Knowledge Café Applications The Knowledge Café is a highly adaptable tool

At one end of the spectrum, the Café is an easy way to bring people together to share their knowledge, learn from each other, and build relationships.

Mid-way along the spectrum, it can help transform management training by allowing people to learn from more senior managers and each other.

And at the other end of the spectrum, it a sophisticated tool to convene powerful conversations that address strategic business issues.

It is as much a philosophy as it is a tool, and elements of the Café can be built into everyday work to make things more participatory and turn, for example, death-by-powerpoint talks into more engaging, participatory events.

It is the engine of Conversational Leadership.

Here are a few generic examples of its use:

• turn a traditional chalk and talk, death by PowerPoint presentation or meeting into an engaging learning event
• transform regular management training courses where younger managers learn from more experienced ones
• as a powerful sales tool to engage customers in conversation and thus better understand their needs and for them to better understand your products or services
• surface hidden problems and opportunities that exist in the organization, in a department, or project
• help break down organizational silos
• encourage knowledge sharing and the creation of a knowledge-sharing culture
• give people a voice so that they feel heard and are thus less cynical and more engaged in their work
• bring managers and technologists together after a merger to build relationships, surface new opportunities, and address cultural issue
• build and improve relationships
• improve business networking and make new connections
• solicit input and obtain and create ownership, not buy-in for a new project or initiative
• as a stimulus to innovation

You will find more detailed descriptions of Knowledge Café applications here and Knowledge Café stories here.