Gurteen Knowledge Letter
Issue 250 – April 2021
Introduction
The third annual workshop on Conversational Leadership is coming up in two weeks on April 26 – 30. This is your last chance to register.
It’s an interactive, conversational event with four key objectives:
- To learn and practice Conversational Leadership.
- To increase your awareness, ability, and range of conversations.
- To expand your capacity to convene and host quality conversations.
- To experience conversational practice and feedback sessions.
If you have any questions, please get in touch.
Contents
- Video Meeting Hand Signals
Hand signals improve video meeting success - Documents are not knowledge
It's the conversation about them that is important - The Myth of Thamus and Theuth
Has writing allowed the pretense of understanding rather than true understanding? - Gurteen Knowledge Café Workshop May 2021
Conversation is King. Content is just something to talk about - Why is conversation so easy?
Surely it should be harder than giving a speech? - What if cats could send text messages?
Lauren Gurteen - Help Keep My Work Alive
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Video Meeting Hand Signals
Hand signals improve video meeting success
A study by UCL researchers has found that using a simple set of hand signals can improve the experience of online meetings, make groups feel closer to each other and that they are learning and communicating better
In their Guide to the Video Meeting Signals, they have 25 different signs.
Most of them are apparent, like thumbs down and thumbs up, but a few of them are a little bit more challenging to remember.
There is undoubtedly a place for them in video meetings such as Zoom, but I'm not sure about the more sophisticated ones, such as
"Please speak about yourself — your thoughts or feelings. Don't generalize."
But they look well worth experimenting with and may even have a place in face-to-face meetings.
Documents are not knowledge
It's the conversation about them that is important
These two short quotations have much in common and are worth reflecting on.
Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.
Reports aren’t knowledge.
Interestingly, in a 2014 World Bank report, it was found that out of about 1,500 reports produced in the years 2008 to 2012, 517 of them were never downloaded at all.
A report is just a collection of squiggles on paper or a pattern of bits in a computer. It is of no value at all unless read, talked about, and acted on.
It's the thinking and conversations that go into making a plan or a report that are of value. Furthermore, it's the conversations and thinking triggered by the finalized report that makes the report itself valuable.
Conversation is king.
Content is just something to talk about.
Bottom line: Documents are important, indeed essential, no problem with that, but they are not everything.
The Myth of Thamus and Theuth
Has writing allowed the pretense of understanding rather than true understanding?
Have you ever considered the consequences of the invention of writing? Do you think that it may have weakened the necessity and power of memory and allowed for the pretense of understanding rather than true understanding?
In the Phaedrus, a book written by Plato about 370 BCE, Plato records a discussion between Socrates and Phaedrus about the Myth of Thamus and Theuth concerning the invention of writing.
In the conversation, Socrates criticizes writing for weakening the necessity and power of memory and for allowing the pretense of understanding rather than true understanding.
For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory.
Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them.
You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will, therefore, seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with since they are not wise, but only appear wise.
Credit: Phaedrus by Plato
Gurteen Knowledge Café Workshop May 2021
Conversation is King. Content is just something to talk about
I ran my first Knowledge Café Workshop of 2021 in February. I had 23 participants, and as usual, it went well, and I had some excellent feedback.
If you are not familiar with the method, the Knowledge Café is a simple way to bring a small group of people together to have a lightly structured conversation on a topic of mutual interest.
It can be adapted for various purposes, and you do not need to be a professional facilitator to design and host one.
Although the Café was initially designed for face-to-face gatherings, it works exceptionally well for virtual meeting platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft teams with a breakout room capability.
I am rerunning it on 20th May 2021. You can find more information and register here.
Why is conversation so easy?
Surely it should be harder than giving a speech?
Many people find it difficult to give a speech, and it is not always easy to listen to one, but we are all pretty good at holding a conversation.
Why is this? Surely, delivering a monologue or listening to one should be easier than dialogue?
If you are interested in the explanation, take a look at this post in my blook Our brains are designed for conversation — the title, of course, gives the answer away.
But then, if we are "designed" for conversation - not for monologue, why do we inflict lectures on each other?
What if cats could send text messages?
Lauren Gurteen
This item is a little out of place in my newsletter, but how could I not help my daughter Lauren promote her first set of self-published ebooks!
They are about a girl who discovers her cat can send text messages, and they are full of beautiful illustrations that she has created herself.
If you love cats and humor, I think you will enjoy the books.
Given my daughter is an English language teacher, they are also designed for English language learners to improve their skills.
You will find the books here on Amazon under her nom de plume Celia Elms - her late grandmother.
Help Keep My Work Alive
For almost 25 years, I’ve been sharing the Gurteen Knowledge Letter each month, and many of you have been reading it for five years or more. My Knowledge Café also reached a milestone, celebrating its 20th anniversary in September 2022.
If my work has made a difference to you, I’d be grateful if you could consider supporting it. A small monthly donation or any one-off contribution would greatly help cover some of my website hosting costs.
Thank you to the 50+ patrons who already support me – your generosity means a lot.
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Gurteen Knowledge Letter
The Gurteen Knowledge Letter is a free monthly email newsletter designed to inspire thinking around Conversational Leadership and Knowledge Management. You can explore the archive of past issues here.
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David Gurteen
Gurteen Knowledge
Fleet, United Kingdom
