Contents
1 Introduction to the January 2010 Knowledge Letter
2 2010 Annual Letter from Bill Gates
3 If traditional incentives can have a negative impact, what's the workaround?
4 Blogging for knowledge workers: incubating ideas
5 The Gurteen Knowledge Cafe Webinar
6 Alfie Kohn, children, rewards, motivation and KM
7 ADVERTISEMENT: Certified Knowledge Manager Training
8 The end of mass universities
9 KM for Business: Managing successful KM projects to achieve business results
10 Knowledge Management video competition.
11 KM Event Highlights
12 Subscribing and Unsubscribing
13 The Gurteen Knowledge Letter
Introduction to the January 2010 Knowledge Letter (top | next | prev)
I know its almost the end of January but a very happy New Year to you all!
My website is now over ten years old and has grown to a huge KM resource of over 7,000 pages. Maybe just a little too large. So one of my resolutions this year is to review the whole site; remove outdated material and fix all the little bits that have got broken over time. I have already cleared a lot of junk!
One of the first things I am doing is updating the Annual KM Conferences section and the KM Network Directory section. I need your help. Please check out both sections and let me know anything I have missed or got wrong. Thanks!
2010 Annual Letter from Bill Gates (top | next | prev)
Bill Gates 2010 Annual Letter is now live at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation website.
In this year’s letter Bill talk's about the importance of innovation for solving some of the world’s biggest problems and how he and Melinda see innovation as the factor that will make the difference between having a bleak future and a bright one. The letter explains how they decide which ideas to fund and talk about the benefits, time frame, and risks of each one.
If Bill and Melinda only achieve a fraction of their vision they will make a real difference in the world.
Also take a look at Bill's new website Gates Notes if you want to track what he is up to. He has also just started a twitter account and already has over 300,000 followers.
Makes my 4000 followers seem tiny in comparison LOL
If traditional incentives can have a negative impact, what's the workaround? (top | next | prev)
In this interview at KM India, I was asked for my views on "Incentivizing Knowledge Management". Well I explained the reasons for not doing it but did not suggest an alternative approach which was picked up in one of the comments by "firetangent". Here is my response.
So if traditional incentives can have a negative impact, what's the workaround?
First stop using them; they don't work and do great harm.
The problem with traditional incentives, rewards and talk of motivating people, engaging and empowering them etc. is that this approaches the situation from a mindset of "doing things to people". It says "they are lazy people; we know best and we will find ways of manipulating them to do what we would like them to do".
People see through this; they resist; they become cynical and it actually makes matters worse!
Here is my answer "Stop doing things to people and start to work with them!" Rather than "Hello I am here to help you!" (Oh yea!) Take the attitude "Hello, lets talk and see how we can better work together."
Its that simple!
But there is secondary issue here. Asking "how do we incentivise people" - makes the big assumption that they need to be incentivised. Yes, they may not be doing what you would like them to be doing but how do you know that the reason is lack of motivation. You don't. If there are problems then you will only find them out by sitting down and talking with them!
Blogging for knowledge workers: incubating ideas (top | next | prev)
I have long admired Lilia Efimova's work on blogging. If you are interested in what it means to blog within an organisation then I suggest you read this recent article by her on Blogging for knowledge workers: incubating ideas.
Here is a little taster:
Blogging is primarily known as an instrument for personal publishing, reaching a broad and often unknown audience without pushing content on them. While blogging is personal, most of its advantages are the result being part of an ecosystem, where weblogs are connected not only by links, but also by relations between bloggers. Those relations do not appear automatically: it takes time and effort before one can enjoy social effects of blogging. To sustain blogging before those effects appear it is important to find a personally meaningful way to use a weblog.
This is something that many non-bloggers still do not understand - a blog is much more than a personal publishing tool!
If you would like to elarn more then take a look at her PhD dissertation Passion at work: blogging practices of knowledge workers.
The Gurteen Knowledge Cafe Webinar (top | next | prev)
If you have not had the chance to participate in one of my Knowledge Cafes and have wondered what they are all about then I will be giving a 1 hour webinar about them for the Ark Group on 9th February at 16:00 GMT where you will have a low cost opportunity to learn a little about them.
There is a discount for my community members.
Alfie Kohn, children, rewards, motivation and KM (top | next | prev)
I have a huge respect for Alfie Kohn and have been blogging about him since 2002! But I have only just thought to look on YouTube for some video clips of him speaking. Well, I got lucky and found several clips from which I have created a YouTube playlist of clips from some of his talks.
Alfie demonstrates time and time again how our thinking is screwed up when it comes to the education and raising of children. This is bad enough. But the same habits and practices get carried over into the work place. We still try to punish and reward employees to "make them" to do what we want - even when there is no evidence that it works and plenty of research to show that it does not!
Daniel Pink has also been talking on the surprising science of motivation at TED.
