david gurteen - workshop - km middle east 2011

www.kmmiddleeast.com [email protected] 1

Gurteen Knowledge

Conversation is dialogue

The kind of conversation I’m

interested in is one in which you

start with a willingness to emerge a

slightly different person.

Theodore Zeldin

Conversation

Theodore in an

Oxford Historian

Gurteen Knowledge

Gurteen Knowledge Café

Masterclass

KM Middle East

2011

United Arab

Emirates

Abu Dhabi


The birth of the

Gurteen Knowledge Cafe

London, September 2002

Gurteen Knowledge

Begin with the end in mind

• Raise awareness of the role of conversation in your business lives

• To teach you about Knowledge Cafes and how to run them

• Encourage you to create more opportunities in your organization for creative conversation


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Agenda

• 13:00 – 13:30 Introductions (30 mins)

• 13:30 – 14:00 Business is a Conversation (30 mins)

• 14:00 – 14:30 Knowledge Café Process (30 mins)

• 14:30 – 15:00 Coffee (30 mins)

• 15:00 – 16:00 Run a Knowledge Cafe (60 mins)

• 16:00 – 16:30 Applications (30 mins)

• 16:30 – 17:00 Action Review (30 mins)

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Photographs


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Speed Networking

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Business is a Conversation


Business is a conversation

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.

David Weinberger

The Cluetrain Manifesto

• Conversation is central

to all that we do

• Its our job!

Gurteen Knowledge

Conversation is a learning technology

Conversation is the most powerful learning

technology ever invented.

Conversations carry news, create meaning, foster

cooperation, and spark innovation.

Encouraging open, honest conversation through

work space design, setting ground rules for

conversing productively,

and baking conversation into the corporate culture

spread intellectual capital, improve cooperation,

and strengthen personal relationships.

Jay Cross, Informal Learning

• Jay Cross is a

champion of

Informal Learning


Gurteen Knowledge

Conversation is our

most effective KM tool

Our most effective KM 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.

Nancy Dixon Nancy Dixon

Common Knowledge

Associates

Conversation is a meeting of minds

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, engage in new trains of thought.

Conversation doesn't just reshuffle the

cards: it creates new cards.

Theodore Zeldin

Conversation

• Theodore in an Oxford

Historian

• Conversation is creative


KM is about understanding

For all our knowledge, we have no idea what we're talking about.

We don't understand what's going on in our

business, our market, and our world.

KM shouldn’t be about helping us to know more. It should be about helping us to

understand.

So, how do we understand things? It's through stories that we understand how the

world works.

David Weinberger, The Cluetrain Manifesto

• Its about understanding

& sense making

• Through conversation &

storytelling

Gurteen Knowledge

Conversation is dialogue

The kind of conversation I’m

interested in is one in which you

start with a willingness to emerge a

slightly different person.

Theodore Zeldin

Conversation

Theodore in an

Oxford Historian


Gurteen Knowledge

Principles of Dialogue

• Suspend assumptions, do not judge

• Observe & listen to one another

• Welcome differences & explore them

• Allow taboo subjects to be raised safely

• Listen to your inner voice

• Slow the discussion

• Search for the underlying meaning

Dialogue is based on

the work of the physicist

David Bohm

Gurteen Knowledge

Summary

• Business is a conversation

• Conversation is creative

• Understanding is more important than

knowing more

• Dialogue is the key to quality conversations


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Conversation/Questions

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Gurteen Knowledge Café Process


Gurteen Knowledge

Principles of the Gurteen Knowledge Cafe

• All about relaxed, non-threatening, open conversation

• No one is forced to do anything

• Everyone is equal

• No table leaders

• No reporting back

• Sharing circle: individual summary at end

• No overall summarization or attempt to reach consensus

• No capture on flip-charts

• Outcome: what people take away in their heads

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What are the outcomes?

• Real outcomes are what you take away in your head

– A deeper understanding of the issues discussed

– A deeper insight into other people’s perspectives

– A better appreciation of your own point of view

– Better position to make more informed decisions and to take action!


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Knowledge Circle

Gurteen Knowledge

What resources are needed to run a

Knowledge Café?

• Not a lot!

• A group of people

• A facilitator or host

• A room with plenty of space

• Tables & chairs to seat about five people per table


Gurteen Knowledge

What do you need in the room?

• Some formats have special requirements such as round tables, paper table cloths, felt tip pens, flowers on the table and coffee & biscuits – Gurteen Knowledge Cafés need none of these props but of

course you could use them if available

– Refreshments help

• Aim is to create a good ambience

• Unthreatening and hospitable environment

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How do you run one?

• Knowledge Cafés can be run in different ways

• I use a simple format

• Runs for 90 minutes to a couple of hours

• Work best with between 25 and 35 people

• Can run a dozen people or as many as 100

– But with some modifications


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What's the process?

