visionaries. There are four visionaries are noticed because of your keynotes and their publications on knowledge management trends: David Griffiths, Dave Snowden, David Gurteen and Norbert Gronau. They are presented here together with their theories and visions for dealing with knowledge. At the end of these theories are compared and discussed.
Here are what I consider some of my more interesting Tweets for Dec 2011 - Jan 2012.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts.
Virtual Knowledge Cafe on Social Artistry http://bit.ly/wn5acM #KCafe #TheWorldCafe #WorldCafe
You can see the language banners on the tables and the three translation booths overlooking the room.
In November last year, I spent an interesting two days in Turin with the European Training Foundation (ETF).
The ETF is an EU agency that helps transition and developing countries to harness the potential of their human capital through the reform of education, training and labour market systems in the context of the EU's external relations policy.
During my time there, I ran two knowledge cafes.
The first was part of a two day workshop for around 90 participants from ETF member countries where they discussed the role of evidence in "governance and effective Vocational Education and Training (VET) policies".
Member countries included Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia And Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Kosovo.
So quite an ethnic mix.
This was the more challenging of the two knowledge cafes given the large number of people and the fact that three languages were being spoken: English, French and Russian.
This meant that each table needed to be labelled with the language intended to be spoken at that table and when people changed tables they needed to move to a table where their language was spoken. My introduction to the KCafe and explanation of the process was simultaneously translated into French and Russian.
Then where as normal, I would have brought everyone together in a circle at the end of the KCafe, I simply asked for a few people to share with the rest of the group what they had learnt from their conversations. This was done by handing around a couple of stick mikes. Not the perfect way to run one of my KCafes but a reasonable adaptation in the circumstances.
Several people, found me after the event to say how much they enjoyed the KCafe and I was pleased that two of them told me they were already using the process in their own organisations
I even had a woman from Kazakhstan ask through an interpreter if I had a description of the KCafe process In Russian.
I don't but it has prompted me to think about writing a short document that could be translated into multiple languages to explain the process. I may be asking for help on this at a later date :-)
The conversation menu.
And then on the second day I ran a Knowledge Cafe for a much smaller group (about 20) of KM managers. This was a more regular KCafe.
What was interesting though was the meal the evening before.
Ian Cumming who had attended one of my Knowledge Cafe workshops in London a few weeks before had heard me talk about Theordore Zeldins conversation dinners.
Inspired by this he had created a conversational menu for the evening. Not quite along Theodore's lines but interesting nevertheless. My first reaction was that no one would select a conversation from the menu as the questions were far too work related.
I was proven wrong in part. There were three tables in the dining room, each seating about 6 people. My table was the only one that drew some of our conversation from the menu (and that was not my doing).
What surprised me was how well it worked. Given it was a social evening, we did not stick too closely to the questions and there was a lot of laughter and banter but the conversation was to my mind interesting and valuable nevertheless.
Introduction to the February 2012 Knowledge Letter - Comments
After almost 10 years of running my Knowledge Cafes it is so good to find other people who are questioning the lecture format of education and learning. Flip Teaching seems to be gathering apace and many people who have adopted this approach for years are coming out of the woodwork.
This recent article
Dont Lecture Me: Rethinking How College Students Learn
about Harvard's professor Eric Mazur talks about the benefits of practicing peer instruction in class, rather than the traditional lecture is just one example.
Some quotes from the article:
Research conducted over the past few decades shows it's impossible for students to take in and process all the information presented during a typical lecture, and yet this is one of the primary ways college students are taught, particularly in introductory courses.
Cognitive scientists determined that people's short-term memory is very limited - it can only process so much at once. A lot of the information presented in a typical lecture comes at students too fast and is quickly forgotten.
So for reasons he can't remember, Mazur told the students to discuss the question with each other. "And something happened in my classroom which I had never seen before," he says. "The entire classroom erupted in chaos. They were dying to explain it to one another and to talk about it." Mazur says after just a few minutes of talking to each other, most of the students seemed to have a much better understanding of the concept he'd been trying to teach.
Introduction to the January 2012 Knowledge Letter - Comments
Some thoughts for the New Year:
We have a greater capacity to change the world today than the kings and presidents of just 50 years ago. Whether you're a programming prodigy or the office manager holding it all together, technology empowers small groups of passionate people with an astonishing degree of leverage to make the world a better place. Yet I fear that our industry is squandering its opportunity and its talent. In companies large and small, great minds are devoting their lives to endeavors that, even if wildly successful, fail to do great things.
Life is short, youth is finite, and opportunities endless. Have you found the intersection of your passion and the potential for world-shaping positive impact? If you don't have a great idea of your own, there are plenty of great teams that need you - unknown startups and established teams in giant companies alike.
Don't lose the fire you started with. If you're going to devote the best years of your life to your work, have enough love for yourself and the world around you to work on something that matters to you deeply. Something that's beating out of your chest and compels you to throw yourself at it completely. No one knows whether you and your teammates will realize your audacious visions, but in order to do great things, we must attempt great things.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They some how already know what you truly want. Everything else is secondary.
Changing the world through our children in a generation - Comments
Kiran Bir Sethi shows how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life's most valuable lesson:
"I can."
Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents.
I love this woman and what she is doing - watch some of the kids stories - I've got a feeling that if we could tap into the passion of all the world's children we could transform the world in a single generation!
And if you enjoy the videos and wish to learn more take a look at the Design for Change Movement she has created.
This is one of the most exciting, moving ideas I have across in a long time.
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for November - December 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
Introduction to the December 2011 Knowledge Letter - Comments
Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty.
Kiva lets you lend as little as $25 to people without access to traditional banking systems
Its simple:
You join Kiva.
With your credit card you make US$25 loans to people of your choosing.
They pay back the loans with no interest and you get regular updates.
There is 98.93% repayment rate. And over US$263 million has been loaned to date.
When you have been repaid you can loan the money again or withdraw it..
I have made 14 loans since I started in December 2007
and at Christmas I will add a little more money to the pot to enable me to make some more loans.
Its not a lot but every liitle helps and its so easy and effective :-)
If you like the idea, why not make a loan yourself to someone this Christmas.
As usual at Christmas, the knowledge letter is short but I'll be back in full swing in 2012 :-)
Here's wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
I am a big fan of the work and thinking of Dave Snowden and follow his talks and blog posts quite closely.
For a long time he has been making the point that Knowledge Management should be about supporting effective decision making and creating the conditions for innovation but in a recent post that mainly dealt with What is the function of KM?, he added a third point that I have clipped below.
Firstly, to support effective decision making ...
Secondly, we need to create the conditions for innovation ...
Thirdly, knowledge management is all about communication and that doesn't just mean the top down focus that is all too common place, although it does permit it.
Dealing with uncertainty often focuses on things like values and mission statements.
However writing your values down means that you have just lost them.
All you have done is teach people the language of power and it will come back to you in slide presentations and proposals.
The Bible teaches through parables, stories that carry necessary ambiguity and hence adaptability but you can't talk your way out of their message.
This is the key switch from managing rule base cultures, to enabling an ideation culture.
That means understanding the micro-narratives of day to day conversations, sensing the evolutionary potential of the system.
It can also involve the use of metaphor. Like the parables referenced above, metaphors carry with them essential ambiguity and adaptability which paradoxically allows them to me more precise in day to day communication both up and down.
Narrative is a broad field that too many people seek to narrow and its a lot more sophisticated in both theory and practice than many people would have you believe.
Its also about how we use technology to link and connect people in different ways
I don't think Dave means to imply an order in these three points but I would put communication first as connecting people, improved communication and better conversations ultimately leads to effective decision making and innovation.
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for October - November 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
Towards the end Sal talks about "the notion of an emerging global one world classroom" (watch from 15:47 on). What a concept! Knowledge sharing, learning, peer to peer tutoring, coaching and mentoring on a global scale. Its early days but this has got to play a major role in the future of education.
Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects.
He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help.
Plaudern wie im Pub (Like a chat in the pub) - Comments
Amazingly, I have had two articles on my Knowledge Cafe written by German authors and published in German magazines this last month or so.
The first is by Sascha Reimann:
Plaudern wie im Pub (Like a chat in the pub)
Published in Training Aktuell Magazine, October 2011
Training aktuell is a trade magazine focussing on professional training, learning & development, coaching and consulting. For 22 years we have been delivering concise information for training and coaching professionals including useful tools and practical advise for them to use in the classroom as well as in their offices. Here you can find some excerpts: http://bit.ly/peUoAI. You can also follow us on Twitter or Facebook.
Training aktuell ist eine Zeitschrift speziell für Trainer, Berater und Coachs. Seit 22 Jahren liefert es wichtige Informationen, Arbeitshilfen und praktische Tipps für Weiterbildner -- im Seminar und darüber hinaus. Eine Leseprobe finden Sie hier: http://bit.ly/peUoAI. Sie finden uns unter http://www.trainingaktuell.de, auf Twitter und auf Facebook.
The Project Magazine is the leading German language magazine for project managers.
Das Projekt Magazin ist das führende deutschsprachige Fachmedium für Projektmanager.
"Dead by PowerPoint" -- so lautete das Urteil des britischen Experten für Wissensmanagement, David Gurteen, nach dem Besuch einer typischen, mit Informationen überfrachteten Fachkonferenz. Dennoch zog er einen wesentlichen Gewinn daraus: Wirklich etwas gebracht hatten ihm Gesprä che mit anderen Teilnehmern am Rande der Konferenz, in der Kaffeepause oder abends im Pub. Diese Erkenntnis war Basis des Knowledge Cafes, einer von ihm entwickelten Methode zum Wissensaustausch in der Gruppe. Elisabeth Wagner beschreibt das Vorgehen sowie Anwendungsmö glichkeiten im Projektmanagement.
If you would like a free copy of this second article then please send me a request by email and I will return you a PDF of the article as the publishers will not allow me to publish the article for free on-line.
Gurteen Knowledge Cafe: SMARTlab at the University of East London
Knowledge Cafés as KM Tools. KM India 2010
Gurteen Knowledge Cafe at KMPAP 2006 in Hong Kong
Introduction to the Knowledge Cafe, Greenwich 2006
So often when people start a so called KM initiative they ask the question "How do we do KM?" and "What are the benefits?". To my mind this is the wrong place to start. We should start with the question "What are the business problems we are facing and how can KM help."
This ensures a sharp focus on business outcomes. The benefits? - well they are your desired outcomes. Simple really! Hence "Don't do KM!"
I will be speaking again at KM Middle East 2012 again in Abu Dhabi but this time on "Conversation for Empowerment" and running a half-day seminar on "Conversation: Your most powerful KM Tool". I also hope to run an open Knowledge Cafe in Dubai on the Sunday evening before the conference. I'll post more on these events later.
A few weeks back, I helped someone writing an article on my Knowledge Cafes by answering questions by email.
This was one of the questions:
You say: "The question is only a seed. It's okay to go off topic. "Doesn't that bring the danger of dissipation of the conversation? Or causing problems after the participants have changed the tables?
This was my answer:
The Knowledge Cafe is not about trying to control people and what they say or talk about. Its about treating them as adults.
Conversations go off topic in everyday life - all of the time. That's the intrinsic nature of conversation,
If you try to control conversation - you destroy it.
If the topic is important to the participants and the right one - they will quickly return to it.
It also allows issues to emerge that were not anticipated. This is at the heart of what the Cafe is all about.
You need the freedom to explore stuff.
And you need the freedom for people to relax and tell personal stories and share anecdotes.
Rather then dissipate the conversation - it keeps it natural and enlivens it,
And there is not a problem when people change tables ... the sidetrack either dies or if it is important it is built upon
Podcast: Knowledge Cafes: A conversation with David Gurteen - Comments
Geraldine Clement-Stoneham of SLA Europe did a little audio interview with me the other day.
David Gurteen is a well known figure of the knowledge management world. For several years, he has been touring the world introducing knowledge cafés as a way to re-discover the power of conversation to exchange knowledge.
In this interview, David introduces himself, and how he became involved in knowledge management.
He explains the principles behind knowledge cafés, and how they represent a great KM tool, including in the business environment.
He touches briefly on cultural differences in the way people approach conversation, and invites us to join him to live the experience in one of his workshop, or the many cafés he runs for his community.
Social Media versus Knowledge Management: A false dichotomy - Comments
I have just read an article Social Media versus Knowledge Management on the HBR Blog Network
where the authors Anthony Bradley and MarMcDonald say the following.
Knowledge management is what company management tells me I need to know, based on what they think is important.
Social media is how my peers show me what they think is important, based on their experience and in a way that I can judge for myself.
I rarely post comments against articles but in this case I simply had to reply:
Funny, this is not the KM that I observe.
KM has rarely been "what company management tells me I need to know, based on what they think is important"
and has always been at its best about "how my peers show me what they think is important, based on their experience and in a way that I can judge for myself".
