Breakout Session # 1503 Nancy M. Dixon Common Knowledge Associates April 23, 2007 2:50 - 3:50

2. Giving and Receiving Knowledge inOrganizations - Conversations and Interaction" Breakout Session # 1503 Nancy M. Dixon Common Knowledge Associates April 23, 2007 2:50 - 3:50

3. “When I am asked, as happens occasionally, which member of the Harvard faculty had the greatest influence on my education in medicine. I no longer grope for a name in that distinguished roster. What I remember now, from this distance, is the influence of my classmates. We taught each other; we may even have set careers for each other without realizing at the time that so fundamental an educational process was even going on.” Lewis Thomas

4. How is conversational knowledge different than the knowledge people learn in training or in e-learning programs?

5. Rob Cross, 2000

6. Rob Cross, 2000

8. To: CompanyCMD@aol.com From: Stephanie Subject: Assistance with information, Please! I am currently deployed and had a soldier pass away. I am looking for funeral detail information on your site and having difficulty. To be exact, I am looking for letters of condolence and other information or memorandums that are needed in this type of situation from a platoon leader, company commander and S1 perspective. I am currently the S1 trying to do my duties and assist the chain of command in doing theirs through this trying time. It’s our unit’s first loss and we are all new to this. I would appreciate anything that you can do to assist me. Stephanie

9. Pete Ray John Stephanie The Stephanie Story Unfolding Tony/Nate Stephanie initiates the flow of events by requesting help. Tony emails Stephanie, emails Pete and John, talks with Nate, and then emails Ray.

10. The Stephanie Story Pete Tony/Nate Ray Will John Stephanie Pat Pete J. LTC G Ray emails Stephanie; John emails LTC G who emails Stephanie; Pete emails Will who emails Stephanie as well as Chaplains Pete Johnson and Pat Radigan and then emails Stephanie again.

11. Stephanie,  Just wanted to follow up on this and make sure you have everything you need. Please let me know if there’s anything else we can do to make a difference for you. –Ray Kimball And, Stephanie’s response to Ray:  Thanks for your help. I really don’t know what I would have done without your assistance. I did get everything that I needed. We are having the memorial service this evening. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers. –Stephanie (Babylon, Iraq)

12. During June, our team engaged with Company Commanders and 1SGs at Fort Drum and with future company commanders at Leavenworth...  Nate and I drove to West Point for a short trip to meet with some of our support team.We continue to be humbled by people's desire to make a difference for our team.  Nate Allen and I had the privilege of flying to Fort Drum 10-12 June.  Big highlights of our trip: spending time with Scott Shaw (pictured here) & his three platoon leaders and meeting lots of Company Commanders who just got back from Afghanistan...  I had the chance to fly to New York last week just before CGSC Graduation.  It was an awesome trip...

13. Brad, I’m the Soldiers & Families topic lead for CompanyCommand. I just read your posting on Chris Engen’s grief counseling resource thread. Wow! The notifications and funerals must have been brutal, especially being geographically separated as you were from the platoons. I admire your willingness to talk about it, especially as you’re transitioning to the new force structure. (the recce troops look like they’re going to be exciting places to be!) Could I prevail upon you to list yourself as a contact for our Casualty Operations topic? I have lots of technical info there, but no one who’s gone through what you have and can provide professional experience and wisdom to others. Just let me know. As always, if there’s anything I or the rest of the team can do for you, just let me know. -Ray Kimball for the CompanyCommand Team Jay,This note rocks -- you are literally changing the practice of HHC Command on a daily basis by what you are doing.It might be fun to experiment with featuring a guy like this on your main page as a "short take from combat" ... For example: Current hot issue he's facing in combat now (by doing this we may create a connection for him with someone else), favorite quote, what he's been reading lately, first restaurant he's going out to when his unit redeploys :)Keep up the fire!Nate Troy, This is a cool thread on your Supply page. I love how your space is allowing dudes to connect. The experts in this kind of learning say that 80% of the learning occurs off-line between people face to face or via phone/email; but those connections would not have happened outside the "online community" or, as we call it, the professional forum. Great stuff! Keep up the fire and know that little investments in this will have big payoffs, many of which you may not see right away. Tony

