Vademecum

SDC Knowledge Management

Toolkit
Sharing Knowledge and Learning
This Vademecum is published in English, German, French, and Spanish.
A comprehensive version with explanatory texts is available in English only.
All texts can also be found on the Internet: www.sdc-learningandnetworking.ch
Published by: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA)
www.deza.admin.ch
Available from: SDC
Knowledge and Learning Processes Division
Freiburgstrasse 130
CH-3003 Berne
E-mail: wlp@deza.admin.ch
Tel. +4131 322 35 79
Fax +4131 324 13 47
Authors: AGRIDEA, CH-8315 Lindau:
Ernst Bolliger, Olivia Hartmann, Corinne Sprecher
Layout: Nicole Moser, Michael Knipfer, AGRIDEA
Photos: Karina Muench, Nicolas Merky
Copyright: SDC 2009
Second Edition 2012
Vademecum
SDC Knowledge Management
Toolkit
Sharing Knowledge and Learning
With many other organisations, we are connected and
maintain a constructive and trusting relationship
Reviews, evaluations and studies help us to under-
stand our activities and their effects
However, we ourselves do not always become aware
of what in fact we have learnt
Still we know that sharing requires a real interest in
the experience of other people
Obtaining the desired effect is the best argument for
getting the support necessary for our activities
By making use of knowledge proven in practice, we
will be effective
However, in practice our lessons learnt and our
successful experience are not sufciently taken into
account when planning future activities
We know that well proven methods and knowledge are
available
We do have a lot of freedom in organising our work
Only rarely (if ever) do we ask our colleagues about
their experience
We allow ourselves little time for reading and for
sharing our experience
We take little time to describe our own work
realistically, and to look at it critically
As publisher of the present
toolkit, the Knowledge and
Learning Processes Division of
SDC supports the sharing of
knowledge and skills
A variety of methods exists, and they are easy to apply
We constantly use new methods
Sometimes we become tired of using new methods
and keep away from innovations
Collaborators of SDC use
tried and true methods them-
selves and reect on them
By applying the methods, we
experience the added value they
produce for our practical work
We want to sum up the results
and the experience of our
activities, and to present them
in a form that is easy to
understand
We want our products to be
available to our partner
organisations
This toolkit makes available
the methods proven in
practice, and thus supports
efcient and effective sharing
of knowledge
Introductory
remarks to the
toolkit
SDC Bern, July 2009
Sharing
Knowledge
and Learning
Jrg Frieden
Manuel Flury
Our organisation is a
learning organisation
Our organisation is closely
related to practice
Our organisation is
interconnected
Our organisation strives
for effectiveness
4 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 5
Table of Contents
After Action Review... .............................................................................................6
Appreciative Inquiry ..............................................................................................8
Balanced Scorecard... .......................................................................................... 10
Brainstorming... .................................................................................................... 12
Brieng and Debrieng... ................................................................................... 14
Collegial Coaching... ............................................................................................ 16
Community of Practice (CoP)... ............................................................................ 18
Critical Incident Technique ..................................................................................20
Exit Interviews... ...................................................................................................22
Experience Capitalization... ................................................................................24
Experience Documentation .................................................................................26
Facilitation... .........................................................................................................28
Good Practice... .....................................................................................................30
Horizontal Evaluation ..........................................................................................32
Knowledge Fair... ..................................................................................................34
Knowledge Map... ................................................................................................36
Knowledge Network... .........................................................................................38
Lessons Learnt... ...................................................................................................40
Mentoring... ...........................................................................................................42
Open Space... ........................................................................................................44
Peer Assist... ..........................................................................................................46
Ritual Dissent ........................................................................................................48
Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping ..................................................................50
Story Telling... .......................................................................................................52
SWOT... ...................................................................................................................54
Visualisation... ......................................................................................................56
World Caf... ..........................................................................................................58
Yellow Pages... ......................................................................................................60
6 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 7
After Action Review
An after action review (AAR) is a discus-
sion of a project or an activity. It enables
the individuals involved to learn for them-
selves what happens, why it happened,
what went well, what needs improvement
and what lessons can be learned from the
experience. The spirit of an AAR is one of
openness and learning it is not about
problem xing or allocating blame. Les-
sons may be learned on the spot by the in-
dividuals involved or explicitly documented
and shared with a wider audience.
1. Invite the right people - appoint a
facilitator - create the right climate.
2. What was supposed to happen?
Revisit the objectives and delivera-
bles of the project.
3. What actually happened? What
went well? Why? What could have
gone better? Identify learning
advice for the future.
4. Ensure that everyone feels fully
heard before leaving the meeting.
5. Record and share important les-
sons learnt.
Steps in an AAR
8 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 9
Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an organisation-
al development and change management
method. It builds on the best in people,
their organisations, and the relevant world
around them, i.e. on their resources and
best practices. The organisations person-
nel discover these valuable features by in-
terviewing each other. They learn to appre-
ciate them and they create momentum for
positive change. AI is a way of seeing and
being: not focusing on xing problems, but
on what already works well and should be
strengthened.