Peer assists, after action reviews, retrospects, open space, knowledge cafes .... the core face to face conversational processes of KM are naturally peer to peer
and people within organisations use social media as KM tools to have electronically mediated conversations, to share and to collaborate!
KM is fundamentally social in its nature.
In the article, there are some excellent points made about the use social media in an organisation but to my mind the comparison with KM is a false dichotomy and pure fiction.
Some other thoughts of mine on KM and social media:
As you might expect it is about Steve Jobs - the man. If you have not read it - take a look - it shows him in a different light to all the other articles.
My next public Knowledge Cafe workshop is in London on 13 December 2011 - Comments
I am running my next public Knowledge Cafe workshop in London on 13 December 2011 at the RSA.
Its about six weeks to go and I already have six people signed-up. So looking good :-)
The day is fundamentally about "How to design and run Knowledge Cafes" and put them to good business purpose but we also take a look at the whole role of conversation in our organizational lives.
After all, conversation is not only a powerful learning technology, it is the best KM tool we have at our disposal.
The sciences of complexity change our perspective and thinking. Perhaps, as a result we should, especially in management, focus more attention on what we are doing than what we should be doing. Following the thinking presented by the most advanced scientific researchers, the important question to answer is not what should happen in the future, but what is happening now?
Knowledge Management should be focused on real, tangible intractable problems not aspirational goals. It should deal pragmatically with the evolutionary possibilities of the present rather then seeking idealistic solutions.
We really must get away from talking conceptually about the future and "Seize the Day". Seneca and Horace understood this over 2,000 years ago.
The greatest loss of time is delay and expectation, which depend upon the future. We let go the present, which we have in our power, and look forward to that which depends upon chance, and so relinquish a certainty for an uncertainty.
Scale back your long hopes
to a short period. While we
speak, time is envious and
is running away from us.
Seize the day, trusting
little in the future.
What if conference organizers and event professionals flipped the standard lecture presentation? What if the lecture was put online for people to view before the conference? People could then attend the session onsite and participate with the presenter and others in activities that helped them solidify concepts and ideas. They could engage in roundtable discussions with one another on what did and didn't work.
The same model could be used with Webinars. Conference presenters could deliver their foundation content in a Webinar. Attendees could view it at their leisure, apply concepts in real time at work and then bring questions, best practices and concerns to the conference.
This could have great ROI for learning and retention from your conference or event. I think it has great promise.
How would your conference attendees adapt to flipping the conference education lecture presentation on YouTube and the onsite experience being interactive? What other conference processes, models or methods could be flipped today?
The problem I see with it though is that at present people tend not to do pre-conference work. They are either too busy or don't see the value. Maybe a little of both. I wonder if that will change over time.
A while back I wrote a blog post entitled Improving Understanding
in which I told a story where I suggested to a student that she run mini Knowledge Cafes with fellow students to gain a deeper understanding of her studies.
In response, I received an email from Guillaume Boutard, a PhD. student from McGill University in Canada in which he told me about an interesting article in Wired Magazine Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up whose conclusions he pointed out were similar to the ones I was making.
Here are two quotes from the article:
The reason we're so resistant to anomalous information -- the real reason researchers automatically assume that every unexpected result is a stupid mistake -- is rooted in the way the human brain works. Over the past few decades, psychologists have dismantled the myth of objectivity. The fact is, we carefully edit our reality, searching for evidence that confirms what we already believe. Although we pretend we're empiricists -- our views dictated by nothing but the facts -- we're actually blinkered, especially when it comes to information that contradicts our theories. The problem with science, then, isn't that most experiments fail -- it's that most failures are ignored.
While the scientific process is typically seen as a lonely pursuit -- researchers solve problems by themselves -- Dunbar found that most new scientific ideas emerged from lab meetings, those weekly sessions in which people publicly present their data. Interestingly, the most important element of the lab meeting wasn't the presentation -- it was the debate that followed. Dunbar observed that the skeptical (and sometimes heated) questions asked during a group session frequently triggered breakthroughs, as the scientists were forced to reconsider data they'd previously ignored. The new theory was a product of spontaneous conversation, not solitude; a single bracing query was enough to turn scientists into temporary outsiders, able to look anew at their own work.
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for September - October 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
Now your kid can go to Harvard, MIT and Oxford - The Craigslist moment for most universities http://t.co/8Rw1EMMD Wed Oct 19 12:04:02 +0000 2011
Do we we have a finite “namespace” in our brains, http://t.co/tWkqeExa /no you are getting older Chris @chris_collison Wed Oct 19 11:05:10 +0000 2011
Our love of stories comes with a side-effect: we forsake the facts when they interfere with the plot http://t.co/b7xVKWiC #storytelling Wed Oct 19 08:06:10 +0000 2011
The mess of Knowledge Management groups on LinkedIn - Comments
There is no shortage of Knowledge Management discussion groups on Linkedin.
I posted a list of 35 of them back in February 2009 when that was all I could find.
But in reading this post by Ian Wooler it looks like the number has grown dramatically. Here's Ian's summary:
I am not so sure though that it could be any different unless some form of centralised control of the discussions was implemented which is not what the web is about.
I also don't think that it would be a good thing.
Discusssion is naturally fragmented and messy.
Exerting control over it, even if possible, would diminish creativity, freedom of expression and diversity.
Maybe we need a better balance between mess and order? But if so, who would define and agree it and how would it be achieved?
I've known about a new way of teaching for some time now.
It's called "flip teaching", "reverse teaching" or "reverse instruction."
The idea is simple:
Kids watch lectures and videos at home.
Class is for hands-on work and face-to-face interaction with teachers and peers.
Although this style of teaching does not seem to be without its problems, I love the idea.
This is just what I and others have been saying about conferences and seminars.
But why did I not make the connection before today? Conferences are just a hang over from school days. Sit the students in nice neat rows in a classroom and talk at them!
Speech is a bad medium for communicating information - so watch lectures and videos at home.
Speech is a good medium for dialogue - so do hands-on work and face-to-face interaction with teacher/peers at school and speaker/peers at a conference.
Its such a simple but powerful way of working. Don't just flip teaching, flip conferences as well.
I will leave you with favourite quotation of mine.
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
The problems with conferences come down to three things:
Speech is a bad medium for communicating information.
Speech is a good medium for dialog.
Get smart people and encourage them to talk.
He also makes the point that conferences get things backwards.
"They use valuable face-to-face time for worthless presentations by people who are not particularly entertaining and even if they were are saying things you already know,
and then try and stifle discussion (one question per person, sir!) and shunt it off towards lunch or something (we don’t have time for questions now).
Hello? What did all these people come out here for? I can watch infomercials at home just fine, thanks."
Exactly!
Many conferences are becoming more conversational in their format.
But what is the percentage that are still dreary death-by-powerpoint talks?
I have no idea but putting a finger in the air, I would say about 95%, maybe higher.
Introduction to the October 2011 Knowledge Letter - Comments
Every so often, I come across a story that I feel compelled to share.
Almost 300 Indian girls known officially as "Unwanted" have traded their birth names for a fresh start in life. Given names like "Nakusa" or "Nakushi" - or "unwanted" in Hindi - they grew up understanding they were a burden in families that preferred boys in Maharashtra state.
What an amazing story. What wonderful girls. I think we are going to see more and more stories like this. People taking charge of their lives. There is a lot wrong with this world but more and more people are working to make it better.
A big thanks to Nerida Hart for posting this story on her Facebook wall via a post on the Facebook Girl Effect page. I have written about the Girl Effect in the past. Here is a snippet of what they have to say "when adolescent girls in the developing world have a chance, they can be the most powerful force of change for themselves, their families, communities, countries, and even the planet." Take a look.
Knowledge Management should be focused on real, tangible intractable problems not aspirational goals. It should deal pragmatically with the evolutionary possibilities of the present rather then seeking idealistic solutions.
I have run dozens of these workshops around the world these last few years, most recently in Edinburgh and Copenhagen and always have tremendous feedback.
This one was no exception and it was made special in that my eldest daughter Lauren came along ... so now when people ask her what her Dad does ... she can do a little better then say "he travels the world having conversations with people" :-)
I had 21 people in total, most of them had paid the full price but I had given a few discounts and one or two freebies to people who were keen to take part but could not afford the full price.
I have posted an album of photos from the day on Facebook if you are interested. As you can see ... lots of great conversation taking place.
And my daughter Lauren shot a few short video clips where she asked people what they were taking away from the day.
The very first short clip with Megan Morys is a rather special one for me.
In my workshops, I have long suggested that many meetings would be better broken into two meetings separated by at least a week.
The first meeting would take the form of a knowledge cafe where the sole purpose was to explore and better understand the issue at hand.
It should not be about making a decision or coming to consensus.
And it should be about dialogue and not debate.
The second meeting would then focus on making the decision.
This can and would be more adversarial and more debate-like format with often the manager who has convened the meeting making the final decision.
This to my mind, overcomes the complications faced when you try to do both in the same meeting.
The people who wish to explore the issue get shouted down and the people who want to make a quick decision and often have already made up their minds tend to win the day.
Often a bad decision is made and the people put down come away feeling not listened to and demoralised.
Personally, I have always respected that a decision has to be made and that I may not like it. What I have always hated is not to have had my say.
Megan is the fist person to have told me that as a manager this is just what she does. Listen to what she has to say :-)
Video Playlist: Gurteen Knowledge Cafe Workshop Interviews
This is a series of short interviews shot at various Gurteen Knowledge Cafes or Knowledge Cafe workshops where participants share something that they are taking away from the day.
I am often asked to give a talk to an organisation and where I have the freedom to, I do my best to transform it into a conversational format.
A few days ago I discovered that Google Video had lost a video of one such talk that I gave at the National Library in Singapore in 2007 and so I uploaded it again to YouTube
and in watching it, I realised it was an excellent example of how I like do things.
The traditional way goes something like this:
Give the talk with loads of Powerpoint slides and don't allow any questions during your talk as it can upset your rehearsed speech and someone may ask you a difficult question.
Take questions at the end but don't leave too much time as again you may be asked a difficult one or no one has any questions for you as you put them all to sleep and they are dying to get back to the office.
Leave quickly.
The way I prefer, goes more like this:
Give the talk (some Powerpoint slides are OK) and take questions as you want the session to be engaging and interactive.
At the end of your talk, ask the participants to have a conversation about the topic of the talk or ask them a specific question. This can either be a short conversation at their tables or a more fully Cafe like session where they change tables in order to have a broader conversation with more people.
Ask them to form a circle with their chairs.
Continue the conversation as a whole group and take more questions.
Hang around over coffee and engage in more conversation.
Just browse my talk (unless you are interested in it of course) and you will get the idea of how it all hangs together. Note: the small group conversation starts at about 44:00 and the whole group conversation in a circle starts at about 59:00.
Video: Knowledge Sharing Talk at NLB, Singapore
Knowledge Sharing Talk and mini-knowledge cafe at NLB, Singapore, August 2007
Media Information:
Try this for yourself. You don't have to be a professional speaker. The format is simple. It is easy to do. You do need a little bit of confidence to try it but people really enjoy conversation and they will love you for it. You can't go too far wrong.
I am coaching someone at the moment who is a newly appointed head of a University department and they have been experimenting with the format. Not only are they enjoying introducing more conversation into their meetings but their members of staff are too.
A conversation doesn't just shuffle the deck of cards -- it creates new ones - Comments
One of my recent newcomers to my London Knowledge Cafes is Andrew Armour.
Andrew is one of those people who immediately "got" what the Cafes are all about and has delighted me in blogging about them and expressing elements of them in ways that I have never been able to articulate.
A Knowledge Cafe tries to eliminate the traditional point scoring, that is such a feature of our everyday conversations.
It is a notion that is neatly expressed by the brilliant Theodore Zeldin and his famous quote; "A conversation doesn't just shuffle the deck of cards -- it creates new ones".
The 'Cafe' format has been smartly honed by Gurteen as a way to encourage the making of those new cards by stimulating dialogue rather than monologue.
In addressing the above questions, the various groups shifted the conversation from how you define good and bad outcomes, to discussing (in a sign of the times) -- how you engage in a conversation with looters.
The idea was to explore and share knowledge.
I ended the evening with as many new puzzling questions as answers -- and as many new insights.
But isn’t that the point of a good conversation?
It leads you to a different view, adds insight and helps you play with 'a new card' rather than flip over that same one again and again and again.
And if you are trying to innovate, to explore, to create something fresh -- isn’t that where your next conversation should start?
Like Andrew, I love Theodore's card metaphor. And just in case you missed it - listen to Theodore's recent interview on New Conversation on the BBC's Radio 4.
Five quotations that represent my values - Comments
I love quotations.
