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Knowledge-Letter
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Gurteen Knowledge-Letter: Issue 3 - 3rd August 2000 |
 
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The Gurteen Knowledge Letter is a monthly newsletter that is distributed to members of the Gurteen Knowledge Community. You may receive the Knowledge Letter by joining the community. Membership is totally free. You may read back-copies here. THE GURTEEN KNOWLEDGE-LETTER (ISSUE 3, 3 AUGUST 2000) ===================================================== Welcome to the third issue of the Gurteen Knowledge-Letter. This newsletter now goes out to over 600 people - mainly in the UK but more than 100 overseas - primarily the US. What is surprising is that I personally know over 400 of you! It has been a great vehicle for putting me in touch again with many of my old colleagues. I've been receiving some very encouraging feedback and would like to extend the distribution list. If you find the knowledge-letter useful and have friends or colleagues whom you feel would like it too - could I ask you to forward this copy to them and suggest they sign up. Thanks David. CONTENTS ======== 1 - Individual Influence 2 - An Introduction to After Action Reviews 3 - The Coffeemachine 4 - Book Review: The Power of Mindful Learning 5 - Quick Clicks 6 - Events INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCE ==================== When ever I hear consultants talk about Knowledge Management or Organisational Learning or Quality - they almost always emphasise the point that such initiatives must be led from the top if they are to succeed. On the other hand I so often read about the failure of such initiatives because they were led from the top with little buy-in or commitment from people lower in the organizational hierarchy. If you wait for leadership from the top - you may wait for ever and if, and when, it comes, it may fail. So why wait? Why not start within your own sphere of influence - in a small way - to make a difference in your organization by leading by example. In light of this philosophy I am always drawn to disciplines and tools that empower the individual whether its the CEO of an organization or a new graduate. The following discipline of the "After-Action Review" is one such tool. It can be employed by an individual to his or her own work without involving anyone else; it can be employed at the departmental or team level or it can be deployed company wide as an organizational learning tool. AN INTRODUCTION TO AFTER ACTION REVIEWS ======================================= One very powerful learning tool is the "After Action Review". An "After Action Review" or AAR as it more conveniently called is a simple process for improving learning on a daily basis. It originated in the US Army and has been widely evangelised by Edward Gutherie of Values International. The concept behind an AAR is incredibly simple. After a business event - you conduct an AAR. You ask the questions: + What were the planned outcomes? + What were the actual outcomes? + What were the differences and why did they occur? + What can be learnt? But what is a business event? Well it is any task or activity that has: + a beginning and an end + a purpose + measurable objectives It may be an entire action or small part of a larger action such as a meeting or a presentation. For example: + a complete client assignment + a day with a client + a telephone call + a day in the office + a week's work BP-Amoco has developed the discipline further to include the concepts of "Learn Before", "Learn During" and "Learn After". + Learn Before: before a project starts - a project leader might call upon people who have run similar projects previously and a meeting is held to discover what can be learnt from the past. + Learn During: during a project - AARs are conducted on a regular basis. + Learn After: finally at the end of a project - a large more formal AAR is held to determine what can be learnt from the whole project. One important facet of an AAR - is that it is not about "performance appraisal" - it is not about "judgement" - it is not about "blame" - it is about "learning". Another key point is that we can all start to conduct AARs today. They are easy to run and their payback is high. We can start by just conducting them personally for personal events or if we are a team leader or manager for team events. We also have the opportunity where appropriate to suggest them at any meeting we attend. Quite simply at the end of a meeting - suggest holding an AAR. It need only take a few minutes. Ask the questions: + What was the purpose of this meeting? + Did we achieve it? + If not, why not? + What was learnt? If it's a meeting with a customer - we can a conduct two AARs - one with the customer and the second back in the office or in the car where maybe quite different learnings emerge. We can also use the above questions to help document meetings or events. The AAR is a very powerful tool and as individuals we have the ability to take it and adapt it to our own needs and to evangelise its use throughout our organizations. At a personal level, I find it useful for reviewing a day's work and for reviewing a week's work. Another nice feature is that when you come to ask the question "What were the objectives of this event?" - you often find that you had no objectives or at least no agreed ones. A lesson in itself - if you start to take AARs seriously then you find yourself thinking about and setting objectives for every event in your daily work lives. Now thats got to be a good thing! If you are interested in learning more about AARs, see: http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/ID/X00007F36/ THE COFFEEMACHINE ================= I was recently introduced to The Coffeemachine by Professor Clive Holtham of City University Business School (CUBS), London. The Coffeemachine is a network of knowledge management practitioners, set up by current and former members of CUBS. Regular meetings are held, usually at the Business School, with the aim of encouraging discussion and the exchange of ideas relating to Knowledge Management. Anyone is welcome to attend. If you would like to know more take a look at: http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/ID/X00019D1E/ For other events relating to Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning see: http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/ID/X000033AE/ BOOK REVIEW: THE POWER OF MINDFUL LEARNING ========================================== This is a thought provoking book on "education" and "learning" by Ellen Langer, a professor of Psychology at Harvard. She argues that traditional methods of learning can produce mindless behaviour because they tend to suggest that there is only one answer to a problem or a single correct way to tackle a task. She also argues that it is important to teach skills and facts conditionally, to adopt varying perspectives and to set the stage for doubt and an awareness that different situations may call for different approaches or answers. The book describes seven myths that in the view of the author undermine true learning and discuses how we can avoid their debilitating effects. The myths are: 1. The basics must be learnt so well that they become second nature. 2. Paying attention means staying focused on one thing at one time. 3. Delaying gratification is important. 4. Rote memorisation is necessary in education. 5. Forgetting is a problem. 6. Intelligence is knowing "what's out there." 7. There are right and wrong answers. The arguments are backed up by a number of scientific studies - many of them conducted by the author her self. Whether you agree with all her ideas or not - the book will cause you to question some very deeply held beliefs - something we all need to do from time to time! See the book: http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/ID/X00007302/ See the author: http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/ID/X00007A32/ QUICK CLICKS ============ Here are a few quick clicks! Difficult Conversations (book): http://www.difficultconversations.com/ Silicon.com (IT news): http://www.silicon.com Contentious (site for writers): http://www.contentious.com/ BBC(R1 ... R4 streamed audio and much more): http://www.bbc.co.uk
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