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Gurteen Knowledge-Letter: Issue 128 - February 2011

   




The Gurteen Knowledge Letter is a monthly newsletter that is distributed to members of the Gurteen Knowledge Community. You may receive the Knowledge Letter by joining the community. Membership is totally free. You may read back-copies here.


Gurteen Knowledge-Letter: Issue 128 - February 2011

Contents

  1 Introduction to the February 2011 Knowledge Letter
  2 Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on Linkedin
  3 From information to conversation - We have to talk!
  4 We need to accept that we might be wrong
  5 How School Screws Things Up For "Real Life"
  6 Latest Knowledge Cafes: London and Edinburgh
  7 A good video collection of interviews with a number of KM people
  8 KM in the Middle East
  9 What is good for business is not necessarily good for society!
10 Fearing doing something
11 February 2011: Major upcoming KM Events
12 Hot knowledge tweets: February 2011
13 Subscribing and Unsubscribing
14 The Gurteen Knowledge Letter


Introduction to the February 2011 Knowledge Letter    (top | next | prev)

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


I have started to tweet or re-tweet them with a #GoodToTalk hashtag.

If you come across similar posts then please tweet them with the same hashtag and we can share them.

Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on Linkedin    (top | next | prev)

The Gurteen Knowledge Community Group on LinkedIn has grown from 2,076 members last month to 2,184 today and looks to be the most active of all the KM LinkedIn groups.

Here are a few of the interesting discussions taking place:
You can join LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/reg/join and the Gurteen Knowledge Community Group here : http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=1539

From information to conversation - We have to talk!    (top | next | prev)

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.



How do we make sense of the world? Its through conversation. We have to talk!

We need to accept that we might be wrong    (top | next | prev)

If you like TED Talks then I think you might like these RSA Vision videos. They are also available via an RSA iPhone app.

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.

How School Screws Things Up For "Real Life"    (top | next | prev)

I think there is a lot in this post from Michelle Martin on How School Screws Things Up For Real Life.

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"

Latest Knowledge Cafes: London and Edinburgh    (top | next | prev)

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.

A good video collection of interviews with a number of KM people    (top | next | prev)

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
  • Incentivizing Knowledge Sharing
  • Evolution of the KM Agenda
  • Converting Tacit Knowledge to Explicit

While you are there check this out: an interview with Verna on Incentivizing Knowledge Sharing - so close to my view!

We must stop "punishing people with rewards!"

KM in the Middle East    (top | next | prev)

I have been privileged to participate in two KM conferences in the Middle East over the past six months and have met some lovely people.

In a few weeks time I will be speaking at KM Middle East in Abu Dhabi. Later in the year there is a fourth KM conference in the region The 8th International Conference On Knowledge Management. in Jordan.

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.

What is good for business is not necessarily good for society!    (top | next | prev)

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!

Fearing doing something    (top | next | prev)

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?

February 2011: Major upcoming KM Events    (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.

4th Annual Learning Summit
23 - 25 Feb 2011, Singapore City, Singapore

An Open Knowledge Cafe with David Gurteen in Edinburgh
24 Feb 2011, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Knowledge Management in the Legal Profession
28 Feb - 01 Mar 2011, Sydney, Australia

2011 Hong Kong Knowledge Management Conference
04 Mar 2011, Hong Kong, China
I will be helping facilitate this event and running a workshop the following week.

KM Middle East 2011
15 - 16 Mar 2011, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
I will be giving the keynote talk at this conference and running a Knowledge Cafe Masterclass

Online Information Asia-Pacific 2011
23 - 24 Mar 2011, Hong Kong, China

KM Legal 2011
11 - 12 May 2011, London, United Kingdom

APQC’s 16th Annual Knowledge Management Conference 2011
12 - 13 May 2011, Houston, United States

KM UK 2011
21 - 22 Jun 2011, London, United Kingdom
I will be at this event again this year.

KM Australia - Asia Pacific Congress 2011
18 - 21 Jul 2011, Sydney, Australia
I will be chairing this event this year :-)

i-KNOW 2011
07 - 09 Sep 2011, Graz, Austria

The 8th International Conference on Knowledge Management (ICKM2011)
12 - 14 Sep 2011, Amman, Jordan

International Conference on Knowledge Economy (ICKE2011)
24 - 28 Oct 2011, East London, South Africa

8th International Conference on Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management & Organisational Learning (ICICKM 2011)
27 - 28 Oct 2011, Bangkok, Thailand

Hot knowledge tweets: February 2011    (top | next | prev)

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.


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



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
David Gurteen


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Thursday 21 November 2024
08:43 AM GMT