I tend to remember them and they help me focus on what is important to me and inspire and motivate me.
Some people try to identify their core values. I try to identify the quotations that most represent who I am or wish to be.
Here are probably my top five. They change slightly every time I draw up the list :-)
We must become the change we want to see in the world.
To be a catalyst is the ambition most appropriate for those who see the world as being in constant change, and who, without thinking that they can control it, wish to influence its direction.
I have to tell it again and again: I have no doctrine. I only point out something. I point out reality, I point out something in reality which has not or too little been seen. I take him who listens to me at his hand and lead him to the window. I push open the window and point outside. I have no doctrine, I carry on a dialogue.
Children do not need to be made to learn to be better, told what to do or shown how. If they are given access to enough of the world, they will see clearly enough what things are truly important to themselves and to others, and they will make for themselves a better path into that world then anyone else could make for them.
Suppose we were able to share meanings freely without a compulsive urge to impose our view or conform to those of others and without distortion and self-deception. Would this not constitute a real revolution in culture.
You will find over 900 quotations on my website. I have selected them carefully over the last 20 years or so and each means something to me. I hope you enjoy them too.
What quotations best represent who you are or what you would like to be?
In my knowledge cafes and workshops, a frequent question asked is "what is a conversation".
Surprisingly, people cannot agree.
Many think an exchange of emails, even SMS messages can be classed as conversations.
I disagree.
Browsing the dictionary definitions on the web, conversation clearly involves talking. It is an oral, spoken activity, not a written one
Here is a definition from the Merrian-Webster dictionary:
"an oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions, or ideas"
And another from the Macmillan dictionary:
"an informal interchange of thoughts, information, etc., by spoken words; oral communication between persons; talk; colloquy"
The key words here are oral, exchange and informal.
So you can have a conversation, face to face, on the phone or via a video link.
Anything else such as email, a written letter, or an exchange of IM or SMS messages are not conversations.
I would also add that conversation is highly interactive and takes place in real time - so an exchange of voice messages is also not a conversation.
To my mind, the best conversations are face to face, you need to be able to sense other people in their totality; their dress, their body language, their habits, their perfume or cologne; you need to be able to reach out and touch them even.
This you cannot do over the phone or even a video link.
If you want a real human experience it must be literally face to face; body to body.
That's the way conversation evolved, long before writing technology, its what us human beings are good at
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for August - September 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
A clear introduction to the concept of 'Ba' http://t.co/4oWs1shN #KM 2011-09-24 12:04:02 UTC
BBC R4 interview with Theodore Zeldin on changing the way people talk to each other http://t.co/bzdNFsHP #conversation #TheWorldCafe 2011-09-16 10:57:06 UTC
Introduction to the September 2011 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I would estimate that over 90% of all my professional news comes to me via RSS feeds that I subscribe to and read via Google Reader, primarily on my iPhone. Its how I keep in touch with a rapidly changing world.
I could not imagine being without this source of information and it still surprises me how many people I speak to who do not understand RSS and how valuable it could be to them.
RSS is simple. See this RSS page on my website that describes it in simple terms and includes two short animations "RSS in Plain English" and "Google Reader in Plain English".
Then see my RSS Feeds page for a list of all the RSS feeds that I generate and include website updates, jobs, events, photos, videos and more.
Introduction to the August 2011 Knowledge Letter - Comments
The big news this month is of course the resignation of Steve Jobs.
I am a PC boy though I do love my iPhone and am increasingly tempted to convert and buy a MacBook Air.
I am not too sure that what I have read about Steve Jobs that I would have liked to work for him.
But I hugely admire what he has achieved and I think there is so much we can all learn from him.
You may recall I blogged his hugely inspiring Stanford Commencement Speech a while back.
We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn't build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren't going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.
When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You'll know it's there, so you're going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.
Just take a look at the back of any PC laptop and compare it with a Mac laptop. I have never been able to figure out whey other manufacturers have not followed suit. My daughter has a Mac laptop and I often just pick it up to admire it and to feel it. Its a delight just to hold it in my hands.
If only all businesses took design so seriously. I am sure extra investment would pay off handsomely.
We need to think about saving ourselves - Comments
I would like to introduce you to two bloggers whom you may find interesting to follow.
I started following their blog posts some years ago when they were more focused on KM. Today, many of their posts are seemingly of a different nature.
I'll warn you now, you may not agree with what they have to say, they may even anger you.
But they have some interesting perspectives on the state of the world and our future.
Rob, has got me thinking about food and diet and the effect on our health of the huge quantities of processed foods that we now eat and that we may be being advised wrongly.
He has influenced me to try the Paleo Diet.
I have lost 15 lbs (7kgs) in about 2 months (another 15 lbs to go) and I feel much better for it.
Dave, on the other hand, has prompted me to start to think more deeply about the sustainability of our way of life and the global economy. In the UK for example, we are possibly only Nine Meals from Anarchy.
Some people see Dave's posts as being negative and defeatist as he believes that we cannot avoid the collapse of our global civilisation during this century and that we need to prepare and adapt for it.
No one is good at predicting the future, Dave may be right, he may be wrong. You don't have to like or agree with what Dave is saying but you should read his posts (they are long) and think about it for yourself.
The one thing is certain. We cannot go on as we are much longer. Even if things don't totally collapse, we are entering a period of great turmoil and change.
We all need to start to think about it and plan for it as best we can.
I started off by saying both these gentleman started out blogging about KM. To my mind, they still are.
We have so much information and knowledge about what is going on our world but the challenge is to make sense of it all and to make better decisions. This is the essence of KM. So Rob's and Dave's blog posts are not too surprising.
The best prediction for children's choice of behaviour is the actions of other children around them - Comments
I recently stumbled on this snippet on Peer Influence from John Tropea.
1928 Study by Hugh Hartshorne and Mark May
Experimental situation in which 10-13 year old had the choice to yield to the possibility of cheating and stealing, or to be honest and considerate of their peers. The study showed that children were not consistently honest or dishonest (the idea that honesty would be a fixed trait of character by this age). The best prediction for the children's choice of behaviour was the actions of the other children around them.
This resonated with me as one thing that is high on my list of "lessons learnt in life" is never, ever, ever, assume things about anything or anyone.
Its all too easy to jump to conclusions as to why someone has said something or done something. Most of the time we are wrong. Very wrong.
To me this is where conversation or dialogue plays its part in understanding issues and people.
Rather than say - "that was a stupid move" or "that was a stupid thing to say".
Its far more creative and revealing to say "that's interesting, so why did you do that?" or "that's interesting, why did you say that?" It also potentially saves a relationship.
But you need to do it out of genuine curiosity not as some cheap conversational technique.
Conversation down the pub with Theodore Zeldin - Comments
I am great fan of Theodore Zeldin as many of you will know but there is precious little video of him
and his website The Oxford Muse has been broken for some time or at best a bit of a mess which is a huge shame.
Video: Theodore Zeldin discusses the results of the Courage Beer Conversations Survey.
Philosopher and historian Theodore Zeldin discusses the results of the Courage Beer Conversations Survey.
Media Information:
It resonates well with my thinking about my Knowledge Cafes where one of the key principles is to come as close to a pub conversation as possible (though of course without the beer).
In his seven point list, the first two points are as follows:
There is no such thing as a social media strategy.
There are only business strategies that understand networks.
This jumped out at me, as it is the same the advice I give about KM. I wrote the following a little while back:
There are NO KM initiatives. There is no such thing as a KM project. You don't do KM. There is no such thing as a KM strategy. There are only business problems, challenges and opportunities; business strategies and business projects.
The problem with KM initiatives and strategies is that they conceptualize the problem and make it far too easy to take your eye off the business. It is, to my mind, one of the key reasons why so many KM projects fail.
It is rare that a project is purely a KM one. You usually need more than just KM tools and techniques to fully address a business problem or opportunity.
You use KM tools and methodologies to respond to business problems.
If you must have a KM strategy it should be in response to a clear business objective and tie in to the top level business objectives of the organization or organizational unit. The business purpose and outcomes should come first!
There is no absolute security or privacy on the web as whole, not just social media. Anything you really don't want people to know about then don't put it on the web.
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for July - August 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
Book: Knowledge Management (01 Aug 2011) by Kevin C Desouza, Scott Paquette http://t.co/NddtKA2 2011-08-23 10:36:21 UTC
The need for rational, reasonable drug laws has never been more pressing. http://t.co/uFfz07U #SocialGood 2011-08-23 07:26:28 UTC
Book Review of Kate Pugh’s Sharing Hidden Know-How from @billives http://t.co/MPT6Uda #KM 2011-08-22 11:34:33 UTC
A nice overview of my recent London Knowledge Cafe at PwC from @NicolaFranklin http://t.co/cwN4xiw #KCAFE #KM 2011-08-22 09:51:50 UTC
Best prediction for children’s choice of behaviour was the actions of the other children around them http://t.co/6ZY4oy5 2011-08-21 08:08:10 UTC
“Reclaim Blogging”: Why I’m giving up Twitter and Facebook. | @gapingvoid http://t.co/UtsOkm3 2011-08-19 19:39:38 UTC
12 Incredible Internet Activists Changing the World Through Social Media http://t.co/KZNGulb #SocialGood 2011-08-19 19:30:13 UTC
Listening to some one’s story is a way of empowering them http://t.co/SyIUQOo #GoodToTalk 2011-08-19 19:18:41 UTC
It's rare to find a consistently creative or insightful person who is also an angry person. http://t.co/LLzIWDU 2011-08-19 10:32:38 UTC
The time to push hard is when you’re hurting like crazy and you want to give up http://t.co/0gOLw7n 2011-08-19 10:30:10 UTC
Books create semblance of knowledge but true knowledge can only be created through active discourse + dialogue.http://t.co/AcVECyE #KM 2011-08-19 07:11:45 UTC
Ideas just aren’t what they used to be. http://t.co/9uzeXua #KM /interesting 2011-08-17 09:04:53 UTC
RT @Yunus_Centre: #Socialbusiness is missing link between businessworld + fight against #poverty + social problems http://j.mp/bjewbJ 2011-08-10 10:21:23 UTC
KM. When will we admit that we’re getting it wrong? http://linkd.in/o3Jt6q #KM 2011-08-10 08:30:40 UTC
Responding to the apparent collapse of an old world under its own weight. http://bit.ly/nICl1D /by @euan 2011-08-10 08:10:07 UTC
RT @RobinGood: Social Content Curation – A Shift from the Traditional | @scoopit http://bit.ly/nc3qnS #curation 2011-08-08 07:20:57 UTC
RT @KMskunkworks: The problem with 'certified' KM training http://wp.me/pUfyy-6x #KCube #KMObservatory 2011-08-07 12:29:36 UTC
Content Curation Is Listening and Engaging http://bit.ly/ocG6Xb #curation 2011-08-04 16:26:16 UTC
Creating participatory conferences - challenging the assumptions http://bit.ly/pTR4um 2011-08-04 09:56:51 UTC
Introduction to the July 2011 Knowledge Letter - Comments
The major news of the month has been the beta release of Google+.
I managed to get an early invite and have been playing with it for some time now.
I won't attempt to explain it or review it ... a thousand others have done a much better job than I could ever do.
Here is what Techcrunch has to say and here is a guide from Mashup.
I like Google+ a great deal, even though I still don't think I have quite my mind wrapped around how circles work. Its certainly a more complex but more powerful model than Twitter or Facebook.
Unlike Wave or Buzz, I think Google+ will be a big success.
It does not replace Facebook or Twitter or blogs or discussion groups though its functionality overlaps with them all.
I will still be using all these social tools.
My main challenge will be figuring out which tool to use for what.
I tweet a lot and have things configured such that my manual tweets and automated tweets from my website (via RSS feeds) get pushed through to LinkedIn and Facebook.
So how does Google+ fit into all of this? Does it make sense to feed my tweets into Google+ as well? Or should I feed my Google+ posts into Twitter? Or neither?
There are a number of emergent tools to do this type of thing but I have yet to get my head around them and figure out which works best for me.
One thing I do like though is the ability to create an RSS feed for my Google+ public posts.
I will let you know how I get on and I am sure I will meet many of you in Google+. Here is my Google+ profile page.
I gather that Google+ will go fully live at end of July but if you would like an invite drop me an email and I will invite you.
Why, when politicians say something that really makes no sense, do people automatically think they are stupid?
Politicians rarely say what they believe or know to be true.
They say what needs to be said to win favour with the public; to keep rival politicians off their back and to stay in office.
By the same logic, don't judge their intelligence or true beliefs by what they do! Though it is a better measure.
That's the nature of politics.
