Thursday 30 January 2014

Community Manager Appreciation Day KIN event

Community Manager Appreciation Day KIN events...
We had an excellent turn out for this event, both face to face and on-line (apart from the Google hangout at the end of the day, which did not work - so apologies to anyone who tried to connect to this!!) With over twenty people signing up to hear our excellent presenters share their tips and hints on running successful communities.

Special thanks to Lesley Parker from Severn Trent Water, Richard Millington from Feverbee and Melissa Whittle from Geo Place who presented in the room and to Jon Harman from Syngenta and Yvonne Myles from Phillips 66 in Houston, who ran successful on-line sessions on the day.

Participants (both in the room and on-line) shared their thoughts and ideas on Top tips and challenges for communities in the morning session and looked at 'How to turn lurkers into participants in the afternoon. All outputs from these sessions is currently being captured and will be shared on the event page, along with a few photographs from the activities, all speaker presentations plus video's of the face to face presenters.

The first 20 people to sign up and attend the event (face to face or virtually) all received copies of Richard Millington's 'Buzzing Communities' Book and those who were in the room also received copies of The Capacity grid Online Facilitator Playbook.


Saturday 25 January 2014

Information overload, 1945 stylee

"Mendel’s concept of the laws of genetics was lost to the world for a generation because his publication did not reach the few who were capable of grasping and extending it; and this sort of catastrophe is undoubtedly being repeated all about us, as truly significant attainments become lost in the mass of the inconsequential."

This statement is as true today as when it was written in 1945, before the cliche 'information overload' had been coined. 
A recent article by Maria Popova http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/10/11/as-we-may-think-1945/ draws on the essay by Vannevar Bush. This includes a description of an ingenious forerunner of the computer hard drive.

Friday 24 January 2014

Weekly Updates from All Announcements

MBI SIG Announcement: New Roundtable Event: Knowledge Strategies , 04 Feb 2014
Almost all the KIN Member organisations have an Organisational Learning or Knowledge Strategy or are in the process of updating it. There is so much that can be shared regarding sponsorship, stakeholder analysis, language, alignment with business objectives, resources and presentation of the strategy and measurement, that it makes sense to do this in a Roundtable. You are therefore invited to participate in this 'show-and-tell' Strategy Roundtable. We will also run some peer-assists if you have a defined problem that you would like help with. You are guaranteed to come away with new insights and practical techniques for making your knowledge strategy effecive and sustainable.

Full details can be found on this event page:
Roundtable: Knowledge Strategies '



General KIN Announcement: New Masterclass Event: TMA Developing Cross Cultural Awareness, 21 Jan 2014
This event has been set up in direct reposnse to member demand following a number of interesting sessions at the Summer 2013 workshop where we started to explore the issues facing Global Organisations and the subtleties of managing and working with individuals from a range of different cultures under the banner of 'Knowledge Sans Frontieres'.

Russell Harlow from TMA has been working with Global Virtual Teams and cross cultural issues for many years and ran a similar workshop for KIN back in 2005 wich was extremely well recieved by all participants.

If you, or any of your colleagues would like to know more about potential personal and Country cultural differences and how to best deal with these, then this workshop is for you.

Russell will use the TMA 'World Prism' to explore a range of cultural differences and what to do to minise the impact of these. Sessions will include 'Definitions of culture', 'Our understanding of our own awareness, knowledeg and skills', use of 'Country and personal Worldprism profiles' and 'explorarion of how culture impacts decision making, teams and communications'.

Full details can be found on this event page:
Masterclass: TMA Developing Cross Cultural Awareness'



General KIN Announcement: New Masterclass Event: The role of storytelling in Product Marketing, Training and Information Resources, 28 Jan 2014
Following on from thier successful session at the KIN Summer workshop event is in direct reposnse to member requests to find out more about how Tearfund create simple, effective communications materisl which are distributed worldwide.

Tearfund have been using powerful stories globally for over 40 years, in order to share knowledge and good practice, enable communities and partner organisations in their learning, and to engage the hearts and minds of supporters in the UK. This event will help you understand more about the the opportunities, challenges and different stages of producing marketing, training and information resources for a wide variety of audiences. On the day we will facilitate a space for you to reflect on the part that storytelling plays in all of this and on the global context which Tearfund works.

Please let us know ahead of the event if there is any particular issue that you are facing that you would like to discuss/explore on the day.



Full details can be found on this event page:
Masterclass: The role of storytelling in Product Marketing, Training and Information Resources'



CoP SIG Announcement: New Roundtable Event: Community Manager Apprecitaion Day events..., 27 Jan 2014
This day is open to all Operational Community/Network leaders and facilitators from KIN member organisations. Activites will be co-hosted by KIN and 'Capacity Grid (formerly part of LGA) and will involve a series of face to face and on-line events with KIN members and external providers celebrating the 5th annual 'Community Manager Appreciation day'.

