Singapore Knowledge Cafe Workshop November 2010

1. Gurteen Knowledge
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
The GurteenThe Gurteen
KnowledgeKnowledge
CaféCafé

3. The birth of theThe birth of the
Gurteen KnowledgeGurteen Knowledge CaféCafé
London, September 2002

4. Gurteen Knowledge
Begin with the end in mindBegin with the end in mind
• To teach you about Gurteen
Knowledge Cafes and how to run
them
• Raise awareness of the role of
conversation in your
organizational lives
• Encourage you to create more
opportunities in your organization
for creative conversation

5. Gurteen Knowledge
AgendaAgenda
• 09:00 – 09:30 Business is a Conversation (30 mins)
• 09:30 – 10:00 Knowledge Café Process (30 mins)
• 10:00 – 10:15 Conversation + Q&A (15 mins)
• 10:15 – 10:30 Coffee (15 mins)
• 10:30 – 11:30 Knowledge Cafe (60 mins)
• 11:30 – 12:00 Knowledge Circle (30 mins)

6. Gurteen Knowledge
Business is a ConversationBusiness is a Conversation

7. Business is a conversationBusiness 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!

8. Conversation is a meeting of mindsConversation 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

9. KM is about understandingKM 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

10. Gurteen Knowledge
Conversation is dialogueConversation 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

11. Gurteen Knowledge
Principles of DialoguePrinciples 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

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

13. Gurteen Knowledge
Conversation is a learning technologyConversation 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

14. Gurteen Knowledge
Conversation is ourConversation is our
most effective KM toolmost 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

15. Gurteen Knowledge
The Gurteen Knowledge CafeThe Gurteen Knowledge Cafe

16. Gurteen Knowledge
What is a Gurteen Knowledge Café?What is a Gurteen Knowledge Café?
• A Gurteen Knowledge Café brings a group of
people together to have an open, creative
conversation on a topic of mutual interest to
surface their collective knowledge, to share ideas
and to gain a deeper understanding of the issues
involved.
• Ultimately leading to action in the form of better
decision making and innovation and thus tangible
outcomes.

17. Gurteen Knowledge
The Gurteen Knowledge Café
is fundamentally different to
other forms of knowledge café
or the World café.
• No table hosts or leaders
• No reporting back
• No capture of outcomes
• No group summarisation
• Less controlled

18. Gurteen Knowledge
Principles of the Gurteen KnowledgePrinciples of the Gurteen Knowledge
CafeCafe
• Relaxed, non-threatening, open conversation
• As close to a pub or dinner conversation as possible
• No manipulation of people; no hidden agendas
• Everyone is equal; no table leaders; no reporting back
• No one is forced to do anything – OK to just listen
• Trust people to talk about what is important to them
• OK to go off-topic – that’s what good conversations do
• No group summarization or attempt to reach consensus
• No capture of outcomes; no flip charts in the room
• Principal outcome: what people take away in their heads

19. Gurteen Knowledge
What are the outcomes?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
– Engagement with the subject
– Better relationships
– Better position to make more informed decisions
and to take action!
• Intangible outcomes but valuable nevertheless

20. Gurteen Knowledge
The ProcessThe Process
• Set the context – normally a speaker
• An open-ended trigger question
• Small group conversations at tables
• Whole group conversation in a circle
• Share actionable insights

21. Gurteen Knowledge
Sharing actionable insightsSharing actionable insights
• Pass a talking-stick around the circle
• When you receive it - share an actionable-
insight from the café
• A thought, an idea, an insight, something
learnt – preferably an action
• OK to pass

22. Recording OutcomesRecording Outcomes
The Gurteen Knowledge Café is best
used when outcomes do not need to
be captured or are captured as part of
a larger process.

23. Gurteen Knowledge
Recording OutcomesRecording Outcomes
• Café is about the transfer of tacit knowledge –
not about making tacit knowledge explicit!
• Recording group outcomes can free people
from a sense of individual responsibility
• Recording can stifle and disrupt conversation
• Café often best as part of a larger process
• Participants should not record group notes
• OK for personal notes

24. Gurteen Knowledge
Recording OutcomesRecording Outcomes
• Why?
– That’s what we always do!
– As a record
– To share with others who were not there
– To justify to boss
– For a good business purpose
• If nothing will be done with the record then
don’t capture it!

25. Gurteen Knowledge
Ideas for recording outcomesIdeas 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 after
the event
• Avoid audio or video capture

26. Applications of the CaféApplications of the Café

27. Gurteen Knowledge
Reasons you might you use the CaféReasons you might you use the Café
• Alternative to traditional presentation
• Alternative to an after-action-review
• 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

28. Gurteen Knowledge
Café ApplicationsCafé Applications
• As a concluding session to a workshop or
conference
• As part of a merger
• Expert talks
• To transfer knowledge from retiring workers
• Management training
• To surface problems and issues
• To surface ideas for an initiative

29. Gurteen Knowledge
Conversation/QuestionsConversation/Questions

30. Gurteen Knowledge
Lets run a Knowledge CafeLets run a Knowledge Cafe

31. Gurteen Knowledge
Café ConversationCafé Conversation
What is the role of conversation in our
organization and how do we encourage it?
• What is your
actionable insight
that you will share at
the end of the Café?

32. Gurteen Knowledge
David GURTEEN
Gurteen Knowledge
Fleet, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 7774 178 650
Email: david.gurteen@gurteen.com
www.gurteen.comwww.gurteen.com

33. Gurteen Knowledge
LicenceLicence
• 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/