Wellington: October/November 2010- Dates TBA

David Gurteen has over 30 years' experience working in high technology industries. Today he works as an independent facilitator to help people achieve results through innovating, sharing, learning and working more effectively together.

David is the founder of the Gurteen Knowledge Community - a global learning network of over 15,000 people in 154 countries who share and learn from each other and who strive to see the world differently, think differently and act differently. He is well known for his Gurteen Knowledge Cafés and Knowledge Sharing workshops that he runs regularly in London and around the world.

Knowledge Sharing is a key issue for Knowledge Management and for organizational success. But real Knowledge Sharing requires an open mindset and continues to be a challenge for many organizations. In fact, it can be difficult to even get people to talk openly to one another other about their specific corporate interests, opportunities and responsibilities.

One way of energizing an organization to achieve real Knowledge Sharing benefits is the use of Knowledge Cafés. A Knowledge Café is an effective vehicle for opening up conversations and discussions that lead to sharing. One way of thinking of the Knowledge Café is as a tool that is used to share tacit knowledge. It can be used within teams or Communities of Practice to question entrenched assumptions, to help facilitate learning from others and gain a deeper collective understanding of a subject - through conversation.

It is not just about talking and networking though these are secondary benefits but allowing people to engage each other in "dialogue" with the aim of learning from each other rather than entering into unproductive debate and attempting to impose their views on the other which invariably end in failure and frustration.

Specifically a Knowledge Café can:

• gain improved understanding of a complex issue
• get buy-in for a new initiative
• flush out problems and issues in a department or project especially ones of lack of communication that can then be acted on and resolved
• help build consensus around a proposed plan of action
• improve the way that people work together by gaining a deeper understanding of each others perspectives on issues
• jointly develop a policy document e.g. a code of practice (done in conjunction with say a wiki)
• a tacit transfer mechanism between young and retiring workers
• more widely share individual expertise
• help merge two cultures after a take-over
• improve inter-personal relationship and thus ability to work together effectively

In effect the Knowledge Café is an easy, low cost way to make Knowledge Sharing really work for you and your organization.

In this workshop you will get to understand the desired outcomes, fundamental principles and benefits of the Knowledge Café process. You will go on to participate in a Knowledge Café; to experience the benefits first hand and to reflect on and discuss the experience within the session.

You will leave the workshop understanding the power of the Knowledge Café and with sufficient knowledge to run to one.

David Gurteen, your workshop facilitator, has been running Knowledge Cafés in a variety of settings and cultures, around the world for the last 5 years including: London; Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta; Hong Kong; Dubai; Singapore; Canberra; Barcelona; Washington DC; Moscow and elsewhere. From this experience, he has developed a highly successful format: The Gurteen Knowledge Café.

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The workshop is designed for anyone who is tasked or involved in developing a knowledge sharing or more innovative culture within their organization.

You do not need to be a professional facilitator. People interested might include: KM Practitioners, Learning and Development Practitioners, Human Resource Practitioners, Project Leaders, Change Managers, Trainers, Facilitators, CoP Leaders and others.

REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION

Registration Fee: $745+ GST pp

Register you interest now

For more information contact Sue Mardon at SmartNet, email admin@smartnet.co.nz; phone (03) 374 6753 ddi or (03) 3667 874.

The Knowledge Café is as a tool that is used to share tacit knowledge.

A Knowledge Café can:

- Focus your organization's Knowledge

- Strengthen your organization's Knowledge Network

- Get a Community of Practice really going

- Make Knowledge Sharing a reality for your organization