Knowledge Café: Create an Environment for Successful Knowledge Management by Benjamin C. Anyacho

The Knowledge Café by Benjamin Anyacho is a mindset and environment for engaging, discussing, and exchanging knowledge within a group, either face-to-face or virtually. At the café, participants can discuss hard-to-solve project issues or resolve a family or community crisis. This metaphorical town square supports knowledge circulation and rejuvenation and increases its velocity—making it a breeding ground for innovation. The aha moments at one Knowledge Café can match the benefits of multiple conferences, workshops, and training put together.

When knowledge management (KM) is part of an organization’s culture, performance improves, collaboration increases, and the competitive advantage accelerates. No one can force knowledge transfer. We must create the right environment where knowledge is freely shared, rewarded, and fun. This book demonstrates why the Knowledge Café is such an effective KM tool and shows how to design optimal café experiences and increase learning agility.

The premium on knowledge and agility has never been greater. This book offers a technique for managing knowledge toward the greater good. Tips; templates; practical and relatable experiences; case studies; and examples of knowledge brokers, creators, and sharers across cultures are sprinkled throughout the book to show how the café interfaces with other KM techniques and in different work and project spaces.

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•  A Conversation Dinner in Turin Knowledge menu à la carte
•  A Knowledge Café Is a Gathering It is not a meeting
•  Belief Systems Our beliefs are not isolated pieces of data that we can take and discard at will
•  Blog Posts About the Gurteen Knowledge Café A selection of Knowledge Café blog posts, articles and papers
•  Brainstorming A group discussion to produce a list of ideas or solutions to a problem.
•  Café Style Meetings Hold conversations, not meetings
•  Carpe Diem – Seize the Day Seize the day everyone
•  Conversation Sharpens the Saw It is not a waste of time
•  Conversational Leadership Framework ** A framework to help understand the concept
•  Conversational Talks How to give a conversational talk or presentation
•  Decision Making Café Using the Knowledge Café to make better decisions
•  Designing Powerful Questions Questions open the door to dialogue and discovery
•  Engagement Café Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about.
•  Entrained Thinking Blinded to new ways of thinking by perspectives acquired through past experience
•  Entrenched Thinking The lack of desire or ability to accept new ideas
•  Espresso Café Espresso has more caffeine per unit volume than most coffee beverages
•  Filter Bubbles, Epistemic Bubbles and Echo Chambers Distort the reality of the world
•  Focus Group Café An improvement on traditional focus groups?
•  Future Café Explore trends and issues that shape, influence and impact the future
•  Groucho Club Sales Café Ditch the pitch
•  Gurteen Knowledge Café: Entrenched and Entrained Thinking A blog post by Conrad Taylor
•  IBM SE Asia Sales Cafés Ditch the pitch
•  Idea Campaign Café A series of focused conversations to generate ideas
•  Ideation Café A conversation to solve problems or generate ideas
•  Introduction: Conversational Stories Stories about conversation
•  Introduction: Knowledge Café Improving decision-making, innovation, and collaboration
•  Introduction: Knowledge Café Applications The Knowledge Café is as much a state of mind as it is a fixed process
•  Introduction: Knowledge Café Principles Create a conversational environment
•  Knowledge Café Applications The Knowledge Café is a highly adaptable tool
•  Knowledge Café at Regent’s University February 2024 What Are the Strongest Motives for Creative Endeavour in Your Life?
•  Knowledge Café Debate Debate sharpens up the important aspects of the issue under discussion
•  Knowledge Café History It began on September 5th, 2002 at the Strand Palace Hotel in London
•  Knowledge Café in Zurich, Switzerland The Knowledge Café has empowered our staff to speak up and take the initiative
•  Knowledge Café Outcomes The outcomes are what you take away in your head
•  Knowledge Café Principle: Conversation Is Sovereign It's all about the conversation
•  Knowledge Café Principle: Create a Safe Space Where conversation can flourish
•  Knowledge Café Principle: Dialogue Not Debate Be prepared to emerge a slightly different person
•  Knowledge Café Principle: Engage in Small Groups Real conversation takes place in small groups
•  Knowledge Café Principle: Everyone Has an Equal Voice Everyone is an equal participant
