I no longer like the “huge events” where you talk through microphones and loudspeakers from the front end of the lecture room. My preference is towards the free formats where you can exchange knowledge at eye-level. Consequently, I – along with friends – initiated the PM-Camp. By now, it has turned into a beautiful success story. In June alone, we will organize three local PM Camps in Stuttgart, Vienna and Bad Homburg near Frankfurt. You can expect news from those events pretty soon.
Regardless, I decided to write and send a proposal paper for an old-style event a short time ago. The event I am talking about is the 9th Stuttgart Management Days “Knowledge Will Bring Us Together”. It will be from November, 12th to November, 13th, at the Stuttgart Liederhalle. The event is organized by “wissensmanagement – Das Magazin für Führungskräfte”. I know Neusaß (near Augsburg), where the publishing company is situated, quite well from my youth.
I designed the presentation because I think we absolutely should share knowledge and we need transparency and clarity. That is why knowledge must not be locked up in some kinds of systems. It must be set free to reach social areas of humans in enterprises, institutions and society. This is the only way for us to give our knowledge a chance to be applied and achieve something.
If you want to practice “good” knowledge management, it does not really matter what technology you use. Instead, the important thing is a “good” entrepreneurial culture. With this in mind, I wanted to give a presentation before an audience of “knowledge management experts”.
So I booted my last remaining MS computer, accessed the “form to be filled in by applicants” on the website of the “wissensmanagement”, downloaded a terrible word form and spent a nice Saturday afternoon formulating my ideas for the presentation in word (!).
Firstly, I read the deadlines to be met:
April, 30th, 2013 – deadline for submitting papers
October, 11th, 2013 – deadline for final documentation/slides
November, 12th – 13th, 2013 – congress
😉 And here is the first problem already: How am I supposed to know all the things that will move me between now and November? Even today, I already feel a lot like changing some things in the paper I submitted on March, 23rd. Here are the data I entered on the form to be filled in by prospective speakers:
Speaker
Name: Dürre First Name: Roland. M.
Academic Title: Dipl. Math. Univ.
Position: Managing Director Enterprise: InterFace AG
Postal Address of Enterprise: Leipziger Str. 16, 82008 Unterhaching (www.interface-ag.de)
Telephone Number: 089 – 61049-0 Fax: 089 – 61049-85 Mobile Phone: 0171 48 50 115
E-Mail: roland.duerre@interface-ag.de
Biography
Short CV outlining your professional career – will be published on the internet (max. 500 symbols)
Pioneer of the third computer science and communications technology generation. 1969: studied mathematics and computer science with F.L. Bauer (TUM). Worked at Siemens UB D as a student until 1979 (developed IT basic technologies) and later as a regular employee (operating systems for big “special projects”). After two years at Softlab: founded InterFace Connection GmbH, today InterFace AG with Geldmacher in 1983.
Sideline: blogger and network activist (www.if-blog.de, duerre.de, pm-camp.org …)
Title of Presentation
”Our Enterprises Need New Knowledge“
Sub-Title
How values and culture can help us to accept and utilize change.
Focal Points
4-6 points that outline the focal issues of your presentation
Humans will be successful if they have education and knowledge, along with courage – and if they enjoy their work. The success of an enterprise is based on values and trust. The huge challenge in an enterprise is strategic clarity and communication at eye-level! The knowledge of an enterprise must not be locked away. Instead, it must be set free! ”Social Media“ can help with more than just change.
Abstract
(max. 500 symbols)
The world changes all the time. Innovation becomes “creative destruction”. Transparency and sharing are demanded. How does leadership in the 3.0 Enterprise meet this challenge? What does a competitive entrepreneurial culture of “today” look like? How can we make sure to make “the right decision” more often, instead of “the wrong decision”? How to know the difference between “good” and bad”?
What role do “Social Media” play?
Content
Extended description of content (250 to 500 words)
Change is a logical conclusion of evolution and to be lived and supported by all in our enterprise. The always necessary process of continued improvement will be worked on together. … … The people working in our enterprise collaborate closely. Change is nourished by ideas from everyone. The basis for our future is empowering of people“. (Citation from our entrepreneurial principles):
Problem or chance?
More knowledge will generate change, change will generate new knowledge. This development seems to gain speed. The requirements our “world” confront us with change quickly. The entrepreneurial knowledge and competence must remain dynamic – it must not become dogmatic.
More and more enterprises will fail because of their “individualistic hierarchies”. On today’s markets, they can only survive with “new ways of thinking”: concepts developed from insights that were gained through the entity of the enterprise. Popular and important catch-phrases are crowd and swarm. There will be a merging and morphing of individual knowledge into shared knowledge.
Why is that so?
Humans live in “social systems”. Social systems can be NGOs, unions, associations, churches or enterprises.
Enterprises explicitly have an economic goal. It is to provide products and services for the market and thus feed their employees. They are subjected to the permanent change of their environment and must react flexibly.
Where something is deficient, we must find and improve on it. Where you have a special strength, you must identify and utilize it. You must remain aware of risks and chances at all times. Events that seem neutral or outside of potential evaluation might quickly become relevant.
It only makes sense to think about solutions after you have identified the important (correct) questions. “Future management” must become part of your daily routine.
How to achieve it?
Sharing experiences and learning of the “world inside and outside the enterprise” is the basis. Information must be collected by all parties concerned and made available to all parties concerned. Everyone may comment, add to, evaluate and weigh… The “enterprise crowd” will evaluate the relevance, develop the strategy and eventually decide upon operative measures.
What do we need?
Especially in distributed worlds, these kinds of processes can only be managed with supporting IT systems. They have to be designed like “games” (”Gamification“). The game must guarantee the gain of both the enterprise and the individual employee. Credits gained during the game must become part of a bonus in real “Euros”. Success will increase your reputation inside the enterprise and will become an asset for your future career.
Naturally, this is something you will only be able to do in an open, transparent and free entrepreneurial culture. The enterprise must realize fear-free areas. “Sharing knowledge” must be perceived by all as something advantageous.
Please include a digital picture (Portrait) (JPEG/GIF, 300 dpi)!
Thank you very much.
So far the form I filled in. I immediately processed it via email and photo to the given address.
I did not have to wait long for the reply. It was an invitation to sponsor the Stuttgart Knowledge Management Days.
Well, I am almost tempted. Because if I act as a sponsor, my application might well be taken more seriously. You can hardly refuse a sponsor’s presentation, can you?.
Now I am no longer surprised that the presentations on these kinds of events often sound so much like adverts and self-display. And why, consequently, so many people prefer barcamps.
Well, I decided not to sponsor the event. I am almost sorry I sent my paper. If the presentation will be accepted, I will still go and speak. And I will give my best. I will try not to speak as a front-end orator, but instead, as far as the surrounding will make it possible at all, I will invite the audience to participate.
And if my paper is not accepted, I will present it elsewhere. And I will then have a good warming-up-story.
During this activity of mine, I also discovered the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Wissensmanagement (GfWM). It cooperates with the publishing company of “knowledge management”. I am not yet familiar with the association and lobbyist structure of knowledge management. However, I am assuming that it is quite similar to other associations in the sphere of project and quality management. It is mainly about power and “that funny stuff”.
So now I have the idea of founding a barcamp for “sharing knowledge” (WI-Camp). It would enable us to meet just as nicely for knowledge management and to exchange ideas on knowledge as we are now doing it at the PM camps on topics around project management. If you are interested, just contact me.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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