• Facilitator takes 5 - 15 minutes to introduce the Knowledge Café and the theme

• Purpose of the Knowledge Café is made clear

• Facilitator poses an open ended question

• Participants form into small groups of 4 or 5 to discuss the subject for 30 - 60 minutes.

• Change tables 1,2 or 3 times

• The group re-assembles for an exchange of ideas as a whole for 15 - 30 minutes

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What subjects are covered?

• Any subject can be addressed

• Explore questions that matter to the participants

• Normally explore only one theme

• And pose only one question


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What’s the role of the facilitator?

• Facilitator need not be a specialist

– Nor disciplined in facilitation

– Simply a good listener and chairperson skills

• Facilitator should not take a lead in the discussions

• Should wander around and listen into the groups

• Should listen out for problems and remind people

gently of the rules of ‘dialogue’

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What’s the role of the individual?

• Theodore Zeldin : to be prepared to emerge a slightly different person

• To see people with different views not as adversaries but as resources from which we can learn

• To enter into open conversation

• To listen more than speak

• To welcome differences

• To withhold judgment

• To avoid position taking

• To avoid being too politically correct


Gurteen Knowledge

How do things work within

the small groups?

• Don’t appoint a leader or chairperson

• Everyone should be equal and fully engaged in the

conversation

• Don’t appoint a note taker either

• Anyone can make their own notes if they want to

• People share their perspectives with the group only if

they wish to

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How does the large group sit?

• Bring everyone back into a relatively tight group so

that every one can easily see and hear each other

• Only use microphones if absolutely necessary as

they inhibit the natural flow of the conversation


Gurteen Knowledge

How does the whole group work?

• Individuals asked to remember that their comments

are for the whole group and not for the facilitator.

• The objective is to hold a ‘group conversation’

• The facilitator needs to work at encouraging this

– Plays a low key role – not the expert

– Turn away, even hide!

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How does the facilitator work

with the whole group?

• The group should be doing the work with minimal

intervention from the facilitator

• Facilitator needs to encourage participation

• Facilitator needs to ensure that no one person or

group dominates the discussion

• Connects diverse perspectives


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Conversation/Questions

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Lets run a Knowledge Cafe



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.

David Weinberger

The Cluetrain

Manifesto


People 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.

David Weinberger

The Cluetrain

Manifesto



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.

David Weinberger

The Cluetrain

Manifesto

Gurteen Knowledge

Café Conversation

What is the role of conversation and how do

we encourage more conversation

in our organizations?


Gurteen Knowledge

Lunch

Applications of the Café


Gurteen Knowledge

What are the outcomes?

• Real outcomes are what you take away in your head

– A deeper understanding of the issues discussed

– A deeper insight into other people’s perspectives

– A better appreciation of your own point of view

– Better position to make more informed decisions and to take action!

Gurteen Knowledge

Where might you use the Café?

• Surface hidden problems & opportunities

• Encourage knowledge sharing & informal learning

• Spark action

• Improve decision making and innovation

• Address disengagement and lack of voice

• Help people make sense of the world

• Help people feel ownership of things

• Retain talent

• Reduce dependence on external facilitators


Gurteen Knowledge

Generic Applications

• As part of any presentation

• To glean feedback on say a policy document

• Replace a series of one-on-one interviews

• Collaborative writing effort – knowledge café

– Individual blogging

– Wiki document creation

• Part of a meeting say to present future plans or strategy

Some real Café applications


Gurteen Knowledge

ISN Knowledge Café

The knowledge café has led to a dramatic improvement in

terms of inter-team dialog, collaboration and knowledge

sharing.

Many internal work processes are now being overhauled for

the better as a result of these knowledge cafes and we have

seen an explosion of new ideas and initiatives on the part of

staff at all levels of the organization.

Simply put, the knowledge cafe format has empowered all our

staff to speak up and take the initiative in ensuring the

successful development of the ISN. Chris Pallaris, Chief Editor

ISN, Zurich

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Café for a UK government body

• Day long workshop

• 3 presentations on social tools

• A knowledge Café

• Future leaders in the group

• Future leaders determine an action plan


Gurteen Knowledge

Canal Boat Café

• On canals in Amsterdam

• At end of week of workshops & visits

• To help summarise the week

• And develop plan for action

Gurteen Knowledge

Trinidad & Tobago

Oil and Gas

• Expert talks


Gurteen Knowledge

StatoilHydro

• To surface issues as a result of a merger

• Series of Cafes to bring retiring experts together with

younger members to transfer knowledge

– In a café on an allotment

• Geophysicists

– Discussion of preferred technologies

– Exchange views on experiences

• Management Training

– But not called a Knowledge Cafe

What applications do you see for the

Knowledge Café?


Recording Outcomes

Gurteen Knowledge

Recording Outcomes

• Café is about the transfer of tacit knowledge –

not about making tacit knowledge explicit!