ADVERTISEMENT: Certified Knowledge Manager Training (top | next | prev)
*Certified Knowledge Manager Training*
19 - 23 April 2010, Basel, Switzerland
Interactive 5 day workshop supported by extensive eLearning program.
Workshop Leaders: Barry Hardy, Beat Knechtli, Pavel Kraus, Michael Wyrsch, Stephan Bohr, Douglas Weidner
Topics: KM Practices, Business Case, Strategy, Program Planning, KM Frameworks, KM and Organisational Culture, Change Management for KM Programs, Leadership and Competencies for KM, Knowledge Assessment, Metrics, Enterprise KM, Process-oriented KM, Knowledge Mapping, Benchmarking, Expertise Location, Search, Personal KM, Web 2.0, Communities, Collaboration
More Information: http://www.douglasconnect.com/html/knowledge.htm
Program Brochure: http://douglasconnect.com/files/KMTrainingBrochure.pdf
Contact: Dr. Barry Hardy barry.hardy -(at)- douglasconnect.com +41 61 851 0170
The end of mass universities (top | next | prev)
I have long been saying that Universities are in for trouble - as why would a student get out of bed early in the morning to attend a boring lecture when he or she could watch one of the world's best professors on the subject deliver the lecture at any time of the day and night that they chose - maybe with a friend or two and a few beers.
This report that you can watch 120 hours of lectures on Physics by Lenny Susskind, for free on YouTube only confirms the idea.
KM for Business: Managing successful KM projects to achieve business results (top | next | prev)
I will be visiting Jakarta once again in March where I will be leading a two day KM workshop with KM Plus - Learning Lead on March 10 - 11. This will be the third such workshop over the last few years and I will be sending out more information to those of you in the region in the next week or so.
I have yet to finalise my itinerary, so if you would like to invite me to work with you in any way or if you would like to meet with me informally for coffee, lunch or dinner please get in touch.
Detail of the workshop is as follows:
Topic: KM for Business: Managing Successful KM Projects to Achieve Business Results
Venue: The Boardroom, Four Seasons hotel, Jakarta
Date: March 10 - 11, 2010
Target audience: Directors, Managers, Business Profesional, and KM practitioners.
This workshop is a series of KM-Plus annual International KM events, which was started with Knowledge Cafe (March 2007), Social KM (July 2008), and now KM for Business (March 2010).
For more information please contact KMPlus.
Knowledge Management video competition. (top | next | prev)
So all you KMers who enjoy shooing and editing video - Patrick Lambe of Green Chameleon has announced a Make a Video about KM Competition. Go for it - it should be fun!
KM Event Highlights (top | next | prev)
This section highlights some of the major KM events taking place around the world in the coming months and ones in which I am actively involved. You will find a full list on my website where you can also subscribe to both regional e-mail alerts and RSS feeds which will keep you informed of new and upcoming events.
2nd Iranian Knowledge Management Conference
30 - 31 Jan 2010, Tehran, Iran
David Gurteen presents the Gurteen Knowledge Café Webinar
09 Feb 2010,
My first webinar for the Ark Group.
The 10 year impact of communities, now and in the future
22 Feb 2010, London, United Kingdom
My first London Knowledge Cafe of 2010 and already almost 100 people signed up.
KM Forum 10th Annual Conference
24 - 25 Feb 2010, Henley on Thames, United Kingdom
I will be at Henley for this event - how could I miss the 10th anniversary!
3rd Annual Global Learning Summit
03 - 05 Mar 2010, Singapore City, Singapore
KM for Business
10 - 11 Mar 2010, Jakarta, Indonesia
This will be my third worskhop for KMPlus and I am very much looking forward to it.
5th Knowledge Management International Conference
25 - 27 May 2010, Terengganu, Malaysia
KM UK 2010
15 - 16 Jun 2010, London, United Kingdom
I will be giving a keynote talk at this event.
World Library and Information Congress
10 - 15 Aug 2010, Gothenburg, Sweden
11th European Conference on Knowledge Management (ECKM 2010)
02 - 03 Sep 2010, Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal
I will be attending this event for the seventh year in succession.
Subscribing and Unsubscribing (top | next | prev)
You may subscribe to this newsletter on my website. Or if you no longer wish to receive this newsletter or if you wish to modify your e-mail address or make other changes to your membership profile then please go to this page on my website.
The Gurteen Knowledge Letter (top | next | prev)
The Gurteen Knowledge-Letter is a free monthly e-mail based KM newsletter for Knowledge Workers. Its purpose is to help you better manage your knowledge and to stimulate thought and interest in such subjects as Knowledge Management, Learning, Creativity and the effective use of Internet technology. Archive copies are held on-line where you can register to receive the newsletter.
It is sponsored by the Knowledge Management Forum of the Henley Business School, Oxfordshire, England.
You may copy, reprint or forward all or part of this newsletter to friends, colleagues or customers, so long as any use is not for resale or profit and I am attributed. And if you have any queries please contact me.
David GURTEEN
Gurteen Knowledge
Fleet, United Kingdom