But don't take this argument too far ... some really are stupid :-)
This though, is a more general problem, we rarely stop to look behind the words that other people utter. We don't look for the underlying meaning. We take their words at face value. Now who is being stupid? :-)
Implementing Knowledge Cafes for business purpose - Comments
Over the last few years I have run a large number of Knowledge Cafe workshops all over the world but always in partnership with another organisation
but on September 13 at the RSA in central London, I will be running one entirely organised by myself.
Its a good six weeks away and I already have six people signed up, so things are looking good.
If you have experienced one of my Cafes and would like to learn how to run them yourself or you are curious how then can be put to good business purpose then take a look here where you can learn more an register for the event.
I chaired KM Australia last week though on reflection, I don't like that old fashioned word "chaired". Lets say I facilitated it.
I did not sit on stage.
I briefly introduced the speakers. I did not read out their full bios.
I kept them to time as best I could.
I did not give lengthy summaries after their talks - that time was better given over to conversation.
And I encouraged, supported and facilitated conversation and Q&A around their talks.
I really enjoyed the conference and felt the conversational format worked well and from the feedback I have seen so far the conference participants (note I try not to use the word audience) did too.
Some great tweeting went on and even some Google Plussing.
A few little things stood out for me.
First, Peter Williams, CEO, of Deloitte Digital, during his talk said this about innovation : "Innovation is not about defining it, it's about doing it."
This resonated strongly with my own view on KM. "KM is not about defining it or arguing whether it is dead or alive, its about doing it."
Second, what was interesting, in the conversations, someone made the point that we really needed to agree a common definition on KM if it was to have any future.
Now, if you have been around KM as long as I have, you will know that agreeing a common definition is as far away as ever and may never be achieved.
So I asked the conference participants what they thought. Overwhelmingly they thought it was not an issue.
Thank God that I am not the only one who does not think this is a problem!
Thirdly, another conversation that stood out for me was one around the skills that we felt were needed today as knowledge workers. I noted down the items suggested.
And then did a very rough and ready poll on the top three. This was the result:
leadership
influence
flexibility/adaptability
The ability to lead and the ability to influence. Interesting. Well worth reflecting on.
Finally, given all the challenges that Knowledge Management faces, I concluded the conference with my favourite quote from Ghandi.
I enjoyed the conference so much, I must try to talk the Ark Group into inviting me again next year even though it rained almost all day, every day for the week I was in Sydney.
Are conversation, appreciation and understanding innovation? - Comments
In this short video Bill Doty reflects on how the search for "big innovation" might keep us from making small acts each day to change the way we live and work.
Are conversation, appreciation and understanding innovation?
Video of Gurteen Knowledge Cafe at KM Egypt 2010 - Comments
This video was taken at KM Egypt in September 2010 where I was invited to run a Knowledge Cafe.
It is probably one of the best videos that not only describes my Knowledge Cafes but where you also get to see it in action and hear some of the insights from the people taking part. Be warned though it is over 50 minutes in length.
Note: the room and the tables are not the ideal setting for a Knowledge Cafe nor is the reporting back process but often the Cafe needs to be adapted to fit the room and the number of participants.
Video: Knowledge Cafe at KM Egypt 2010
This video was taken at KM Egypt in September 2010 where I was invited to run a Knowledge Cafe.
It is probably one of the best videos that not only describes my Knowledge Cafes but where you also get to see it in action and hear some of the insights from the people taking part.
Note: the room and the tables are not the ideal setting for a Knowledge Cafe nor is the reporting back process but often the Cafe needs to be adapted to fit the room and the number of participants.
When you think you control something, you're wrong. - Comments
I like this post by Leo Babauta on the illusion of control.
It recognises that in a complex world we cannot predict cause and effect. If something happens the same way twice its by chance not because of some underlying "cause and effect" logic.
It also ties in with my mantra of stop doing things to people.
And it ties in with Snowden's views on not focusing on outcomes but on impact.
Here are a few things that Leo suggests for a completely different way of living:
We stop setting goals, and instead do what excites us.
We stop planning, and just do.
We stop looking at the future, and live in the moment.
We stop trying to control others, and focus instead on being kind to them.
We learn that trusting our values is more important to taking action than desiring and striving for certain outcomes.
We take each step lightly, with balance, in the moment, guided by those values and what we're passionate about ... rather than trying to plan the next 1,000 steps and where we'll end up.
We learn to accept the world as it is, rather than being annoyed with it, stressed by it, mad at it, despaired by it, or trying to change it into what we want it to be.
We are never disappointed with how things turn out, because we never expected anything -- we just accept what comes.
I am drawn to this way of thinking but I struggle with it.
I need to have some goals and to do some planning but not to be overly tied to those goals and my plans; to not be too hung up on the how, where or when.
Dave Snowden sums it up nicely for me when he says this (my slight modifications):
Knowledge ManagementWe should be focused on real, tangible intractable problems not aspirational goals. ItWe should deal pragmatically with the evolutionary possibilities of the present rather then seeking idealistic solutions.
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for May - July 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
I don't think of work as work and play as play . It's all living. Richard Branson http://bit.ly/2MucTo 2011-07-22 12:43:05 UTC
RT @TheE20Trap: Yammer or SharePoint? The Deloitte Experience #KMAUS http://trap.it/cALrRg #e20 #socbiz 2011-07-21 14:50:58 UTC
If You Want to Kill Innovation, Reward It! Alfie Kohn http://bit.ly/1f2aZr 2011-07-20 20:26:02 UTC
Is our civilization is in its final century, and is there is nothing we can do to prevent its collapse? http://bit.ly/rdWwT5 2011-07-20 13:06:50 UTC
The ubiquitous piece of software can leave one feeling grumpy and passive and in no frame of mind for proper work http://on.ft.com/nxxKbb 2011-07-18 12:50:46 UTC
RT @RobinGood: A must-watch presentation: Ten Technology Trends That Will Change the World http://slidesha.re/oslyNr 2011-07-17 12:27:17 UTC
RT @johnniemoore: @DavidGurteen thanks for excellent link on Wired/Khan Academy. I blogged a few thoughts here http://bit.ly/oh4tPO 2011-07-17 11:08:55 UTC
Weeding out students who look great on paper but haven't developed people or communications skills http://bit.ly/rsvdsu /via @andrewarmour 2011-07-13 09:53:42 UTC
RT @Yunus_Centre: Yunus: social business will impact the world http://bit.ly/r3M4w2 #Social Good 2011-07-13 07:31:41 UTC
What the catalysts are for “good” conversations http://bit.ly/nviRxq #GoodToTalk 2011-07-12 07:24:07 UTC
You can experience emotional states without knowing why, even if you believe you can pinpoint the source. http://bit.ly/mYd0YA 2011-07-12 07:14:32 UTC
Why 'Social Business'? http://bit.ly/rmfPRh /in the Yunus sense of SB #SocialGood 2011-07-11 16:23:33 UTC
Using Social Tools to Open Up Conversations within the Enterprise http://bit.ly/pz2Cpr #GoodTotalk 2011-07-11 07:38:19 UTC
The transformative power of conversation http://bit.ly/nUAw5Z from @kdelarue #GoodToTalk 2011-07-10 10:07:47 UTC
Brainstorming - it is possible to have lots of ideas and for everyone of them to be fatuous http://bit.ly/nteUrG from @andrewarmour 2011-07-10 09:27:08 UTC
RT @1cheerfulman: @DavidGurteen Our family has been looking after a child in Kenya; anyone can sign up here http://bit.ly/nRmXzn 2011-07-10 09:08:53 UTC
Knowledge Cafes are about "letting people think out aloud and be who they are in a safe setting" http://linkd.in/roVuxR #KM #KCafe 2011-07-10 09:04:43 UTC
In Uganda, American Becomes Foster Mom To 13 Girls http://n.pr/jU91Uv /another @maggiedoyne - we need more :-) #SocialGood 2011-07-10 08:36:36 UTC
What does it mean that the sea is dying? That it is being killed, by us. http://bit.ly/o2tzfB 2011-07-09 09:29:15 UTC
What would worldwide Balkanization and tribalization mean for globalization? from @davepollard http://bit.ly/onx8zx #EndOfEmpire 2011-07-09 08:41:12 UTC
The Ideas sausage machine, or the ideas conversation? http://bit.ly/p6bYuS #KM #GoodTotalk 2011-07-08 06:54:35 UTC
On Cafe Conversations, Connections & Collaboration by @AndrewArmour http://bit.ly/rrZqJx #KM #KCafe 2011-07-07 10:19:34 UTC
A Thousand Days to Reinvent Capitalism? http://bit.ly/ojh110 #ReinventCapitalism 2011-07-06 20:34:17 UTC
A Liquid Café is a hybrid of World Café and Open Space http://bit.ly/j1HVKP #KCafe 2011-07-05 12:25:20 UTC
Forrester's Five Stages of Social Media Maturity http://bit.ly/kzqUqL 2011-07-05 09:10:46 UTC
The session was captured on a flip cam without the use of a roving mic, so the sound is not clear and has had some extensive editing to fit into a short learning piece, but it gives a good idea of what the Cafe is all about.
Video: Gurteen Knowledge Cafe, NAB, Melbourne, October 2010
This is a short video of a Gurteen Knowledge Cafe that I facilitated for Peter Houlihan at the National Australia Bank in Melbourne in October 2010.
The session was captured on a flip cam without the use of a roving mic, so the sound is not clear and has had some extensive editing to fit into a short learning piece, but it gives a good idea of what the Cafe is all about.
The question posed to the group as the "conversational seed" was "What if true leadership involves embracing complexity by widening the circle of involvement rather than restricting it?
On the other hand, many companies do take their social responsibility seriously, so maybe I should not be too sceptical.
What prompted me to comment on CSR? Well this guide on the subject How to profit using corporate social responsibility from Jim Craig - an old friend and colleague from my Lotus Development days. Request your free copy if you wish to learn more.
On Cafe Conversations; Connections and Collaboration - Comments
Earlier this month I ran one of my London Knowledge Cafes that was mainly aimed at people who had not experienced one before. EC Harris were the host and 40 people participated. I have posted the photos to Facebook
The Cafes always go well, people love free flowing conversation but occasionally one or two people in the group really do not "get it" -- they want the session to be more controlled with agendas and summarisation and outcomes. But this is just what the Cafe is not about!
On the other hand, every so often one person really "gets it" and sees through the simplicity of the process and recognises its power.
In this Cafe, Andrew Armour was one of those people, this is an excerpt of a blog post he wrote after the event.
Fortunately, the session lacked squeaky marker pens and there were thankfully no mind maps, lumps of blu-tak and the divvying up of tasks.
Gurteen's Knowledge Cafe concept is a smarter, quicker and potentially far more productive way to encourage creative discussion.
Like other good things, from espresso to the first Porsche -- its success is based on functional simplicity and speed.
Take a question, divide into groups, discuss the question, then move into a new group and keep the conversation going -- sharing and discussing as you go.
Unlike the traditionally tortured brainstorming (notoriously ineffective, see my blog post on this) -- and the dreaded 'group planning away day' workshops -- the aim of the Cafe is not to appoint group leaders, debate and create instant solutions.
But rather to promote a conversation, explore the ideas and share the knowledge. It's not a pitch, debate, negotiation or a challenge.
Neither a platform, seminar or lecture from senior management. Nor a soap box or stage for show offs.
After 60 minutes of speedy, varied conversation across groups and tables everyone stands in a circle to quickly share the new insights and thoughts they've gained.
With business life often dominated by jargon, complexity and often jumbled communication the direct and focused approach of the Cafe is a refreshing change.
It's a short, sharp Arabica compared to a tepid mug of Nescafe. It blends the human art of conversation with the science of business thinking.
And it works. How so?
Firstly, it's very hard for one person to dominate because the group composition continually changes. The lack of agenda and pressure to develop a unified solution prevents closed thinking.
And as a bonus, it raises a few laughs as well -- which cannot be a bad thing. The cafe technique highlighted to me the importance of a collaborative dialogue in partnership development and marketing innovation.
We know that connections and relationships are at the heart of creative thinking and commercial innovation (see my previous blogs discussing Matt Ridley and Stephen Johnson etc.)
But a smart business connection will not evolve into a true collaboration without a conversation and dialogue.
Unfortunately, many brands and organisations are often dominated by strong individuals driven by their own agendas, an over confidence and need to shine and win in the spotlight.
The "not invented here" thinking is symptomatic of this -- its more monologue, than dialogue. A conversational approach is different.
I have long taken photos at almost all my Knowledge Cafes and Masterclasses and posted them to Flickr but I am now increasingly posting them to Facebook also as here people can tag themselves and each other making the whole event far more social.
I also love it as I get to remember people's names and faces.
I have also run two Knowledge Cafes, the first for Cabinet Office and Number 10 Downing Street staff as part of their "Better Cabinet Office Week" and the second at KM UK 2011.
Slowly but surely, interest is growing in the vital role of conversation in business.
