The Importance of Professional Networking – Conversations at the Gurteen Knowledge Café

David Gurteen specialises in conversations, and I had the opportunity to have a few with him while he was in Wellington last month. As a self appointed minder during part of his visit I managed to arrange for us to walk together from his hotel in Cuba St. to the Chapman Tripp offices where he had agreed to run a Knowledge Café for members of Te Upoko o Te Ika a Maui, the New Zealand Law Librarian’s Association and the New Zealand Knowledge Network. The walk took about twenty minutes and although we didn’t talk about anything particularly profound, I found our exchange delightful and edifying.

I suspect that my response to our chat was more about the fact that we were two human beings engaged in a common activity and sharing our thoughts, rather than the fact that he was an expert in the field of Knowledge Management and the creator of a number of knowledge sharing innovations. After experiencing the Knowledge Café itself I was even more convinced that the value of the evening came from the sense of vitality we found in talking to people about the things we care and are curious about than the brilliance of the technique.

David explained that he came up with the Knowledge Café format after recognising that members of his London based knowledge management group were getting more out of their post meeting get together in the pub than they were from formal presentations (or “death by power point” as he described them). Participants at a knowledge café sit in small groups at a table discussing a single, often provocative question. After 15 minutes some of the participants move table and some stay put. After three of these changes the entire group sits in a big circle and the facilitator asks “now who would like to start the conversation?” and a further ten to fifteen minutes is spent talking as a large group.

The question for our Café was “why is professional networking important, and how can we do it better?” I didn’t get a definitive answer to this question, but I did get a strong impression of how a range of people think about their professional networks, and why they value them. Like many good conversations we strayed well away from the central topic. Particularly rich veins included the use of twitter in networking and why this is fantastic/terrible, and how to foster more meaningful face to face conversations at work.

Having members of NZLLA and NZKM as well as Te Upoko really enriched the conversation, and I enjoyed the range of perspectives presented. One of ideas that impressed me was that good professional networking can be between professions as well as within a profession, and there is much to be gained from the cross pollination of disciplines and our different world views - and that Knowledge Cafes seem a perfect way to facilitate that!

I’d like to give a big thank you to the people who helped support the evening including Robyn Emett and Alistair Jenkins from NZLLA, Julian Carver and Janita Stuart from NZKM, Moira Fraser who got David Gurteen to agree to the idea, and Chapman Tripp for providing a stunning venue.

Here is a slideshow of us enjoying pre café networking: http://bit.ly/14XykC
You can read more about David Gurteen and Knowledge Cafés here http://www.gurteen.com

Paddy