14. Brad, I’m the Soldiers & Families topic lead for CompanyCommand. I just read your posting on Chris Engen’s grief counseling resource thread. Wow! The notifications and funerals must have been brutal, especially being geographically separated as you were from the platoons. I admire your willingness to talk about it, especially as you’re transitioning to the new force structure. (the recce troops look like they’re going to be exciting places to be!) Could I prevail upon you to list yourself as a contact for our Casualty Operations topic? I have lots of technical info there, but no one who’s gone through what you have and can provide professional experience and wisdom to others. Just let me know. As always, if there’s anything I or the rest of the team can do for you, just let me know. -Ray Kimball for the CompanyCommand Team

15. Jay,This note rocks -- you are literally changing the practice of HHC Command on a daily basis by what you are doing.It might be fun to experiment with featuring a guy like this on your main page as a "short take from combat" ... For example: Current hot issue he's facing in combat now (by doing this we may create a connection for him with someone else), favorite quote, what he's been reading lately, first restaurant he's going out to when his unit redeploys :)Keep up the fire!Nate

16. Troy, This is a cool thread on your Supply page. I love how your space is allowing dudes to connect. The experts in this kind of learning say that 80% of the learning occurs off-line between people face to face or via phone/email; but those connections would not have happened outside the "online community" or, as we call it, the professional forum. Great stuff! Keep up the fire and know that little investments in this will have big payoffs, many of which you may not see right away. Tony

17. Brad, I’m the Soldiers & Families topic lead for CompanyCommand. I just read your posting on Chris Engen’s grief counseling resource thread. Wow! The notifications and funerals must have been brutal, especially being geographically separated as you were from the platoons. I admire your willingness to talk about it, especially as you’re transitioning to the new force structure. (the recce troops look like they’re going to be exciting places to be!) Could I prevail upon you to list yourself as a contact for our Casualty Operations topic? I have lots of technical info there, but no one who’s gone through what you have and can provide professional experience and wisdom to others. Just let me know. As always, if there’s anything I or the rest of the team can do for you, just let me know. -Ray Kimball for the CompanyCommand Team Jay,This note rocks -- you are literally changing the practice of HHC Command on a daily basis by what you are doing.It might be fun to experiment with featuring a guy like this on your main page as a "short take from combat" ... For example: Current hot issue he's facing in combat now (by doing this we may create a connection for him with someone else), favorite quote, what he's been reading lately, first restaurant he's going out to when his unit redeploys :)Keep up the fire!Nate Troy, This is a cool thread on your Supply page. I love how your space is allowing dudes to connect. The experts in this kind of learning say that 80% of the learning occurs off-line between people face to face or via phone/email; but those connections would not have happened outside the "online community" or, as we call it, the professional forum. Great stuff! Keep up the fire and know that little investments in this will have big payoffs, many of which you may not see right away. Tony

18. In Every Communication 1. Continually share purpose. Reinforce why the professional forum exists and who the team is serving. 2. Specifically communicate the impact that the team and/or the individual is having and thank them for it. Without feedback, people may be unaware of the value they are providing, the difference they are making. 3. Pass on a tip or lesson learned that will help them be more effective in their work with the forum. This could be a specific tip about how to use the technology platform (e.g., hyperlink text) or a lesson you recently learned. 4. If the person doesn’t have something specific to do for the team, get them engaged. Describe what that person can do—something that will make a real and practical difference—and ask them to do it. 5. Convey a genuine interest in the person as a person, beyond just their work with the team.

19. “What’s new about the new economy is that work is conversation.” Alan Webber, Founder of Fast Company

20. We don’t change our minds overnight; it happens in gradual stages that can be powerfully influenced along the way. • Howard Gardner Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People’s Minds

21. 1. To what extent does your organization consider conversation to be the heart of the “real work” of knowledge creation and of building intellectual capital? 2. To what extent do you consider one of your primary roles to serve as a convener for good conversations about questions that matter? 3. To what degree is your physical work space or office area designed to encourage the informal interactions that support good conversation and effective learning? 4. To what extent are your meetings designed for conversation rather than report out?

22. "I create places in which to think, without trying to dictate what to think" • Maya Lin, architect of the Vietnam Memorial