For some time now Ditte has been running a form of After Action Review in Oracle that she calls Proactive Reviews.
Its a similar process to AARs but with a few key improvements that make it a very powerful business tool.
Oracle, for example, runs a high-level Proactive Review after every merger and are one of the few organisations I know of that have taken AARs seriously and are applying them in a systematic way in the business.
Also take a look at Ditte's website (this is in English). The book is currently only available in Danish but an English version will be published in September this year.
I'll be talking more about the process then as I think this is one of the more exciting things to happen in KM for a while.
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for May - June 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
Dilbert: It is better to be useless than indispensable! http://bit.ly/mgcUp2 #KM 2011-06-18 09:45:30 UTC
What business problems does knowledge management solve? http://bit.ly/iqCDKE #KM 2011-06-18 09:38:38 UTC
RT @C4LPT: More about how to join the Social Learning Community here http://c4lpt.co.uk/community.html #elnil 2011-06-17 09:29:46 UTC
Hashtags are no longer bound to Twitter they are now embedded in the fabric of our digital lifestyle. http://bit.ly/jE5LNw #hashtageconomy 2011-06-16 14:16:04 UTC
Google Launches Tool for Online Reputation Management http://on.mash.to/ke8D7P 2011-06-16 13:46:26 UTC
Taking Control of Our Knowledge Consumption and Our Social Presence http://bit.ly/iVqSOR #KM 2011-06-16 08:06:19 UTC
Digital Distractions Are Expanding at the Workplace http://bit.ly/k5vbVD 2011-06-16 07:52:25 UTC
RT @dextermixwith: You change your system by doing work on it, learning, and feeding back into the next phase of doing http://bit.ly/jnT2Ap 2011-06-16 07:33:48 UTC
@euan wants real conversations, with real people, in real businesses, who are doing stuff that makes his life better. http://bit.ly/iDPcAi 2011-06-15 19:02:28 UTC
Digital advances are making workers more productive + creating new jobs in every area except education http://bit.ly/k31TVw 2011-06-02 20:32:01 UTC
Conversations Build Markets and Capability http://slidesha.re/kCHNeQ #GoodToTalk 2011-06-02 10:46:33 UTC
Why companies tend to be bad at sharing knowledge http://bit.ly/kK46BQ #KM 2011-06-02 09:16:46 UTC
How do we stop people from associating KM only with content repositories http://bit.ly/kQmbC9 #KM 2011-06-02 07:03:04 UTC
RT @JANTrust: #Afghanistan: #Kandahar girls risk everything for #education - http://ow.ly/1thkze 2011-05-28 20:22:18 UTC
When you free your employees to act like people then the caring can't help but happen. http://bit.ly/mnolxb 2011-05-27 10:15:51 UTC
RT @euan: I am not always as big a fan of Seth Godin as others but he is spot on with this post about Caring http://j.mp/keA5u4 2011-05-27 09:21:25 UTC
"In this black-and-white interview, filmmaker Nic Askew interviews Julio Olalla.
It is not an interview to sell anything or pitch anything.
Its just Julio being Julio. He candidly speaks about an encounter with his father that changed his life, and what he learned:
"Gratitude in so many ways is so dramatically missing in the world today. Without gratitude nothing is enough. It's the kind of short movie where you want to turn off the lights, and just soak in the spirit of an everyday hero.""
When Alan first pointed me to the video, I tweeted it and in turn Luis Suarez liked it and blogged about it, summing it up far better than I ever could.
It’s one of those video clips that will surely get you to shed a tear or two of pure joy filled with humanity, of what it is being a human being and behaving like one. Julio gets to talk about gratitudeand why we need to get it back into our day lives by sharing one of those moving stories that will make you think for a long while. He gets to talk as well about wisdom and how much different it is from knowledge itself, about the lost art of conversation, about what real friendships are all about.
His sense of touching & embracing life is remarkably inspirational and one that permeates wisdom throughout, as well as being far too difficult to describe it in a single sentence or two over here without having my fingers tremble at that failed attempt. I know for certain I wouldn’t do any justice to it, so I better leave it down to you folks to go and listen to it further with just one thought: "Amo La Vida".
My website automatically posted the following quotation on LinkedIn via Twitter recently
"David Gurteen There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees. Michel de Montaigne http://bit.ly/ctwrQf via Twitter"
To which Stephen Goodwin commented:
"Not so sure about that ... conversations that constantly air disagreement may be worse."
And I replied:
"They may not be effective, even destructive but never boring LOL.
I think much depends on the style of conversation. Intellectual debate and dialogue are effective. Argument, when it gets emotional and personal is not."
I think some issues do need constant airing through both dialogue and debate. KM is one of them!
Its also why KM is never boring - there is still so little agreement after so long. To me that is not a bad thing.
Although all the claptrap about KM being dead I do find a little tedious.
Would you like 2GB of storage for free on the Cloud? - Comments
Have you discovered Dropbox yet?
Any file you save to Dropbox also instantly saves to your computers, phones, and the Dropbox website.
2GB of Dropbox for free, with subscriptions up to 100GB available.
Your files are always available from the secure Dropbox website.
Dropbox works with Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.
Works even when offline. You always have your files, whether or not you have a connection.
Dropbox transfers just the parts of a file that change (not the whole thing).
Manually set bandwidth limits -- Dropbox won't hog your connection.
You don't need the threat of a speeding ticket to make you slow down - Comments
This is an excellent article on Harnessing the Power of Feedback Loops.
In it the author explains the success of getting motorists to slow down in school zones by the use of "dynamic speed displays" that simply show a driver his or her speed on a large display by the side of the road.
What I find interesting is that everyone seems to be surprised that this works. Why would drivers slow down without any threat of a speeding ticket or other form of punishment?
I don't know about you, but I don't find this surprising at all.
When driving, like many people, I do speed at times, mainly when the road is dry and clear and more often on motorways.
In built up areas and near schools however, I try to keep to the speed limit but at times my speed creeps up and I don't notice even though I have a speedometer.
I don't need to be fined or punished for this. If I am reminded by a radar controlled sign that am speeding I inevitably slow down.
It comes back to my recent post on Stop doing things to people. We need to start to work from the assumption that people are responsible but that they are also fallible human beings that we need to work with and not against.
Its very simple really. I am not at all surprised by the figures on reduction in speed.
We create machines in our own image and they, in turn, recreate us in theirs - Comments
This is one great little blog post Experts and Wikipedia from my good friend Nimmy (we have never met but we have known each other so long through the web that I consider her a very good friend).
In her post, she makes a good point about sharing - that there are some things that we feel almost compelled to share. Things that are:
Inspiring
Thought-provoking
Humorous
Positive/optimistic/hopeful
Paradoxical
This certainly matches the things that I like to share :-)
McLuhan's chief insights centered around the idea that technology strongly affects not only the content of culture, but the mind that creates and consumes that culture. He maintained that technology alters cognition itself, all the way down to its deepest, most elemental processes.
As Nimmy points out, if McLuhan is right, then "technology is not just an enabler" which we are so often prone to trot out.
We shape our tools and in turn they shape us! Or in the words of the article "We create machines in our own image and they, in turn, recreate us in theirs."
This idea is worth dwelling on. Its profound. Thanks Nimmy.
It surprises me that so many KM projects are undertaken by people with no training or education in KM and little or no project management/change management experience.
If you plan to undertake a KM project then it makes sense to understand KM thoroughly, especially as most KM projects fail!
One of the reasons many KM projects fail is that we are dealing with complex human systems. In addition to understanding KM, you need to understand organizational complexity. For example, you should study the work of Dave Snowden and his Cynefin Framework.
You should also ensure that you understand the new emerging "Social KM" based on social tools and take the time to understand Intellectual Capital and other related disciplines.
Some key points to keep in mind:
KM projects are tough: the toughest projects to undertake in any organization! If you are not a seasoned project manager with a fair degree of experience in change management then you are likely to fail!
KM means different things to different people and industries. HR, IT, Librarians etc all see KM through a different lens. What does it mean for your organization?
KM is about surfacing unknown problems - not just about responding to known ones or supporting business objectives.
Some things to be cautious of:
Beware of prescriptions: KM is context dependent and there is no substitute to thinking things through in your context.
Beware of KM certification: There is nothing wrong in receiving certificates for attending a course or for being certified or accredited to practice specific KM techniques. (Cognitive Edge, for example, accredits practitioners who have attended their workshops.) What you do need to avoid is the nonsensical practice of certifying KM and awarding pretentious titles to participants such as "Certified Knowledge Manager." The field of KM is too broad, too deep and too rich for this to have any meaning whatsoever. It’s a cheap marketing technique.
Beware of case studies: People often ask me for case studies but I studiously avoid giving them as too often they paint a rosy picture and distort the truth. More often than not they are thinly disguised marketing material for a vendor or their so called “KM System”. They are also dangerous in that people tend to treat them as “prescriptions”. If it worked there it will work here. They inadvertently help avoid the need for thinking in context.
Beware of academics and of theory: There is nothing inherently wrong with academics and theory such as two by two matrices and conceptualization but it can cause you to take your eye of the ball. Focus on specifics and real world practical examples. And beware of prescriptive approaches and so called "best practices". Get real!
Beware of charlatans: There are far too many people teaching KM who have no idea what they are talking about or promoting old failed methods. There is also a lot of poor material on the web. Be cautious.
The bottom line?
There is no substitute for thinking for yourself in your specific context!
When considering knowledge sharing or creating a more collaborative culture, we often talk about the need for people to be open and for more transparency. These two concepts are usually used interchangeably and often without too much thought as to what they really mean.
For a long time, in my mind, I have made a clear distinction between the two. Recently though, I was interviewed about knowledge sharing and the interviewer asked me what the difference was, as she thought they meant the same thing. I gave her what I felt was a simple answer at the time, but thought I'd try to articulate a more detailed view of the differences, as I see them, here.
To my mind, to be effective as a knowledge worker you need to network – to share more; to work more collaboratively; and, to work in a way that facilitates continuous informal learning. Two of the major complementary behaviors that underpin this are the need to be 'open' and 'transparent'.
Openness
If you are open-minded, not closed, you are open to new ideas, to new thoughts, to new people and to new ways of working. When you come across new things you are curious and eager to explore them. You are non-judgmental and you look to engage other people in conversation – not so much in debate, but more in dialogue.
You deliberately go out of your way to discover new things. You are an explorer!
You ask for criticism from people -- not praise. You are not afraid when people challenge your ideas -- in fact you welcome it. This is how you learn. You are willing to 'let things in'. People can 'come in'. Hence the word: 'open'.
Transparency
If you are transparent, you work in a way which naturally enables people to see what you are doing. You publish your activity and your 'work in progress' as a by-product of the way that you work. You deliberately go out of your way to try to be honest and open about who you are. There is no façade, no pretence – with you, people get what they see.
You speak in your own voice. You are authentic. Others can see clearly who you are, what you are doing and why you are doing it.
You do not try to hide things out of fear of being seen to make a mistake. You actually want your mistakes to be seen. And you want others to point them out to you – that way you get to learn and to get even better at what you do. You make it easy for people to find you and to connect with you. You 'let things out'. People can 'see in'. Hence the word: 'transparent'.
Behaviors
Being open and transparent is a state of mind and more about general behavior than the use of any specific tools. But if you are open, and transparent the more likely you are to blog; to 'Twitter'; use wikis and other social-networking tools; give talks; publish papers, articles or newsletters; keep your calendar on-line; have an on-line presence indicator; and, write regular status reports on your activity and much more besides.
Being open and transparent are not the only traits of an effective knowledge worker, but I do believe they are two of the core behaviors. So do you think openness and transparency are important? If so, just how open and transparent are you and what might you do to improve?
And of you are interested in conversational tools such as Knowledge Cafes, AARs, peer-assists and the like then take a look at my recently created Gurteen Knowledge Cafe Forum.
This is a LinkedIn subgroup of the main Gurteen Knowledge Community on LinkedIn.
Many of you will be familiar with my Knowledge Cafe and maybe also with the World Cafe.
Until now, I have not really involved myself with the World Cafe as although it is a similar process to my Knowledge Cafe process there are some subtle but significant differences.
But now, as I start to put more of my focus into my Knowledge Cafes and other face-to-face conversational tools, it makes sense for me to get involved with the World Cafe in various ways.
A start to this has been to make contact with Juanita Brown and David Isaacs, the founders of the World Cafe and also to join the World Cafe Online community and their World Cafe LinkedIn Group.
As most people, in the World Cafe community are not familiar with me or my work, I recently posted this introduction to myself on the World Cafe Online Community website.
I thought I would share a key element of this with you ... the section that briefly describes the difference between the World Cafe and my Knowledge Cafe. I will be writing more on this over time.
