The Opsimath

Knowledge transfer or Wisdom building?

One of the aims of many people working in the field of management consultancy is 'knowledge transfer'. This is the admirable goal of being able to pass on valuable knowledge to the client, so that they are left with added value at the end of an assignment.

Knowledge transfer is an interesting concept, as knowledge can take us one of two ways. With knowledge we can go down the route of arrogance or humility. The collection of knowledge alone can easily lead to arrogance as it can centre on me simply accumulating a number of things that I know - the more I know, the better I am.

The greater route to take is that towards humility. Greater, but not necessarily easier. So how can we take that route?

Wisdom

Wisdom always leads us to humility, because it is born out of real living; real experiences; real pain and real joy. Wisdom comes from the realisation that my knowledge is oh-so-small when put in the context of, and compared to, the knowledge and the wisdom of the whole of humanity.

So I believe that we have to take our knowledge and marry it with real living. The result will be our first step on the road to wisdom building.

And maybe that will become our aim as consultants - to help our clients build wisdom.

I leave you with one of my favourite quotes: Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

Help us fill this with learning in 2012

It may not be the most attractive building in the world, but for us, and the people in Nehemiah Primary School, it's one of the most exciting.

Nehemiah School is in the town of Yei in the world's newest nation - South Sudan, and this building is the newly emerging school library.

You may think that a new school library is still not the most exciting thing in the world, so here's a few facts:

• Less than 2% of children in the country complete primary education
• 85% of adults cannot read or write (92%  of women)
• The average class is made up of 127 pupils

It is therefore no surprise to learn that education is a major emphasis for this new country. That is why we at Roots have decided to put all our efforts in to ensuring that we get this library up and running (we are told that this library will be the first school library in the country...).

We have paid for the building, which is nearing completion. We have raised the funds to equip it with furniture and fittings. Now we need to fill it with learning - books!

As a trustee of Roots my main focus for the first part of this new year is to raise enough funds to allow our friends in Yei to purchase the books they require, and to pay for someone to run the library for them.

Interested in helping in some way?

Why not drop me an email at john@rootssudan.org

Happy New Year!

Raising the level of conscious incompetence in change initiatives

How do I know what I don't know?

Whenever we move into a situation of change there are things that we don't know (such as new skills, competencies, attitudes). Our problem is that we very possibly do not know that we don't know those things. This is called unconscious incompetence.

One of the key things that a change agent or change leader can do is to help people move from this state into a state of conscious incompetence. This is where we still do not know the new things, but now we are aware of that fact.

This awareness is essential if we are going to engage with any learning activity as part of the change programme. Those learning activities will eventually help us to gain the new skills so that we then move to conscious competence, which eventually becomes unconscious competence (when we no longer have to think about the skills; they are embedded).

It's making that first move that is critical. None of us likes to think that our existing skills are no longer needed and that we do not know what we need to know. But 'moving' is essential for the change to eventually take place successfully.

The role of the change agent is so important to help us over our learning anxieties as they 'raise the level' of conscious competence.

Want to know more about change management? Why not take a look at the pearcemayfield website and look at the Change Management Practitioner course, or perhaps the School of Change Management modular qualification.

Best Practice 2011

Now in its ninth year, Best Practice Showcase has consistently proved itself to be one of the most effective events for meeting and sharing experiences in project, programme and risk management. It has an environment where everyone can share experience and expertise, bounce ideas off their peers, explain new customizations and present success stories in a genuinely peer-to-peer environment. They really try to create a very interactive atmosphere.

We at pearcemayfield really enjoy this event, and we are going to be there this year too. Why not take a look at their website - we look forward to seeing you there.

Tests and exams - do they get in the way of good training?

I work for a management training company called pearcemayfield, and as part of quite a number of our courses we offer accredited examinations so that professionals can gain qualifications in topics such as project, programme and change management (eg PRINCE2).

This means that during those courses there is the need to allocate a certain amount of time and effort to preparing delegates for those exams. This will include discussions about question style and exam format; sample papers; and tests and quizzes in the style of exam questions.

Does all that 'get in the way'?

Would the training be better, more interesting and more relevant if there were no exams waiting for delegates at the end of the week?

Some would say that it does interfere, that it does distract from the real learning experience. I fully understand that, and I have seen instances where exam-based courses have been entirely the wrong solution for individuals and groups.

However, used correctly, testing can be a truly important part of the learning process. Just as long as it is understood that getting answers wrong in tests is a step within the learning process - that failure is actually 'OK'.

(This is something that a previous post touched on - see Diana Laufenberg comments that learning must include an element of failure in order to be effective.)

I like tests, quizzes, mock papers and the like not because they are an easy training option (often used quite lazily) but because they present a platform for real learning. A good, learner-centric training facilitator can create energetic and creative learning experiences with them. We should not see a mock exam as something that simply 'prepares delegates for the real exam', but that instead is an integral part of the learning that is taking place.

So if we meet up on a course that I am leading, be prepared for that test. Question number one ...

Failure is Instructional

So says Diana Laufenberg who teaches 11th-grade American History in Philadelphia. She goes on to say that learning must include an element of failure in order to be effective.

Take a listen...

 

More knowledge - where's the application?

Following my recent post about tomatoes, knowledge and wisdom, I read this on the BBC website (the informative QI section):

Tomatoes, as everyone knows, are fruits not vegetables. Fewer people know that avocados, pumpkins, coconuts, cucumbers, peas, beans (green as well as all other beans), peppers, corn, aubergines, squash and all kinds of nuts are also fruits.

So, now we have more knowledge, but to what end?

Living, as we do, in this age of information, knowledge like this assaults us from all sides - but what should we do with it? Is it all pointless unless it makes a difference to our lives?

It's a challenge that we face at pearcemayfield when working with clients in delivering training and consultancy for their staff. Is it enough that we should deliver a training course, give out masses of information (we have masses available!) but ultimately leave the delegates in the same (if not worse) position than they were in before?

That is why we use ''GAPI' Action Planning. Following 4 steps, it recognises that good learning is not about the acquisition of knowledge alone. We need to understand Goals, Actions and Practice steps before we consider the underpinning knowledge (Information) required - hence GAPI.

For a little more about our philosophy towards training take a look at this on our website.

We think the knowledge/wisdom debate is a really serious issue for organisations today, and we take our role in that very seriously.

PRINCE2 e-learning - it's here!

 

If you want to become qualified in PRINCE2 to Foundation or Practitioner level; if you don't want to attend a classroom-based course; if you prefer to learn at your own pace in your own time, then this is for you.

Our company, pearcemayfield, has now launched an e-learning product called Passport.

I think it's pretty good, and great value...

Best Thinking drives Best Practice

Training Zone website is carrying an article I have written:

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/topic/best-thinking-drives-best-practice/139204

If you are interested in:

• the importance of self-awareness
• thinking about relationships in a real and active way
• confidently planning for the unexpected

then you might like to take a look.

Top Five

Publishers TSO report that the top five best selling books in the field of Project, Programme, Portfolio and Risk Management are:

• Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2
• P3O (Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices)
• Managing Successful Programmes (MSP)
• Management of Risk (MOR)
• Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

Did you know that our company, pearcemayfield, can offer you training and support in every one of these?

We are internationally accredited to bring you the very best help in each of these key areas, and it is comforting to discover that the things that we think are important are the things that you think are important too.

So there you are, a gentle little advertisement for our services, with a little fact in the centre!