CARE Knowledge Sharing Workshop

In late February, 2007, CARE convened a Knowledge Sharing workshop for 13 KS initiative from around the world. The purpose of the workshop was to explore, practice and then include KS methods into their KS initiative plans. As a group, we decided we'd share our methods and resources on the KM4Dev wiki, both to maximize our work and to see how others might add to the resources. You will see that we are either referencing community knowledge here on the wiki, creating new wiki pages or referencing external work. Eventually, we'd like to see a page for each method, complemented by stories in use by community members. Can you add something?

Our Flickr Pictures of the Workshop

Methods We Explored or Discussed

Affinity Grouping Technique

• Affinity Grouping

• Wikipedia reference with links

After Action Review

• KM4Dev FAQ After Action Review

Appreciative Inquiry

• KM4Dev FAQ Using Appreciative Inquiry

• Del.icio.us tag "Appreciative Inquiry"

• Full website and online community around AI: Appreciative Inquiry Commons

Fishbowl

• Fishbowl (See Samoan Circle for a variant)

• Fishbowl, second site

Flexible Design of Initiatives

• When designing knowledge sharing activities, it is importan to adapt or change your plan/agenda based on the needs and drives of the group. Ownership and collaborative practice is a key element in KS, so empowering ownership in the design of KS initiatives a useful practice.

Focus Groups

• Focus Groups

Graphic Facilitation (Graphic Recording)

• http://graphicfacilitation.blogs.com/

Heroic Journey (Hero’s Journey)

• Hero's Journey (not really explained as a method)

Just Three Words

• "Just Three Words" - This game originated as an online text technique but works well to surface a sense of the group face to face and on telephone calls. You can get fast feedback to test how people are feeling or for a quick reflection round. The technique is to do a round of comments from everyone with the constraint that they can only use three words in their response. For example, at the end of the call you might say "what three words describe your experience of today's call?" The notes from these exercises can then be later reviewed and observed for similarities, differences and patterns.

Knowledge Fairs

• KM4Dev FAQ on Knowledge Fairs

Land or Sea/Spectrogram

• http://facilitation.aspirationtech.org/index.php/Facilitation:Spectrogram

Mental Stimulation

.Goal/QPC is a non-profit organization that provides tools and training in product and service quality. Their most popular products are "memory joggers" that provide concise summaries of important topics in quality. The Creativity Tools Memory Jogger is a pocket guide to tools that can be used by individuals and groups to stimulate creative thinking. Web site is www.goalqpc.com

Mind Mapping

• Mind Mapping

Pairs Conversations

. Conversations in small groups or pairs are a personal way to build KS relationships. These small group conversations can be used within organizations, between organizations and the community members they work with, or within communities. When conducting conversations in pairs, use the following guidelines:

1) Select time that each person will speak.

2) Allow each person the time allotted to them -if they complete before the allotted time, allow for a respectful period of silence.

3) Decide in advance how feedback will be provided - typically, the listener provides a few minutes of feedback after the speaker's time is complete.

4) Some pair conversations, especially those on deeply personal or sensitive topics, may have a a "witness" who remains silent, but provides grounding to the conversation.

5) If there is an output at the end of the conversation, take notes so that the key points are retained.

. KM4Dev Journal article on community building using small group conversations

Peer Assist

• KM4Dev FAQ on Peer Assists

Posters

• http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/wcmn203.nsf/LinkView/0B4358D58200C02BCA2570880015B0F6BD8BF47B0E7BE6F6CA257091000DEE2A

River of Life

• KM4Dev FAQ on River of Life

Samoan Circle

• http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/wcmn203.nsf/LinkView/CFC5C63CF230313FCA25708800279A6EE8A8160E2DF5E74FCA257091000EDA33

Speed Dating/Speed Geeking

(quick information sharing, relationship building)

• http://facilitation.aspirationtech.org/index.php/Facilitation:SpeedGeeking

Storytelling

• KM4Dev FAQ on Storytelling

• KM4Dev Website Resources on Storytelling

• Ultimate Guide to Anecdote Circles

• Three Dimensions of Story

   * We tell stories to make ourselves understood. Stories are powerful persuaders. Good teachers will always try to illustrate a learning point with an example or a story. We communicate strategy using story; stories help place facts in context and give them emotional impact.
   * We listen to stories to understand others and to learn. Stories are an important way we remember and learn things and they often are the vehicle by which our various identities and memberships are illustrated. Much of an organisation's knowledge is contained in its stories. Story, in the form of anecdotes, are an essential part of finding out what is really going on.
   * Our behavior creates and changes stories. This one came to me as an afterthought, but the more I think about it the more it seems appropraite at this level. As an example, the CEO can read out the organisation's (lengthy, important and well-written) sustainability strategy statement without any noticeable effect other than eyes glazing over. But a story gets created when he puts his hand on his heart and says "I don't want to be part of an organization that doesn't act sustainably, and I don't think you do either”. People will tell the story of the behaviour long after the words of the sustainability statement are forgotten.

Strong Wind Blows

(opening, icebreaker, relationship building)

• http://facilitation.aspirationtech.org/index.php/Facilitation:Strong_Wind_Blows

Telephone Facilitation

• http://www.fullcirc.com/community/telephonefacilitation.htm

Other Method Resources

• http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/wcmn203.nsf/childdocs/-D15064A59E496FC8CA2570360014FEF8?open

• http://facilitation.aspirationtech.org/index.php/Main_Page

• CGIAR KS Magazine

• [1] Facilitation toolkit The facilitator notes (FN) can be used by everybody but users are invited to share their experiences by using the RCD-CoP Googlegroup.