BOOK REVIEW
Book Title: The Knowledge Café: Create an Environment for Successful Knowledge Management
Author: Benjamin C. Anyacho, MBA, PMP
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
List Price: $38.95
Format: Soft cover, 490 pages
Publication Date: 2021
ISBN: 9781523089512
Reviewer: Alicia Morgan, PMP, AM-MC
Review Date: December 2023
Introduction
The Knowledge Café is a must-read for Project Management Institute (PMI) professionals who want to expand their knowledge through collaboration and unlock the potential of knowledge management. The Café offers insights into integrating traditional waterfall and agile projects. The first step in making a knowledge café successful is knowledge sharing and emphasizing the importance of comprehensive understanding. Therefore, it is essential to incorporate diverse perspectives. The Knowledge Café strikes a balance between structure and spontaneity. It is crucial to establish ground rules while allowing outcomes to define themselves. Remember to foster an environment where every participant possesses valuable contributions.
Invite diverse stakeholders like knowledge practitioners, knowledge engineers, and knowledge officers to the Café. Knowledge practitioners generate tacit and explicit knowledge. Knowledge engineers then convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. Knowledge officers oversee the entire knowledge creation process at the corporate level.
The Knowledge Café is a modern, multi-generational systematic concept designed to transfer, retain, and manage pertinent knowledge. It creates a space for ongoing learning rather than letting lessons learned become lost. The book guides provide insight into structuring a Café agenda and selecting an enthusiastic, knowledge-sharing facilitator. The facilitator should focus on the collective rather than themselves.
Overview of Book’s Structure
The Knowledge Café is a complete guide to understanding and implementing knowledge management practices. It explains how a Knowledge Café can help individuals and organizations attain success. It has twelve chapters with comprehensive insights into various aspects of knowledge management. It covers topics such as defining a Knowledge Café, designing an effective Knowledge Café, exploring the intersection of knowledge culture and the café, and establishing a Knowledge Café environment capable of handling challenging conversations.
Highlights
- Knowledge management is the new competitive advantage for high-performing teams. Integrating people, processes, and technology, coupled with a culture of sharing and learning, positions knowledge management as a transformative force within organizations.
- Knowledge management should become ingrained in an organizational culture. It becomes coopetition, a cooperative engagement with competitors. The shift accelerates performance and solidifies a competitive advantage, emphasizing the collaborative nature of successful knowledge management.
- Knowledge is valuable. People need an incentive to exchange it. Your knowledge value only grows or generates a return when invested in the work and others and when others invest in you.
- The Café is about conversations, knowledge sharing, and making sense of what we know, not necessarily about writing, presentations, and lectures.
- The Café usually runs for 1 ½ hours depending on available time, but never less than one hour. The time should be in conversation and not one person presenting.
- There is no predefined outcome. It is about learning agility and designing something new.
- The facilitator is skillful in encouraging conversation and dialogue and respects different opinions. The facilitator spends 10-15 minutes outlining the subject or theme of the café and asks a single open-ended question.
- Branding of the Knowledge Management program must fit with the culture and organization.
- Café style learning is the university of the future. It suggests a paradigm shift in education. The concept emphasizes the importance of engaging environments, breaking down silos, and promoting innovation, underscoring the role of dynamic knowledge exchange in learning.
More…
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How to cite this review: Morgan, A. (2024). The Knowledge Cafe, book review, PM World Journal, Vol. XIII, Issue I, January. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/pmwj137-Jan2024-Morgan-The-Knowledge-Cafe-book-review.pdf
About the Reviewer
Alicia Morgan, PMP, AM-MC
Dallas, TX, USA
Alicia Morgan is an accomplished executive leader with expertise in project and program management, change management, and agile leadership. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering from Tuskegee University and a Master of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering from New Mexico State University. She has managed high-performing teams across various sectors, including Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, and college/workforce readiness initiatives. As a PMP-certified consultant, she is recognized as an industry expert and thought leader in project and program management. Alicia is also an award-winning professional, Women in Technology Awards Advocate Honoree, and a TEDx speaker. Her work is in several publications, such as Dallas Morning News, Dallas Business Journal, Crain’s Chicago Business, and The Hill. Alicia excels in executive and people leadership, stakeholder engagement, and strategic planning. With excellent communication and organizational skills, she builds trusted relationships and identifies new strategic partnerships. Alicia can be contacted at ammorgancreative@gmail.com
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