I would like to tell you more about my Knowledge Cafes. I call them Gurteen Knowledge Cafes mainly to distinguish my process from other forms of Knowledge Cafe and the World Cafe but also partly to brand them.
The roots of my Cafe are different to those of the World Cafe.
I started to run my Cafes in London, in September 2002 in response to my frustration with death-by-powerpoint KM talks.
Although I was aware of the World Cafe at the time (Juanita and David gave birth to the World Cafes way back in 1995), because of the language that was used to describe it, I did not see it as a business tool and did not take too much notice of it.
I developed the Gurteen Knowledge Cafe from my own experiences and a desire for an alternative to traditional presentations.
In recent years, I have run my Knowledge Cafes and my Knowledge Cafe masterclasses, where I teach people how to design and run Knowledge Cafes, all over the world.
To give you an idea, I have run them in cities such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok, Hong, Kong, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland, Seattle, Phoenix, Quebec City, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bogota, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Oslo, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Brussels, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
What is interesting, now that I have taken the time to look closer at the World Cafe, is that the two processes are very similar.
There are differences though that although small on the surface, I think are significant e.g. no table hosts.
But the major difference is that my Cafes are business focused where the World Cafe is community focused.
I use business language rather than community language and although there is a core process, I teach people how they can adapt the Cafe to different business ends.
Don't misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with the World Cafe and I love the work that the World Cafe Community is doing around the world to address social issues and build community.
This is an area I am increasingly interested in. If you follow me on Twitter (@DavidGurteen) you will see many of my tweets tagged #SocialGood.
But it is hard enough selling the Knowledge Cafe concept into business organisations when the outcomes are so intangible, never mind using the language of the World Cafe which turns most business managers off.
I don't agree with it but that's the reality
I see a number of KM face-to-face knowledge sharing processes as having a great deal in common with each other e.g. peer assists, after-action reviews, post-project reviews, knowledge cafes and knowledge jams. If we add to these the World Cafe, Open Space Technology and Appreciative Inquiry then we have a category of face-to-face conversational based tools that I call "Conversation Cafes". I am also a keen advocate of Unconference and Barcamps.
This is increasingly my area of focus.
Over the coming 12 months, I plan to run many more of my open Knowledge Cafes (these are free events) and Knowledge Cafe masterclasses in London and around Europe but also as I have always done, around the world as I travel.
Managers really have to start treating people like volunteers and not conscripts.
Or as I so often put it "We must stop doing things to people and start to work together."
Its a principal I apply in my Knowledge Cafes.
People are not forced to come and then I quite deliberately do not force people to join in or try to manipulate them or the conversation in any way. (And yes I am aware it is impossible to entirely do that :-) )
I tell them that if they just wish to just listen that is perfectly OK.
And the final part of my Cafe, where I go around the circle and ask people to share one actionable insight with the group, I also give people the change to opt-out by saying "pass".
Is it a home no, an office no or a mobile no? There is often no way of telling. This is important to know when calling out of hours or when I know the person is travelling. Also knowing if its a mobile number or not allows me to text them rather than to call.
Does the number include the international country code and are there any leading digits I need to add or drop when making an international call? I can waste a lot of time figuring this out.
Is the phone an iPhone or more generally what sort of smart phone is it? This is becoming more and more important as being an iPhone user myself, if the person I am calling is an iPhone, Android or Blackberry user then I can use apps like WhatsApp, Tango or Viber not only to make a free call but to send text or voice messages, video clips and photos. (These sort of apps are the future of the mobile phone by the way.)
So please, when you put your phone number on your email footer, your website or blog make it clear e.g. iPhone: +44 7774 178 650 and include the spaces to make the number easy to transcribe.
I try to put my phone number everywhere. I want people to contact me. Many people keep their phone number very private as they tell me they do not want nuisance calls. Funny, in 15 years or more of making my number freely available, I can only recall one such call.
One of my frequent messages is that we need to stop "doing things to people and start to work together". Let me explain.
People often ask me "How do we make people share?" or "How so we make people adopt social tools?" or, more generally, "How do we make people more engaged?".
That little word "make" comes up time and again. It's really obvious when it does and I wince every time I hear it.
Yet even when I point it out and people apologise and say "Oh I didn't mean that; it was just a turn of phrase", I am still not convinced. Deep down we all feel the need to "make people be different". Oh, wouldn't it be so good if everyone was just like me?
Recently I have started to realise that there is a more subtle approach. The other things I often get asked are "How do we incentivise people?" or "How do we motivate them?".
Think about it. Once again, we are trying to do things to people – incentivise or motivate them; however we look at it, we are trying to change them!
And then, I will hear people say (or catch myself saying) "How do we help people to see things differently?" or "How do we support them in this change?".
But notice, in all these statements, the assumption is that we know best -- that we have the right answers and others do not, and that we need to intervene and correct them. Even if we do wrap it all up in cotton-wool and say "help" rather than "make".
The really deep issue is that we are thinking about the world as "us and them", when we need to be thinking in terms of "we".
Rather than "I am here to help you", which implies you are in need of help and I am your saviour, we need to approach people with "How can we work better together?". And we need to mean that. It is not some ploy to enact our predetermined agenda.
It's about approaching them without an agenda other than to genuinely work with them better.
I have also noticed another strange phenomena: people will often tell me that the biggest excuse that their staff use for not changing, doing things differently or sharing their knowledge is that they have no time. But then the conversation moves on and when sometime later, I ask them whether they blog, tweet, write articles or give presentations (in other words, do they walk the talk?) guess what they say?
"Oh no, David. If only I had the time!". They are using exactly the same excuse.
Each year in its December issue, Time magazine announces its person of the year. In the December 2006 issue, in reaction to Web 2.0, it announced that person as "you" and added "Yes, you. You control the Information Age. Welcome to your world."
Personally, if I had been the editor, I would have phrased it somewhat differently:"We, yes, we. We control the information age. Welcome to our world".
So, some thoughts for this new world:
Stop doing things to people;
Become the change we wish to see; and
Start to work together.
We are moving to a participatory "WE" world. So whenever you initiate anything ask yourself the question: "Am I trying to do things to people or am I approaching them with a genuine view to work together better?".
And of you are interested in conversational tools such as Knowledge Cafes, AARs, peer-assists and the like then take a look at my recently created Gurteen Knowledge Cafe Forum.
This is a LinkedIn subgroup of the main Gurteen Knowledge Community on LinkedIn.
Funny, how you find one thing when you are looking for something totally different.
I was looking for toilet -paper - yes toilet paper.
I could never find a toilet paper I liked until I recently bought a pack of "One supersofty quilted toilet tissue" from my local supermarket and loved it.
Anyway, I was complementing myself on the find when I thought I had better go check the pack for the name of the brand so I could buy some more.
And this is what it said on the pack.
"100% of our profit helps to fund sanitation and hygiene projects in Africa".
Wow! What a brilliant idea I thought ... so I ran downstairs to check out their website.
They have a whole range of products based on a really simple idea.
They create quality products, and every time you buy one, they donate 100% of the profit to projects in developing countries.
As they say on their site: " So it's really easy to understand where your money goes. And it's really easy to make a difference. You don't even need to change your habits, just the products in your shopping basket."
What a great Social Business. Toms Shoes is another great example.
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for April - May 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
The Cats Explore http://bit.ly/j4Wevu /my daughter's blog, pure nostalgia of her childhood, yes that's me in the last photo :-) 2011-05-20 17:05:51 UTC
Book: Knowledge Works (15 Jun 2011) by Christine Van Winkelen, Jane McKenzie http://bit.ly/jIJioO #KM 2011-05-20 16:36:25 UTC
Sharing Information Corrupts Wisdom of Crowds http://bit.ly/lpkMx4 #KM 2011-05-20 08:08:12 UTC
A large part of the benefit of conferences is that they are an opportunity for networking and side conversations. http://bit.ly/mRLlxu 2011-05-12 07:01:02 UTC
There are no successful social media implementations inside firewalls http://bit.ly/k0thD9 #SocialBusiness 2011-05-06 06:37:10 UTC
It is a mistake to write down your values, as the act of codification results in their loss. From @snowded http://bit.ly/jkvKbS 2011-05-06 06:33:00 UTC
Report outs should be abolished. The value of a small group discussion is in the discussion. http://bit.ly/lJTrTd #GoodToTalk 2011-05-05 20:16:49 UTC
Guidelines for Leveraging Collective Knowledge and Insight by Nancy Dixon http://bit.ly/kvwm7z #KM #GoodToTalk 2011-05-05 20:11:49 UTC
RT @elsua: Goodness! Everyone who uses the Web on a regular basis should watch this awesome TED Talk! HT @rhappe http://bit.ly/krrYrh 2011-05-04 20:24:42 UTC
Lessig: Just how badly have we messed up the architecture of access to scientific knowledge? http://bit.ly/lLycbx #KM 2011-05-04 20:02:13 UTC
'Activity Streams' Will Be the Glue of Your Online Life http://bit.ly/ldfN4b 2011-05-04 19:55:14 UTC
Why Activity Streams Will Save You From Information Overload by @elsua http://bit.ly/kfQBn7 #KM 2011-05-04 19:41:46 UTC
How to connect people in large group settings http://bit.ly/iLEGfd #facilitation 2011-05-04 19:37:15 UTC
Social tools require people to observe the world, make sense of it, and convey that sense to others by @euan http://bit.ly/l1bWk8 2011-05-04 19:35:53 UTC
Retweet of Michael Sampson (collabguy)
Encourage the Quieter People to Speak: Do or Don't? #collaboration #facilitation @davidgurteen http://bit.ly/jfTEnX 2011-04-29 14:28:28 UTC
Solve these whispering problems before they become bellowing ones! - Comments
When she first came to MIT, Khalea Robinson was set to become a builder of bridges and skyscrapers. "Their visibility and permanence appealed to me."
But a talk she attended on some of the world's pressing problems shook her commitment to this path. Access to clean water, and other issues, should surely count more than her own private engineering goals, she imagined.
But after taking introductory courses in environmental and civil engineering, she realized that she "couldn't simply fall in line wherever there was a call, because there are so many calls, all of them worthy."
Robinson felt that she should instead look for a field that would "bring forth my initiative, passion, drive, insight and courage," while also promoting justice and fairness. In a world "full of complex problems that need to be solved by many people," Robinson believes each of us "has a distinct voice that can and must be raised."
If you thought that Enterprise 2.0 or Social Business do not have much to do with traditional Knowledge Management, after going through David's excellent presentation, I guess we will have to think about it once again, because, in my opinion, it surely has. In fact, if folks have stated how Enterprise 2.0 is the father of Social Business I would venture to say that KM is the father and grandfather of E2.0 and Social Business, respectively.
KM Australia - Asia Pacific Congress 2011 - Comments
I am delighted that I will be chairing KM Australia - Asia Pacific Congress 2011 later this year (18 - 21 July in Sydney).
And there is one very good reason - Ark Group Australia have agreed with me to make it a "conversational event".
This is what they say on their website:
"The conversational format of this event is intended to create an informal, relaxed atmosphere in which you, the conference participants, can get to know each other, learn from each other and build relationships. Each speaker will conclude their presentation with a question and a short time will be given over to conversation where you can discuss the speakers talk and the question at your tables before going into a traditional Q&A. "
My first reaction was one of horror. But when I read the actual paper An Interactive Table for Supporting Participation Balance
in Face-to-Face Collaboration, I calmed down a little.
The researchers seem to know what they are doing and recognise the limitations and pitfalls of this sort of technology.
Though I'd still rather that people better understood their own conversational styles and were more aware during their conversations so that this type of technology was never needed.
On thing, I think never works, whether its a facilitator or technology, is trying to explicitly draw the quieter people into the conversation. In my experience if they feel they are being coaxed, encouraged or otherwise manipulated, they withdraw even more.
I think the best approach is simply to create an ultra-safe environment, sit back and wait. If they are ever going to, they will emerge in their own time.