Key take-aways from the day:
  • An opportunity to hear from experts and gain valuable knowledge and advice from a variety of industry sectors.
  • Experience a range of face to face and on-line social activities and technologies which you can implement in odour own community groups.
  • Wide range of tool, tips and techniques from fellow community leaders
  • Copy of capacity Grid 'Playbook' for all participants
  • Copy of richard Millington's "Buzzing Communities" for first 20 registered delegates
If you or any of your colleagues lead, facilitate, sponsor, administer or take part in any on-line, virtual or face to face networks or communities in your organisation, then this event is for you!! Don't worry if you cannot joins in London for the face to face elements of the day, there will be plenty of on-line presentations and discussions too…

Current line up includes:
  • Erica Hurley (KIN) and Dimple Rathod (Capacity grid) - 'Top Tips and Challenges'
  • Lesley Parker (Severn Trent Water) - 'Facilitator Training and Benefits capture'
  • Jon Harman (Syngenta) - topic TBA
  • Richard Millington (Feverbee) - 'Community managers' role in creating a real sense of community'
  • Melissa Whittle (LGA) - 'Online facilitated discussions'
  • Yvonne Myles (Phillips 66) - Topic TBA
  • Google Hangout - 'Community Symptoms and remedies'
  • On-line morning discussion - 'Top Challenges and tips'
  • On-line afternoon discussion - 'Turning lurkers into participants'

We are looking forward to sharing and understanding what makes communities succesful in your organisation and also celebrating the work of 'Great commnity managers', so if you have any success stories you would like to share on the day,or would like to nominate your community leader for recognition, then please contact Erica Hurley directly.

Full details can be found on this event page:
Roundtable: Community Manager Apprecitaion Day events...'



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Weekly Updates from All Announcements

LfP SIG Announcement: New Roundtable Event: Knowledge Capture Tools and Techniques, 27 Feb 2014
How do KIN member organisations capture and preserve vital knowledge? Come and find out what AWE's Manufacturing Knowledge team do and share your experience.

AWE believe they have a lot to share and have volunteered to host and lead a roundtable on this subject which is key for them. The morning will provide an exciting opportunity to learn how AWE goes about capturing and preserving their vital knowledge. In the afternoon, other KIN members are invited to reflect on what they have seen and share their Knowledge Capture techniques and stories.

In their own words:

The case for Knowledge Management in AWE- AWE has stewardship of vital and enduring knowledge which underpins delivery of the AWE Goals. That knowledge is unique in the UK and cannot be sourced elsewhere.

Manufacturing Knowledge Capture- The Manufacturing Knowledge Capture Team captures and preserves knowledge and understanding of AWE’s production processes, to maintain and enhance our manufacturing capability. We produce an educational aid & reference tool (Knowledge Book) for each manufactured component/assembly to accelerate learning.

The Manufacturing Knowledge Capture Team will include the following in our presentation;

Maintaining Manufacturing Capability,
Knowledge Capture Techniques,
Deliverables using multimedia
Access Management, need to know, need to share
Collaborative Working



Full details can be found on this event page:
Roundtable: Knowledge Capture Tools and Techniques'

Friday 10 January 2014

The Checklist Manifesto

US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, Ne...

On 15th January 2008, almost exactly six years ago, US Airways flight 1549 took off from la Guardia Airport, New York. As it climbed over the Husdon River, the Airbus flew through a flock of Canadian geese and simultaneously lost power to both engines. The resulting 'Miracle on the Hudson', as the press named the incident, passed into aviation history.

Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger  was universally hailed as a hero for performing a textbook ditching under terrifying circumstances, with no lives lost. Interestingly, Captain Sullenberger attributes the success to adherence mainly to tried and tested emergency procedures, ie a checklist of the critical things to focus on. Whilst this was dismissed as a hero's reserve, 'The Checklist Manifesto' suggests, without detracting from what was a remarkable achievement, that there is a lot of truth to this. 

The author, surgeon Atul Gawande, puts an eloquent and engaging argument for checklists; not to be ticked, but to stimulate communication. For example, a surgical team introducing themselves at the start of an operation making them a 'team'. This short book is full of convincing anecdotes from aviation, surgery and finance - Gawande suggests convincingly that almost any field can benefit from the application of a carefully considered checklist. 

We live and work in an increasingly complex world, full of distractions, where knowing what to focus on is difficult. When it comes to 'managing knowledge', perhaps checklists have a role to play in freeing-up cognitive capacity, for example tacit knowledge exchange - the kind of stuff that you couldn't and wouldn't put in a checklist.

The Checklist Manifesto is hugely thought-provoking for such an apparently simple concept. Not just for what how much more effective a well considered and tested checklist can make us, but for how we can use them to master complexity and our increasingly information-overloaded lives. 

Next time you get on a plane, think about the flight crew diligently going through their pre-flight checklist, despite having done the same thing hundreds of times. Then take a good look at that card in the seat back pocket. Both checklists have been proven to save your life.

 Photo credit: Wikipedia