Knowledge Cafe Masterclass

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

2. Gurteen Knowledge
Gurteen Knowledge Café
Masterclass
Wellington
November 2010

3. The birth of the
Gurteen Knowledge Cafe
London, September 2002

4. 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

5. Gurteen Knowledge
Agenda
• 09:30 – 10:00 Introductions (30 mins)
• 10:00 – 10:30 Business is a Conversation (30 mins)
• 10:30 – 11:00 Knowledge Café Process (30 mins)
• 11:00 – 11:30 Coffee (30 mins)
• 11:30 – 12:30 Run a Knowledge Cafe (60 mins)
• 12:30 – 13:30 Lunch (60 mins)
• 13:30 – 14:30 Applications of the Café (60 mins)
• 14:30 – 15:00 Tips & techniques (30 mins)
• 15:00 – 15:30 Coffee (30 mins)
• 15:30 – 16:30 Action Cafe (60 mins)

6. Gurteen Knowledge
Photographs

7. Gurteen Knowledge
Speed Networking

8. Gurteen Knowledge
Business is a Conversation

9. 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!

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. Gurteen Knowledge
Summary
• Business is a conversation
• Conversation is creative
• Understanding is more important than
knowing more
• Dialogue is the key to quality conversations

17. Gurteen Knowledge
Conversation/Questions

18. Gurteen Knowledge
Gurteen Knowledge Café Process

19. 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

20. 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!

21. Gurteen Knowledge
Knowledge Circle

22. 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

23. 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

24. Gurteen Knowledge
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

25. Gurteen Knowledge
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

26. Gurteen Knowledge
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

27. Gurteen Knowledge
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’

28. Gurteen Knowledge
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

29. 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

30. Gurteen Knowledge
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

31. 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!

32. Gurteen Knowledge
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

33. Gurteen Knowledge
Conversation/Questions

34. Gurteen Knowledge
Lets run a Knowledge Cafe

35. Business is 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.
David Weinberger
The Cluetrain
Manifesto

36. Business is a conversation
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

37. Business is a conversation
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

38. Gurteen Knowledge
Café Conversation
What is the role of conversation and how do
we encourage more conversation
in our organizations?

39. Gurteen Knowledge
Lunch

40. Applications of the Café

41. 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!

42. 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

43. 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

44. Some real Café applications

45. 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

46. Gurteen Knowledge
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

47. 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

48. Gurteen Knowledge
Trinidad & Tobago
Oil and Gas
• Expert talks

49. 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

50. What applications do you see for the
Knowledge Café?

51. Recording Outcomes

52. 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

53. 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!

54. 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

55. How would you capture outcomes?

56. Gurteen Knowledge
Tips and techniques

57. Gurteen Knowledge
The theme
• A topic people feel passionate about
• Complex issues
• Only ONE question
• Open ended question
• Action oriented

58. 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

59. 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

60. 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

61. 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)

62. Gurteen Knowledge
The room
• Important
• Small, cosy
• Small round tables
• Good acoustics
• Paper/toys on tables
• Lecture theatre?

63. Gurteen Knowledge
The tables

64. 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

65. 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)

66. Gurteen Knowledge
Knowledge circles
• Greenwich Story
• KM World
• Jakarta
Workshop
• Not as difficult as
it seems

67. Gurteen Knowledge
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

68. Gurteen Knowledge
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

69. Gurteen Knowledge
Wrap up
• No need to summarise at length
• Keep it short and simple
• Thank people

70. Other Conversational Tools

71. 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

72. 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

73. 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

74. 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

75. 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

76. Gurteen Knowledge
Thank you!

77. Gurteen Knowledge
www.gurteen.com
David Gurteen
Gurteen Knowledge
Tel: +44 1252 812 878
Email: david.gurteen@gurteen.com

78. 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/