10-year blog anniversary! One heraldic yearly post at at time

Would you believe it?

10 years of blogging and the tree keeps growing! (Credits: Marceline Smith / FlickR)

10 years (and a day) ago I drafted my very first post. It’s been a long and fascinating journey for me. And even though for personal reasons this year I’ve really let down my blogging, I intend to keep on blogging on Agile KM and AgileFacil(itation).
Here’s my selection of one top blog post for me from every year of blogging, and why these posts are emblematic of those years when I blogged them.

• 2007-2008: The one true KM challenge. This is a clumsy attempt at exploring what’s been the biggest KM question for me: what is the sweet spot of documenting experiences for the benefit of others (who are not in the room)?
• 2008-2009: Where to start with chaos and order? Where I’m reviewing one of Margaret Wheatley’s books on complexity. And that spawned a lot of thinking about complexity thinking for me, from that point on.
• 2009-2010: M&E of KM: the phoenix of KM is showing its head again – how to tackle it? Because that conversation on how to assess the return of KM is an evergreen and this was my first real stab at it.
• 2010-2011: Communication, strategy and revolution. This was related to my most successful Powerpoint presentation ever (a comms strategy development checklist) and it was at a moment when I was trying to bring some real spirit of critical questioning (borderline subversion) in my work.
• 2011-2012: Communication, KM, monitoring, learning – The happy families of engagement. It had to be that post, which I wrote at a very creative moment, in job transition and starting a whole new pathway for me, all focused even more on engagement though.
• 2012-2013: Global information systems, between the info monster ‘Charybdis’ and ghost town ‘Scylla’. I’ve had to refer to this post many times since I wrote it, because many people keep on building these ‘be-all-end-all’ information systems that no one really cares about. Time to rethink this!
• 2013-2014: We need more / better communication! But not from me… I find it incredible that people are still guilty of this. Everyone wants more and better communication but it has to be adapted to all their specific preferences without investing any drop of sweat in it. I mean, grow up!
• 2014-2015: I share because I care! When people wonder what social media are good for and why bother about them. This is my response. And it seems popular.
• 2015-2016: Of ‘healthy human systems’ beyond ‘the field’ and facilitating conversations that change the world: an interview with Sam Kaner and Nelli Noakes My encounter with Sam Kaner and Nelli Noakes has been the most defining moment of 2015 for me and the start of the current turn of events. I owe so much to these folks and have been changing my perspective on my work since then.
• 2016-2017: Videos: What is KM/Why KM? Taking stock This post took me a while to write but I’m very happy to have curated that selection for future reference. Hopefully it will come in handy again.

That’s for the look back. Looking forward, with another big year of change there’s likely some change coming up, including in my social media and blogging practice, so let’s see what it will be.

For now, enjoy these posts and let me know about your own reflections on your blogging journey too, if you’ve been on one 🙂

See you on this space and beyond soon!

 

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The role – and attitude – of a facilitator in designing events

My latest post on Agile Facil, coming back to the root of the word ‘facilitator’.

agilefacil

I had to take a stand and clarify this.

I’ve recently witnessed some event design processes that went really badly, where the ‘client’ and the ‘facilitator’ ended up at complete odds with each other. With as result a seemingly permanently damaged relationship, and the serious risk of derailing even the event they were planning together.

This incident offers me a good opportunity to restate what the role of a facilitator is at process design stage. And not only the role, but also the overall attitude. But first here’s for roles and responsibilities:

Process design is a complex map (Credits: The Value Web)

Listening (and asking questions)

First and foremost, you don’t jump on process design, you listen. Carefully. You read if you’re being given background literature. You make sure you have enough context to understand the context in which you’ll be operating. You prepare your questions to clarify that context…

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What a great KM champion leader does

Reminiscence…

…as I recently re-visited my former (physical) home and office in Ethiopia for the first time since I moved back to the Netherlands. Among the things that flashed back in my memory is how my former boss (the person who inspired this post) played his role as KM champion and leader, and how that helped or not in the wider organisation.

Now I’m not here to illustrate the qualities and shortcomings of my former boss – though I’m certainly hoping to organise an interview with him some time to cover at least some of his legacy – but instead to reflect on the great characteristics of a great KM champion.

I already blogged earlier about what a truly unforgettable KM boss does. But without being truly unforgettable there is a number of characteristics that any KM boss should possess – and these are:

Understand what KM is

Outcome Mapping progress markers (Credits: Simon Hearn)

That is obviously the first step – an ‘expect to see’ Outcome Mapping progress marker if anything. Any KM boss, whether focusing on KM only or on KM combined with comms should have a broad and deep understanding of what KM is – at the very least a working definition that goes beyond information management.

Engage, inform and influence (management and others)

Based on a sound understanding of what KM is, a KM leader and champion should be able to:

• Inform others about what KM is and how it supports the overall objectives (of the organisation, project, initiative etc.)
• Engage with an organisation’s management/leadership generally to understand their needs and identify ways to leverage the potential of KM
• Influence management, partners etc. to create opportunities for KM to leverage its potential benefits

Develop and share vision (and foresight)

A KM leader should be able to articulate the vision of how KM will be deployed and how it is responding to the latest upcoming trends, whether about software options, ways of collaboration and learning or otherwise. This is particularly important in the sense that KM is about using knowledge assets to become more and more adaptive and proactive so KM work should be at all times future-oriented, based on the latest knowledge (and information) available.

That vision is contributing to the next trait.

Inspire

A KM champion really should be walking their talk, of all people. They should be able to inspire others to become like them, or follow their lead. That inspiration is thus also based on the vision and foresight developed (as mentioned above).

Demonstrate

But the job is not done by just telling people what to do but by showing it others so they can see the benefits for themselves. And demonstrating is not even enough: they should get others to ‘do KM’ and do it well, so that in turn they become great KM champions too.

Empower

So the obvious next step is for a KM leader to empower others. And here it’s easier said then done, and it requires more than ‘just do what I say’. It’s about developing and nurturing a fragile ecosystem that requires a healthy dose of courage and initiative, and liberty to let others make mistakes and learn from them, and get stronger and stronger.

Coach

So the last function of a great KM champion and leader is to be the coach of everyone else on their own KM practice. And to be the reflector that KM is supposedly bringing in. Adjusting here and there, nudging now and then, protecting as and when, challenging when things have to be.

 

That’s what a great KM champion leader does. And that’s how you realise when you don’t have one what the implications are.

Cultivate your own leadership and that of others, and help the whole KM ecosystem grow. One seed of advice at a time, one drop of challenge after another. Just like any other knowledge gardener, only with a lot more responsibility… But that’s what it takes to save the world (lol).

The Knowledge champion (Credits: Neil Olonoff)

Related posts:

• The constant knowledge gardener
• What an unforgettable KM boss does
• Enabling change: a manager’s choice (and a leader’s decision)