• Recording can stifle the conversation

• Café often best as part of a larger process

• Avoid disrupting the conversation

• Participants should not record group notes

• OK for personal notes


Gurteen Knowledge

Recording Outcomes

• Why?

– That’s what we always do!

– As a record

– Share with others who were not there

– Justify to boss

– For a good business purpose

• If nothing will be done with the recording then

don’t record it!

Gurteen Knowledge

Ideas for recording outcomes

• Appoint an external person to take notes

– Direct capture to laptop!

• Capture 1 item from each person & collate

• Encourage people to blog the session

• Audio capture and transcription

• Visual capture


How would you capture outcomes?

Gurteen Knowledge

Tips and techniques


Gurteen Knowledge

The theme

• A topic people feel passionate about

• Complex issues

• Only ONE question

• Open ended question

• Action oriented

Gurteen Knowledge

The conversation

• The question is only a seed

• OK to go off topic

• Conversation as close to a

conversation at the pub or

over dinner


Gurteen Knowledge

The speaker/facilitator

• Speaker and facilitator need

not be the same

• Facilitator: involved/not

involved

• Speakers can be controlling

or dominant

– Often run over time

– Need to brief and handle

carefully

Gurteen Knowledge

The facilitator

• Important to be yourself

• Do not control

• Experiment a little

• Take some risks

• Don’t be afraid of silence

• If you let people talk and leave

them alone you cannot go far

wrong


Gurteen Knowledge

The venue

• Need not be a room

• Boat on Thames

• Canal Boat (long boat in Amsterdam)

• Knowledge Walk/BBQ (Greenwich)

• Pub (Stavanger)

• Outside under sunshades (Scottsdale)

• Actual café (London & Barcelona)

Gurteen Knowledge

The room

• Important

• Small, cosy

• Small round tables

• Good acoustics

• Paper/toys on tables

• Lecture theatre?


Gurteen Knowledge

The tables

Gurteen Knowledge

Holding in a lecture theatre

• Difficult but not

impossible

• Problem of moving

between groups

• Problem of whole group

conversation

– reporting back

• Need for microphones


Gurteen Knowledge

Using microphones

• Avoid if possible

• Will need them if group larger

than 40

– Maybe less if poor acoustics

• People hold on to them

• Kills the flow of conversation

• One for yourself and at least 2

roving mikes

• Avoid fixed mikes (Jakarta)

Gurteen Knowledge

Knowledge circles

• Greenwich Story

• KM World

• Jakarta

Workshop

• Not as difficult as

it seems


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Small group

• Ask people to sit with others they do not know

• Change groups once, twice at most 3 times

• People do not like changing groups

• Don’t force them!

• Kuala Lumpur story

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Whole group

• Where you need facilitation skills

• People will report back out of habit

– Or ask you questions

• In some cultures best to let them

• Even for some groups let them

– Central bank librarians story

• Unless in expert mode do not join in too much

• Tolerate silence – pause and wait


Gurteen Knowledge

Wrap up

• No need to summarise at length

• Keep it short and simple

• Thank people

Other Conversational Tools


Gurteen Knowledge

Other Conversational Tools

• Gurteen Knowledge Café

• Traditional Knowledge Café – Flip charts, capture, report back etc

• Conferences – Speak, conversation, Q&A

• Reverse Café

• Conversation Dinner

• World Cafe

• Open Space

• Anecdote Circles

• Appreciative Inquiry

Gurteen Knowledge

How is the Knowledge Cafe different

from the World Cafe?

• Different roots

• Usually shorter

• For smaller numbers of people

• Less preparation required

• Flip chart paper & pens optional

• No table leaders

• No reporting back

• More business oriented


Gurteen Knowledge

How is Open Space Technology

different from Knowledge Café?

• OST Process is more complex

• Used other than to gain mutual understanding

– e.g. problem solving and defining agendas

• Meetings tend to be larger

– often 100s of people compared to dozens for the Café

• Meetings tend to last longer

– often days rather than hours

Gurteen Knowledge

Where can I learn more

about Knowledge Cafés?

• There are a lot of resources on the web

• My website contains a vast amount of material

– www.gurteen.com

• The World Café

– Book The World Café: Shaping our futures through

conversations that matter

– Website : theworldcafe.com

• The Society for Philosophical Inquiry

– philosopher.org


Gurteen Knowledge

Where can I learn more

about Knowledge Cafés?

• There are a lot of resources on the web

• My website contains a vast amount of material

– www.gurteen.com

• The World Café

– Book The World Café: Shaping our futures through

conversations that matter

– Website : theworldcafe.com

• The Society for Philosophical Inquiry

– philosopher.org

Gurteen Knowledge

David GURTEEN

Gurteen Knowledge

Fleet, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 7774 178 650

Email: [email protected]

www.gurteen.com


Gurteen Knowledge

Licence

• You may use these slides under the following

Creative Commons Licence

• Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/



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