•  Knowledge Café Principle: No Preconceived Outcomes The outcomes are emergent
•  Knowledge Café Principle: Preserve the Flow Conversational flow should not be interrupted
•  Knowledge Café: Cafés with No Tables Small tables are better than no tables
•  Knowledge Café: Capturing Outcomes The outcomes are what you take away in your head - note taking is a distraction
•  Knowledge Café: Choosing the Room The more café like, the better
•  Knowledge Café: Circle Conversation A whole or large group conversation
•  Knowledge Café: Conversational Topics Some examples
•  Knowledge Café: Design Checklist Knowledge Cafés should be thoughtfully designed
•  Knowledge Café: Getting Started Make an impact
•  Knowledge Café: Going Off-topic It is OK to off-topic
•  Knowledge Café: Invitation People should not be coerced to participate in any way
•  Knowledge Café: Measuring Success The outcomes are what you take away in your head - note taking is a distraction
•  Knowledge Café: Microphones Avoid the use of microphones if possible
•  Knowledge Café: Moving Between Groups Don't complicate it
•  Knowledge Café: No Flip Charts or Butcher Paper They get in the way of the conversation - avoid them
•  Knowledge Café: No Report-outs There is nothing more boring than a report-out
•  Knowledge Café: Number of Participants The ideal number of participants is between 12 and 24
•  Knowledge Café: Posing the Question To trigger the conversation
•  Knowledge Café: Process How to run a Knowledge Café
•  Knowledge Café: Purpose Every Knowledge Café should have a clear purpose
•  Knowledge Café: Roles There are a number of different Knowledge Café players
•  Knowledge Café: Setting the Context with Video ** A short video makes a good way to set the context for a Café conversation
•  Knowledge Café: Sharing Actionable Insights One idea, lesson learned or insight taken away from a Café
•  Knowledge Café: Small Group Conversations The small group conversations are the heart of the Café
•  Knowledge Café: Small Group Design The ideal small group size is three or four
•  Knowledge Café: Table Hosts In a Knowledge Café there are no table hosts
•  Knowledge Café: the Host The role of the Knowledge Café host
•  Knowledge Café: the Speaker The role of the Knowledge Café speaker
•  Knowledge Café: the Talk The Knowledge Café initiating talk
•  Knowledge Café: Triggering the Conversation There are a number of ways in which you can trigger the conversation
•  Knowledge Cafés ** Include one or more Knowledge Cafés
•  Knowledge Cafés at Conferences Not the best of environments but possible
•  Knowledge Cafés at Johnson & Johnson Running four Knowledge Cafés concurrently
•  Knowledge Cafés at NASA Identifying risk issues, and meaningful mitigation approaches
•  Knowledge Cafés at National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Turning traditional talks into Cafés
•  Knowledge Cafés at the European Patent Office The Personal Growth Community
•  Make Time to Talk The lack of time for conversation is just an excuse
•  Nurturing a Collaborative Culture Through Knowledge Cafés Using Knowledge Cafés to bridge silos and encourage open dialogue
•  Open, Adaptive Strategy Make employees partners in the strategy process
•  Passion at the Gurteen Knowledge Café Blog post by Mathew Rees
•  Reading Group Café A reading group, reading circle or book discussion club
•  Reframing Questions Shifting perspective changes the conversation
•  Scenario Café ** Learning from situations
•  Sugar Rush at the Knowledge Café How conversation is bringing KM back to the people
•  The Difference Between Sense-making and Meaning-making The terms have distinct meanings
•  The Differences Between the Knowledge Café and the World Café There are some significant differences
•  The Four Levels of Knowledge Management The relation between Conversational Leadership and Knowledge Management
•  The Huawei Break the Book Community A powerful example of peer learning
•  The Role of the Knowledge Café in Open/adaptive Strategy An ideal tool to help implement open strategy
•  The Role of the Knowledge Café in Strategic Conversations ** One of the best conversational methods for addressing complex issues is the Knowledge Café
•  Videos: Knowledge Cafés A selection of videos from past Knowledge Cafés
•  Virtual Knowledge Café Process On the Zoom video conferencing platform
•  What Are Beliefs? Ideas that are held to be true but not necessarily supported by any evidence
•  Wisdom of Crowds of Crowds Crowds within a crowd outperform 'wisdom of the crowd'
•  Zoom Virtual Knowledge Café On the Zoom video conferencing platform
•  Zoom Virtual Knowledge Cafés **

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