Knowledge café

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A knowledge café is a relatively simple knowledge management tool for group activities such as specialist meetings, conferences or meetings. Especially in English-speaking countries ( Australia , England , USA ), but also in Switzerland, this form of learning communities is carried out on the fringes of public conferences, workshops or in-house training courses on specific specialist topics by providers who specialize in this method. The best known are the Conversation Cafés , the Gurteen Knowledge Cafés and the World Cafés .

Knowledge cafés as an instrument of personalized knowledge management offer the possibility of open, creative conversation with the aim of developing a better common understanding as well as first approaches to a specific question or problem. Afterwards, the participants can document the results, for example in the form of a digital mind map . Knowledge cafés therefore also offer approaches for strategy methods of codified knowledge management . The use of a knowledge café loosens up a rigid conference atmosphere and offers the possibility, but not the obligation, of informal exchange. Discussions in knowledge cafés can give companies new impetus without having to present ready-made solutions immediately. They can also be a forum for the exchange of views within the workforce and thus provide additional impulses for decision-making and solution processes in the company. External organization and moderation is advantageous when designing knowledge cafés; With a little practice and creativity, the cafés can also be easily integrated into other event organization.

fitness

The implementation of knowledge cafés is particularly suitable for groups with a group size of at least twelve people. This team can be made up of an in-house staff as part of an internal meeting or training session as well as a heterogeneous specialist audience, e.g. B. on conferences.

Basically, the Knowledge Café is not about creating ready-made solutions to a specific problem, but about a creative and open approach to a specific (unsolved) problem or topic. The aim is to condense and expand existing considerations. The result can also open up completely new perspectives. In addition, knowledge cafés aim to encourage the informal exchange of implicit specialist knowledge between participants.

Knowledge cafés are basically suitable for

  • forming an opinion on a specific topic
  • the exchange of knowledge
  • stimulating innovative thinking in the group
  • the investigation and discussion of possible courses of action on practical issues
  • group-related contact between people who meet for the first time (e.g. at specialist conferences) or who have worked together for a long time (e.g. at company-internal meetings or training courses) in authentic, informal café-house exchanges
  • dealing with strategic issues
  • the deepening of relationships and mutual knowledge gain in an existing group (e.g. in a college)
  • promoting mutual interaction between speaker and audience
  • the involvement of larger groups (more than 12 people) in an authentic, process-based dialogue.

They are unsuitable for

  • the conflict with an already decisive fact or solution
  • the one-sided communication of information (e.g. from the speaker to the audience, but not vice versa)
  • the creation of a detailed implementation plan for a specific issue
  • Groups with a group size smaller than 12 people.

functionality

Knowledge cafés divide a group plenum into smaller groups of five to six people, who each gather at a round café table to discuss a specific open question or topic. A café owner moderates the discussion. Each café takes about one to two hours. The number of participants should be more than twelve, ideally 30 people. Before opening the individual cafés, the moderators should give a brief introduction to the topic of knowledge cafés and their purpose.

Drawings of participants during a world cafe .

After a predetermined time of around 45 minutes, the café table visitors change tables and walk to the next Knowledge Café - until each group has visited each café once. The café owners stay at the table and give the arriving group a brief summary of their discussion topic and the results of the opening group (approx. Ten minutes). The newly arrived group also gives a brief report on the course of the discussion in their previous café. On the basis of both summaries, they then open a new discussion, which the café owner shouldn't interrupt if possible, because the Knowledge Café is about the exchange of thoughts and opinions of the entire group - that is, about collective brainstorming . The participants and the moderator can write down key words for the ideas they have developed, e.g. B. on a paper coffeehouse tablecloth.

The organizers have to clarify the topics to be dealt with in the Knowledge Café in advance - that is, they have to develop a clear idea of ​​the what and why of the café: “If you don't know where you are going any road will get you there. “Helpful questions to ask in the organization phase of the Knowledge Café include: B .:

  • Who should take part in the Knowledge Café?
  • Which topic or which specific topic should be investigated?
  • Is the café question meaningful and open to discussion?
  • Which of the participants in the Knowledge Café tend to have more conventional and well-known views - which are the carriers of new, unconventional knowledge?
  • What time frame is available for the Knowledge Café?
  • Which question or which set of questions should be asked for discussion?
  • Which survey dimension (s) should be pursued?
  • Which topics are most useful and important and generate a creative exchange?
  • What would be a good result that could be achieved with the Knowledge Café? How can this result be achieved in the best possible way?

By repeating the discussion on constant topics for each coffee table, participants gain knowledge from a wide range of information sources. This increase in knowledge takes place more efficiently in the Knowledge Café than in the individual exchange between individual people and can also be documented (e.g. in a mind map) and thus made available to other groups of people.

Method for knowledge sharing and problem exploration

The Knowledge Café thrives on its special, warm atmosphere. The initiators should consciously create these - away from the cold, sterile and impersonal conference room. This includes round tables, comfortable seating, the range of cold and warm drinks and small snacks or cakes. There can also be soft music playing in the background.

The invitation should contain the topic or key question that participants will discuss in the café. It must be made clear that it is not about problem solving, but about problem investigation. The invitation should therefore be designed in a friendly café-house style - and not in the e-mail monotony. It is also important to encourage each individual to actively participate in the café group. Each participant represents a specific point of view within the café society and should be included. This is one of the responsibilities of the café owner. The organizers can also use "speaking objects", e.g. B. colored felt-tip pens, walk around. This gives everyone the opportunity to write their thoughts on the paper tablecloth. The mix of café house guests, i.e. their heterogeneous composition, is just as crucial for success. The distribution of the guests in the individual cafés should therefore be determined in advance.

In the last round of the café, all participants look at the paper cover notes from the cafés together and ask themselves questions such as:

  • What can we see here as a result of our exchange?
  • If there were only one voice in the room - what would it say?
  • Which further questions arise from our exchange?
  • Can we see patterns? What do these patterns amount to? What do you give us information about?

These notes can now be discussed again in the whole group. The distillate from this, e.g. B. in the form of a mind map or some other specific type of representation, is then available as processed, stored knowledge and thus refers to new activities in the field of codified knowledge management.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f cf. http://www.conversationcafe.org
  2. ↑ cf. http://www.gurteen.com
  3. ↑ The "Do's and Dont's" when considering the implementation of a Knowledge Café are based on the suggestions of the Conversation Café (see proof 1)
  4. ↑ The times given for the individual sections of the café are based on the recommendations of the three major providers of knowledge cafés mentioned above.