Presenting at a Gurteen Knowledge Cafe

David Gurteen and I have become quite nice friends and I think that is fab. We pulled together one of his knowledge cafés and I was lucky enough to be the presenter. The key question was "what life experience has taught you the most", here's how we did it:

There were about 20 people in the room and it was the first cafe for about 85% of them. David explained that I will provoke conversation by speaking for 15 minutes without PowerPoint, then we'll split into small groups of 2-3 people. Each group discusses the key question, or frankly, whatever they want to discuss. Then, we randomize the groups, have another conversation for another 15 minutes. Then, the final rotation is a group circle where we all discuss the topic at hand. 

Here's what I presented...

3 stories and an idea. The first story was Wimbledon, the second story was Lost Car and the third story was Mud Path. The idea came between the second and third story. What's behind the stories is that this experience of living in the UK is one of my most impactful learning experiences and I was fascinated to learn others top learning experiences (maybe to recreate their structure, or just to purely share and learn them)

Wimbledon, I talked about how it took 3 times before I finally got in. How I learned about how the tournament started, how dedicated they are to being the premiere tennis org and how they leverage culture, process and technology to do that.

Lost Car. I talked about my first time in Guildford, how I parked the car and walked for hours. My cell phone battery almost died and I really had no idea where I was or how to get home, so a bit of panic started to set in as I thought about what to do. A great guy helped me out and it ended well. 

Then I offered the idea that most orgs are not feeling the panic regarding collaboration and org learning. It is time for us to understand, embrace and at least consider "working out loud". A way for employee passions and customer needs to be matched up and resolved in the most expedient and quality way possible. I think it looks and feels a lot different from our standard org designs and cultures of today. I think it feels like "one learns, everyone knows" as my buddy Andrew Muras and the US Army would say. I think there's a whole new way to embrace these engagement, strategic alignment, project management and execution problems we all face. A highly dynamic, emergent, agile organization that has culture, process and tools to leverage the collective wisdom will do the best job creating and delighting customers. And that's what it's about these days, creating and delighting customers, it's a shift away from market share and competitive advantage. 

Mud Path. I offered my experience of hiking Cheddar Gorge. I talked about hiking up 274 steps with my head down focused on making each step successfully. I said the steps changed after 274, they became more like railroad ties where you could step up, then walk a few feet, then step up again. I found myself noticing a mud path to the side of the steps. I tried the mud path and funny enough, it felt a lot different than the stairs. It felt more empowering, like more freedom. On the mud path, I didn't need to look at each step so as not to trip, I could look up and enjoy the full view and journey. It was then I realised that people had been kindly saying the whole hike, "you alright", in the British way of saying "what's up". It's just a friendly, informal hi.  It wasn't until I was on the mud path, looking up, when I found I could see others more and even be the first to say "you alright". And to me, it wasn't just the words "you alright" anymore, it was a slightly more meaningful, "hey we're both here, isn't this great, enjoy". 

The folks seemed to enjoy the talk, I received a few compliments and of course I'm always looking for honest feedback. I closed by saying, I hope I humbly, vulnerably shared some learnings of mine and I hope we can now do the same in this room and maybe even bring that approach back to our orgs after leaving this room.

It was my first time presenting to a full proper British audience. I was slightly surprised by what was funny to the group and what wasn't funny to the group. Always a lot to learn for me :)

In case you're interested in the themes that came out as most meaningful learning experiences, they were global rotations, amazing mentors and "before/after events". Before/after events are moments when change is so profound that you actually can't go back to the before state, and you may not even be able to talk about the before state. 

So let me thank David Gurteen again for the opportunity and a great little event. Looking forward to more success and continuing the openness/process to conversation!