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for March - April 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
Conversational writing kicks formal writing's ass http://bit.ly/7mmK8Q 2011-04-26 09:15:42 UTC
RT @DanielPink: This month's Sunday Telegraph Column: Why you should heed Peters & Collins & create a "to-dont" list. http://t.co/iDYWpbA 2011-04-24 22:10:34 UTC
Wow! I have just discovered "Unpresenting" http://bit.ly/fuccFs #like #KCafe #GoodToTalk 2011-04-23 10:22:43 UTC
RT @stoweboyd: Font Size May Not Aid Learning but Its Style Can - Benedict Carey http://sto.ly/gB0YV8 Deep thought is the best learning tool 2011-04-21 11:42:09 UTC
RT @rossdawson: Serendipity is at the heart of today's emerging society http://bit.ly/eK9pwU 2011-04-21 11:30:17 UTC
RT @euan: business is about doing stuff and social media is talking about the stuff you are doing. Doesn't have to be hard. 2011-04-21 07:01:20 UTC
What people seem to be responsive to is driving toward purpose http://bit.ly/gTWa00 2011-04-18 09:00:33 UTC
All languages traced to African 'mother tongue' http://bit.ly/eO06jh 2011-04-16 11:40:56 UTC
Have you ever thought about how completely irrelevant structured learning is? http://bit.ly/g0Wu5q 2011-04-16 09:35:45 UTC
How do you structure a conversation to lead to powerful, creative + practical conclusions http://bit.ly/gb9Vhh #GoodToTalk 2011-04-15 07:48:00 UTC
The bonus myth: How paying for results can backfire - 06 April 2011 - New Scientist http://bit.ly/iioHBg #NoRewards 2011-04-15 07:24:48 UTC
Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work (respect does) http://bit.ly/hxzoEP #NoRewards 2011-04-14 13:29:57 UTC
Dear Google: You Can’t Threaten People Into Being Social http://bit.ly/guR3QO #NoRewards 2011-04-14 09:40:45 UTC
Forget Motivating Staff With Incentives http://bit.ly/fl5mQJ #NoRewards 2011-04-13 17:46:59 UTC
RT @guijti Shocking statistics on female infanticide in India. http://www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/?p=5065 2011-04-13 09:23:43 UTC
Short film illustrates power of words to radically change your message + your effect upon the world http://bit.ly/hYPTMT /via @elsua 2011-04-13 07:39:52 UTC
Rewards get gamed - watch this potty training video http://bit.ly/fBykkc #NoRewards 2011-04-11 15:24:03 UTC
Is knowledge management failed or simply a fad? Studies suggest the concept is alive and well. http://bit.ly/gOrs5s #KM 2011-04-10 13:53:44 UTC
Knowledge Management is Older than you Think http://bit.ly/gcMwF2 #KM 2011-04-02 10:58:12 UTC
We need your help...The Knowledge Management Observatory™ Global 2011 Survey http://linkd.in/fzLwLl #KM 2011-03-30 14:42:08 UTC
KM, Enterprise 2.0 and Social Business: One and The Same by @elsua http://bit.ly/fwf6Nz #KM 2011-03-30 13:51:12 UTC
The New Edge in Knowledge by Carla O'Dell http://bit.ly/h2EFLJ Book review by @JackVinson #KM 2011-03-27 15:23:07 UTC
How Barefoot College is empowering women through peer-to-peer learning and technology http://bit.ly/hvTKP3 #SocialGood #GirlEffect 2011-03-26 09:13:30 UTC
RT @maggiedoyne: 3.3 billion girls and women = 3.3 billion ways to change the world. http://bit.ly/fuLSkg @girls20summit #girleffect 2011-03-26 07:13:30 UTC
Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on Linkedin - Comments
The Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on LinkedIn has grown
by over 120 members from 2,289 members last month to 2,417 today
and is amazingly active ... I don't get much time to take part in the discussions myself but there are some great ones taking place.
Here are three interesting ones that you might like to take a look at or join in:
PhotoSync: Syncs my Flickr Photos to Facebook - Comments
I usually take lots of photos at conferences and my knowledge cafes and for some years have been uploading them to Flickr.
Some time ago, I regretted doing that as Facebook is by far the most social place to upload photos.
Not only do more people get to see them on Facebook but the ability to tag the people in the photos is just brilliant.
But what should I do? It would take me an age to upload all my past Flickr photos to Facebook and in any case, Flickr made a much better backup for my photos as it held them at full resolution.
So I continued to upload my photos to Flickr and just a select few to Facebook.
Up until the other day, that is, when I discovered PhotoSync.
This is just an amazing little program. I connect it to my Flickr and Facebook accounts; tell it what sets (folders) of photos I want to sync and then it just goes away and syncs my Flickr photos with Facebook.
Awesome! So if you are following me on Facebook and have seen all the photos pop up ... its all down to PhotoSync.
The app seems a little buggy right now ... I get a number of error messages every time I use it but despite the messages it still seems to work!
I love it! And I have a lot more photos to copy across ... just doing a few folders at a time for now. I also have a whole backlog of photos I have not uploaded. Maybe I have a litle more motivation now.
Introduction to the April 2011 Knowledge Letter - Comments
You may have noticed that I am starting to put a lot more effort into my Knowledge Cafes.
They started out as a response to what I saw as death-by-power-point presentations.
In the beginning (I ran my first Knowledge Cafe in London in September 2002) I simply wanted to make such presentations more conversational.
But as I have run them and taught people how to run them all over the world I have discovered that they can be adapted to different purposes and are far more powerful than I ever realised ten years ago.
So if you are interested in running Knowledge Cafes then join the group. And if you would like to learn more about the Cafes first hand - come along to one of my events.
No Knowledge Cafes in your neck of the woods! Then invite me to come and run one :-)
All three events have been excellent; they have been well attended (KM Iran had over 900 participants) and the participation has been exceptional. I have also loved the warmth and hospitality of the Arab people.
KM Middle East in Abu Dhabi was the most recent and let me share some of the resources with you
What with everything else going on in the Middle East - its hard not to wonder if there is a connection. If there is one, then to my mind, it has got to be about the intrinsic human thirst for knowledge and for freedom.
Why are so few KM events done over the web? - Comments
A month or so back Matthew Loxton started a discussion on the Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on Linkedin by asking the question "Why are so few KM events done over the web"
This generated some fascinating discussion and lots of comments but the post that stood out for me was this reply by John Maloney. John can be a little blunt but that's his style - don't let it get in the way of the message :-)
Hi - As probably the person that has conducted more face-to-face KM events, over the last three decades, than all others combined, arrival at the definitive answer to this question is easy.
The bottom line is impact and outcome.
Same-time, different-place (STDP), different-time, different-place (DTDP) and different-time, same-place (DTSP), aka, Webinars, eLearning, Learning Centers, etc., are excellent for deterministic impact and outcomes. These are activities where the outcome is known. Thinks like certification training, operations, policy diffusion, 'best practices,' etc. These complicated activities are well-served by technology.
Same-time, same-place (STSP) is for non-deterministic impact and outcomes. This is where the outcome is unknown, emergent, complex. These are creative activities like design, relationships, strategy, etc. These complex activities depend on authentic conversation, genuine collaboration, diversity, personal interactions, trust, ongoing relationships, etc.
There are NO exceptions to these rules. Unfortunately, KM people aren't very good at leading these activities. The main and classic problem they have, is, of course, leading-with-technology. Never worked, never will. People matter.
KM is about Creating the Future. Thus, by definition, ALL worthwhile KM activities must be STSP.
To be honest and blunt, it make no difference what you think people enjoy or value. What matters is impact and outcome. No exceptions. People will serve the social networks that best serve their goals and objectives. Guidance and configuration are certainly welcome.
Fortunately, the KM trend line is favoring STSP. Social media, communities, CoPs, etc., are great KM practices in-so-far as they serve STSP KM. That's good news and all KMers should be encouraged!
Again, build and strengthen your STDP, DTSP and DTSP programs and activities for training.
For KM, STSP carries the day. Always has, always will.
This is among the key themes of the Network Singularity ...
I agree with so much of this and the thinking is behind much of the rationale for my Gurteen Knowledge Cafes. To my mind nothing beats face-to-face authentic conversation.
I must admit I love John's bottom line! I liked Al Simard's response also:
I tend to agree with John's view, although I put it a bit differently. In my experience, at the beginning of a group process (even if it is reasonably known), members need to develop a trust in the other participants. Humans have been doing this since we existed as a distinct species. We're hard-wired to do it through face-to face encounters; it is really hard to do electronically. It is also essential to get through what I call the "mating dance" in which everyone puts his wants and grievances on the table. This can either be done at the outset, in a planned way and informative way, or it will happen latter in an unplanned and disruptive way.
But, when a process is unstructured or unknown, I have found that face-to-face dialogues are virtually essential to first wander and then spiral around a subject towards a common understanding. I have found that sitting around a table in a dialogue group is far more effective than doing this electronically.
I have met people at conferences that I've corresponded with electronically for years. Somehow that face-to-face meeting added something intangible yet palpable to our relationship. I'm sure psychologists have a word for it. But, like tacit knowledge, although I can't name it, I have felt it.
My recent keynote talk at KM Middle East was titled Dont do KM. You can find the slides on SlideShare.
This was clearly a provocative, catchy marketing title but I had a very strong message nevertheless!
It was based on a talk I gave at the HK KMS Conference in 2010 which was titled less provocatively "Making KM Projects Work".
Kim Sbarcea blogged about it and her post sums up my views on the matter quite well..
Naguib Chowdhury picked up on my recent presentation in Abu Dhabi and blogged Don’t do KM - then let’s not have a term called- KM!
Naguib, pretty much supports what I have to say but adds at the end of his post:
So, David is right. Let us not do KM as a project itself, it is embedded in the organization already. But then I cannot call David a KMer or we cannot have any conference/forum called KM!
I think this is meant to be toungue-in-cheek, but let me answer it any way. This is a step too far. I am not advocating we get rid of KM or even that we adopt a stealth approach.
So often when people start a so called KM initiative they ask the question "How do we do KM?" and "What are the benefits?". To my mind this is the wrong place to start. We should start with the question "What are the business problems we are facing and how can KM help."
This ensures a sharp focus on business outcomes. The benefits? - well they are your desired outcomes. Simple really! Hence "Don't do KM!"
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for Feb-Mar 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
A better way to solve poverty: train women as engineers so they can transform their villages. http://bit.ly/hvTKP3 #SocialGood 2011-03-25 20:20:08 UTC
Free online access to Knowledge Management Research & Practice (KMRP) Journal to 8th April - Comments
Many of you will have made the most of the free online access to all the Palgrave Macmillan journals throughout March. If you weren't aware of the offer then you have only a few days left but access to the
Knowledge Management Research & Practice (KMRP) Journal has been extended to April 8th. Here are some hot links.
Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on Linkedin - Comments
The Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on LinkedIn has grown by over 100 members from 2,184 members last month to 2,289 today and is still one most active of all the KM LinkedIn groups.
Introduction to the March 2011 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I have been travelling again, and at the KM Middle East conference in Abu Dhabi, as well as giving the keynote talk, I ran one of my Gurteen Knowledge Cafe workshops.
During the workshop, one of the men, who was probably in his 40s, approached me and told me that he was from Saudi Arabia and that he had found it difficult to speak to the women at the tables.
This had been the first time in his life that he had spoken to a woman other than his mother, his wife, his sister and two nieces.
He had two brothers and had never spoken to their wives.
He went on to say, that in his opinion, Saudi Arabian men and woman did not talk much within their families and thus there was thus little understanding of each other and a consequent lack of respect.
I am well aware of the segregation of men and women in Saudi Arabia but the impact of this brought it home to me in a very personal way.
I have often thought it would be good to bring men women together to discuss our differences in the safe, respectful setting of a Knowledge Cafe. One day I will but its unlikely to ever be in Saudi Arabia.
Introduction to the February 2011 Knowledge Letter - Comments
I seem to be coming across many more articles and blog posts about the importance of face to face conversation these days. Here are three recent examples
The recent conference in Iran was an interesting event with about 800 participants (almost certainly the largest KM conference I have taken part in). You can see my photos on Facebook.
So far I have seen lots of interest and enthusiasm for the subject and if the early mistakes, made elsewhere can be avoided, KM may have a bright future there.
Latest Knowledge Cafes: London and Edinburgh - Comments
I held a great Knowledge Cafe in London last week with Richard McDermott as speaker/facilitator on the topic of What about Thinking? and Deloitte as hosts. Thank you Richard, thank you Deloitte and thanks to the 60+ participants.
Here are couple of blog posts from the evening - thanks Ron and Rebecca.
I have another open Cafe coming up in Edinburgh on Wednesday evening (24th Feb) when I will be in Edinburgh to run a private Knowledge Cafe at Edinburgh University. 40 people signed-up so far so should be a good one. Not to mention a Knowledge Cafe Masterclass at KM Middle East in a few weeks time.
What is going on in the world, that when I propose a knowledge cafe instead of a talk, I am told it is not a good idea as people will not enroll if they feel they have to do something!
Is our educational system so bad that people would rather sit silent through a talk & chalk, death-by-powertpoint presentation rather than listen to a short talk followed by some engaging conversation?
Or is it that many of our organisations have created cultures where people are fearful of expressing their own opinion?
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for Jan-Feb 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
Hold Conversations, Not Meetings http://bit.ly/eN59AR #KM #GoodToTalk 2011-02-20 14:02:15 UTC
The Primed Directive http://bit.ly/hfjP1J via @johnniemoore /I want to weep 2011-02-19 19:21:25 UTC
In communication, people taking part are always creating something new together. http://bit.ly/fIPPYd by @EskoKilpi #GoodToTalk 2011-02-19 17:27:27 UTC
RT @elmibester: Call for Papers - 10th Annual Information & Knowledge Management Conference , Joburg http://tinyurl.com/6g3njjz #km 2011-02-06 12:08:44 UTC
A neat summary of my keynote at DEVCO K-Day in Brussels last week http://bit.ly/egcfQ3 #KM #KDAY11 2011-02-06 09:06:42 UTC
RT @cdn: We must contribute to the commons: The more we contribute, the more we share, the more value! @DavidGurteen at #kday11 #KM 2011-02-04 00:19:08 UTC
Cognitive Edge Future Backwards in the school hall http://bit.ly/eyKgpt #km 2011-02-03 23:30:31 UTC
Quora Is Really About A Better Wikipedia, Not Robert Scoble’s Hopes & Dreams http://tcrn.ch/edaaAi 2011-01-31 08:20:15 UTC
Spending time with younger journalists http://bit.ly/ezAYhv /its all about conversation #goodtotalk 2011-01-29 09:07:48 UTC
Business has to set goals other than maximizing shareholder value http://bit.ly/eVzA44 #socialgood 2011-01-28 17:12:56 UTC
A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace - John Perry Barlow http://bit.ly/hNUMB2 /wow! 2011-01-28 15:35:41 UTC
At the end of my life, I want to be able to say, "I contributed more than I criticized." http://bit.ly/dL5vti #socialgood 2011-01-28 08:53:23 UTC
Conversation - maybe we should just talk :-) http://bit.ly/e2c8RY #goodtotalk 2011-01-27 11:01:22 UTC
Social media challenges for leaders from @bonniecheuk http://bit.ly/hhF5bt #goodtotalk 2011-01-27 09:08:59 UTC
RT @bonniecheuk: 90% of 700 companies offer social networking tools to staff, 90% say efforts unsuccessful http://bit.ly/h2iblP 2011-01-27 08:13:37 UTC
A good video collection of interviews with a number of KM people - Comments
At the 2010 KM India Summit in Bangalore, Ankur Makhija of eClerx Services, recorded several mini-interviews with Verna Allee. he has uploaded them to their YouTube channel where you will find over 30 videos in total from people such as myself, Ron Young, Dave Snowden, Chris Collison, Madan Rao and Stefan Lafloer on such themes as:
Mapping Organizational Knowledge
Social Network Analysis for Knowledge Management
Creating a Knowledge Management Scorecard
Knowledge Management for Small and Medium Enterprises
What is good for business is not necessarily good for society! - Comments
Its good to see the likes of Michael Porter questioning capitalism in this Harvard Business Publishing interview on Rethinking Capitalism. In it he explains why business leaders must focus on shared value - creating products and services that benefit not only the company but also society.
What is good for business is not necessarily good for society!
There are not as many presentations as TED and most last longer than 20 minutes but its an excellent selection of talks that were videod at the RSA in London.
The most recent talk I watched was from Kathryn Schulz on Being Wrong where she presents a tribute to human creativity and the way we generate and revise our beliefs about ourselves and the world.
I am a fellow (just a fancy word for member) of the RSA and use the RSA in London as my "London office". It has a good though small library; wi-fi and a great little bar for meetings. There are also meeting rooms and seminar trooms you can hire; a members magazine and evening talks. All in all, excellent value.
I remember a girlfriend, some years ago, who did well in school and at University but was then floundered in the "real world".
I recall her saying that when she was in the education system, she was happy, she had her goals and schedule set for her.
She knew exactly what to do be successful - study hard and pass the exams. She did this well.
But then on leaving University and entering the real world, there was no one to set goals for her and she do not know what to do or where to start. She was lost.
"The mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled. ~Plutarch"
A poignant moment for me as Hosni Mubarak resigns - Comments
I have just returned from Iran to hear the news from Egypt.
My Iranian trip has made this historic event even more poignant for me as I met so many lovely people In Iran who are crying out for freedom themselves. And it was only last September that I was in Cairo for KM Egypt.
Oh how I wish I could be there now but I have the next best thing, I have downloaded the Al Jazeera Live iPhone App and am watching the whole thing live as I work :-)
An historic moment for the world and for me personally.
Its my second morning here in Iran and the first day of the KM Iran conference. I was expecting a few little surprises yesterday. The good news - wi-fi in my room at USD$2 for 1 hour, charged by the minute. If only all hotels charged at that rate. Bad news: FaceBook, Twitter and LinkedIn blocked. I can understand the first two but LinkedIn seems pretty harmless to me. But the real bad news - my iPhone does not work - that I really cannot figure out. On the other hand, our hosts have lent us all a phone to communicate with. Better dash - taxi picking us up downstairs at 7:00am.
From information to conversation - We have to talk! - Comments
This is a lovely post on conversation by Esko Kilpi on why we need to talk. For those of you who have attended one of my knowledge cafe workshops- you will recognise the message - I say it in different words but the meaning is the same.
People often need to act and make decisions in situations in which causality is poorly understood, where there is considerable uncertainty and people hold different beliefs and have personal biases. However, people very reluctantly acknowledge that they face ambiguity at work. Problems in organizations tend to get labelled as lack of information. It feels more professional to try to solve a knowledge management problem that is called lack of information than a problem that is called confusion.
Because any information can mean a variety of things, meaning cannot simply be discovered. Information does not help. We have to talk! Many meetings that are directed at the problems of ambiguity fail to handle it because potentially rich views are silenced by autocratic leadership, norms that encourage harmony or reluctance to admit that one has no idea what is going on.
The two meanings of Social Business and the future of Knowledge Management - Comments
Many of you may have noticed a new term kicking around the Enterprise 2.0 and Social Media space - that of Social Business. Its precise meaning is still the subject of debate - see the discussion on Quora: What are the distinctions between Social Business and Enterprise 2.0?
One good definition, that I like, also from Quora is "The application of social principles - transparency, open information access, collaboration, participation, crowdsourcing, engagement - to the conduct of business."
But the term Social Business has an alternative meaning that has been around a little longer than in the Enterprise 2.0 sense.
A Social Business is a non-loss, non-dividend company designed to address a social objective. This use of the term has grown from the work of people like Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank that he founded to provide micro-credit to the poor, would be a prime example of a Social Business. The measure of success of a social business is not profit but the impact that it has on society, on people and on the environment.
To my mind, we need more social businesses to create a sustainable world. In order to survive: we need to collaborate more, to make better decisions and to be more innovative. This to me is what Knowledge Management is about and is its future. It’s Social Business in both senses of the term.
Facts don't necessarily have the power to change our minds. - Comments
So we consider ourselves to be objective - well if not that, at least capable of being objective. But its much harder then we think. I recently tweeted the Wikipedia page that lists our cognitive biases. I am amazed just how many of them there are - maybe a 100 or more. Its a very sobering list including decision-making and behavioural biases, biases in probability and belief, social biases and memory errors.
You would think that if someone had a view on a subject and you set out very clear, indisputable facts that they were wrong, that they would change their mind. Well research shows that many of us don't! In fact, we often became even more strongly set in our beliefs.
Here are a few quotes from the article:
Facts don't necessarily have the power to change our minds.
And rather than facts driving beliefs, our beliefs can dictate the facts we chose to accept. They can cause us to twist facts so they fit better with our preconceived notions. Worst of all, they can lead us to uncritically accept bad information just because it reinforces our beliefs. This reinforcement makes us more confident we’re right, and even less likely to listen to any new information. And then we vote.
But instead, it appears that misinformed people often have some of the strongest political opinions.
And if you harbor the notion — popular on both sides of the aisle — that the solution is more education and a higher level of political sophistication in voters overall, well, that’s a start, but not the solution.
Its a rather scary article and demonstrates why change is so difficult. To me, this is part of what Knowledge Management is or should be all about. How do we recognise our cognitive biases when we make decisions and how do we avoid them, if that is at all possible, or at least mitigate them.
It is far too easy both in business and in international development to be armchair philosophers. We so often think that the world's problems are simple and that we have the answers to them.
There are always unintended consequences of our actions. Sometimes these are beneficial or a minor annoyance but often they are worse than the problem we are trying to solve.
Konrad J. Friedemann defines the law of unintended consequences as “the proposition that every undertaking, however well-intentioned, is generally accompanied by unforeseen repercussions that can overshadow the principal endeavor.”
And more subtly, you reward children for studying but you end up punishing them.
The list goes on ... in complex world we must always stop and think and anticipate the unintended consequences of our actions. It always makes sense to talk and take advise and to conduct small pilot experiments, to probe and observe before committing to a major change.
KM Middle East Knowledge Management Survey - Comments
I will be giving a keynote talk at KM Middle East in Abu Dhabi, 15 -16 March.
Paul Corney of Sparknow has created a KM questionnaire to better understand the take up of KM in the Middle East. Here is his invite:
Knowledge Management is beginning to attract attention in the Middle East. But how many organisations have set up a programme to make better use of their knowledge to gain a business edge. We invite you to help us find out.
In advance of the 2011 event Sparknow has developed a short, simple and anonymous survey that we'd invite you to complete in the next few weeks. The results will be made available at KM Middle East blog and published on the Sparknow website afterwards.
Here are some of my more interesting Tweets for Dec-Jan 2011.
Take a look, if you are not a Tweeter, you will get a good idea of how I use it by browsing the list of micro-posts. And if you like what you see then subscribe to my Tweets.
RT @chris_collison: Does social media help us to learn like babies? http://ow.ly/3EVU6 #km #kmers 2011-01-17 08:43:03 UTC
Dilbert: Oh dear its the decline of social business http://bit.ly/erKTIq 2011-01-17 08:29:14 UTC
RT @timkastelle: Interesting - The power of networked workers http://bit.ly/ic8aPm #km 2011-01-17 08:24:41 UTC
Change only happens when ideas are shared. http://bit.ly/ebo7wz via @maggiedoyne #km 2011-01-17 08:21:02 UTC
Rise of the networked enterprise: Web 2.0 finds its payday - McKinsey http://bit.ly/e41bVw #km 2011-01-16 08:13:30 UTC
They do some great collaborative research through their working groups, hold several 1-day seminars each year and a two-day conference which is coming up on 16-17 February that is open to non-KM Forum members.
What has long disappointed me is that most of their papers are only available to forum members and are not freely available on the web which means I cannot blog or tweet them. But this is starting to change and they have made a number of Knowledge in Action Leaflets available. These leaflets are only a few pages long but summarise the findings of some of their more interesting collaborative research projects. Well worth taking a look.
The major advantage of the group being open is that discussions are now indexed by search engines and anyone on the web can view the discussions. It is also now possible to Tweet interesting discussions which I have started to do.
In a good conversation you can reach out and touch each other - Comments
I recently came across a post by Viv McWaters in which she advocates getting rid of tables in meetings or when facilitating group sessions.
By and large I agree with all she says.
But I ran a lot of Knowledge Cafes at the end of last year when travelling, and on one or two occasions, I had no tables, not out of choice, but simply because there were no tables in the room or there was not enough room for tables.
Although I like the idea of "no tables" in a Knowledge Cafe, I have found in practice that I would rather have them
The more I run Cafes the more I realise the importance of close physically proximity when having a conversation.
My new rule is that if you can't reach out and touch the other people at the table then the table is too large or there are too many people.
A 3 ft round table with four people is perfect.
What I find in a Cafe with no tables is that groups tend to merge. So two groups of four tend to merge into one group of eight. People also move the chairs around. A small round table provides focus.
I ran one Cafe in Singapore for SAFTI (the Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute) last year. Here we had no tables and all the chairs had wheels. What I loved about this was that when we came to change groups, the participants did not even stand up ... they just scooted the chairs around while remaining seated ... I wish I had captured it on video. Like many good things in Cafes, it just emerged.
In a banked lecture theatre recently, (the worst place to hold a Cafe) people tended to naturally form groups of six to eight - often so broadly spread that people on the fringes were never quite part of the conversation. I vowed never, ever to run a Cafe in such a setting again!
If I have a choice now between large tables and no tables at all then I tend to go for no tables.
Think about it, in all good conversations, you are within touching distance of the other people and although I am not advocating that you do touch ... often you do ... it makes the whole conversation that much more natural and human.
If you are interested in Knowledge Management, the
Knowledge Café
or the role of conversation in organizational life then you my be interested in this online book I am writing on
Conversational Leadership
The Gurteen Knowledge Community is a global learning community
of over 21,000 people in 160 countries across the world.
The community is for people who are committed to making a difference:
people who wish to share and learn from each other and who strive to see
the world differently, think differently and act differently.
Membership of the Gurteen Knowledge Community is free.
in Oxford.
/VIEW-IMAGE/$File/view-image.png "Media information"){kind=small}