An AI process can be undertaken over a
longer period of time, as well as in a large
group event in 2-4 days known as an AI
summit.
AI is usually applied in ve steps
(5D-Cycle):
1. Denition: Clarify the focus and
scope.
2. Discovery: Staff members inter-
view their colleagues to discover
the times when their organisation
is at its best. They ask about what
is good and what has worked.
3. Dream: Usually in a large group
event, people are encouraged
to envision the organisation as
though the peak moments iden-
tied in the discovery phase were
the norm rather than the excep-
tion.
4. Design: Formulate steps to the
dreamed situation. What needs to
happen to support the vision of the
future?
5. Destiny: Experiment and make it
happen. Teams are formed to fol-
low up on the designed elements.
How to go about it?
10 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 11
Balanced Scorecard
The balanced scorecard is a strategic plan-
ning and management system that helps
an organization to align all its activities to
its vision and strategic goals, to improve its
internal and external communication and
to monitor its organizational performance
against strategic goals. The core piece of
the system is a matrix. This so-called bal-
anced scorecard depicts the strategic
goals split into objectives for the impor-
tant dimensions of an organization. It also
includes the related concrete activities, ex-
pected results and assigned responsibili-
ties. Special about the balanced scorecard
is that it looks at the organization not only
from a nancial perspective but also in-
cludes other perspectives such as person-
nel, learning and growth, business proc-
esses and customer satisfaction. It there-
fore yields a complete, balanced picture of
an organization.
1. Formulate mission, vision and
strategic goal of the organization.
2. Develop the balanced scorecard
matrix:
a) Brake down the strategic goal
into objectives and activities
within the given dimensions;
b) Select strategic initiatives/
activities (goal, action, indicator).
3. Group initiatives into strategic
projects.
4. Implement strategic projects (clear
assignment of responsibilities!).
5. Communicate the planned ac-
tivities and results by means of a
reporting scorecard.
How to go about it?
12 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 13
Brainstorming
Brainstorming makes it possible to quickly
and, with a minimum effort, extend ones
horizon to available experience, ideas and
opinions. For application in groups and in
workshops, this method consists of collect-
ing uncommented ideas or suggestions.
Thus it is especially used at the beginning
of a meeting or workshop in order to get
an overview of the available experience or
ideas to be built upon.
Brainstorming sessions are used for solv-
ing problems, making product innova-
tions, improving communication patterns,
optimizing customer services, scheduling
projects, budgeting, etc.
1. Introduce a brainstorming ques-
tion both orally and in writing on
chart paper. Set time limits.
2. Invite participants to respond with
ideas or suggestions, ideally in
concise words.
3. Refuse any comment on partici-
pants contributions. Emphasize
that all ideas are equally valid.
4. Record each response on cards or
chart paper.
5. Group same and related ideas in
clusters. Ask What is missing?
6. Prioritize and analyze the results.
Make participants feel the value
added of the brainstorming in a
wider context. Decide on further
steps.
How to go about it?
14 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 15
Brieng and Debrieng
Briengs are used to update consultants
and other staff with newest contextual in-
formation, debriengs to inform decision
makers about specic situations, ndings
of evaluations or studies and respective
recommendations. The brieng note is a
key for every form of brieng, be it oral or
written, face to face or distant.
It should be:
short: one or two pages;
concise: use few meaningful words;
clear: keep it simple and to the point;
always keep your reader rmly in mind;
reliable: the information in a brief-
ing note must be accurate, sound and
dependable;
readable: use plain language and de-
sign your brieng note for maximum
readability.
A brieng note includes the purpose, the
summary of the facts, and the conclu-
sion. Current sections of a brieng are:
Issue: A concise statement of the
purpose, proposal or problem.
Background: The details the read-
er needs in order to understand
what follows.
Current Status: Description of
who is involved, what is happening
now, etc.
Key Considerations: A summary
of important facts and considera-
tions.
Options: Including the pros and
cons of each, or what will happen
next.
Conclusion and/or Recommen-
dations: Clear, direct and substan-
tiated by the facts put forward.
Structure of a Brieng Note
16 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 17
Collegial Coaching
Collegial Coaching is a professional de-
velopment method aiming at increasing
collegiality and improving performance.
There are ve main functions:
Companionship: Talk about success and
failure with a new approach.
Feedback: Give each other objective, non-
evaluative feedback.
Analysis: Help each other apply a new ap-
proach or method.
Adaptation: Work together to t an ap-
proach to the special needs of an assign-
ment.
Support: Provide needed support.
1. Dene roles: (A) Requesting per-
son and (B) 3-5 coaches, one act-
ing as a facilitator (3).
2. A exposes his or her own situation
and formulates the core question
for the coaching (5).
3. Coaches (B) ask questions of un-
derstanding; A provides answers
(5).
4. Coaches (B) discuss among them-
selves about As case and about
the way he presented it. They
share own experience of similar
situations and challenges. A just
listens, sitting a bit off the group
(20).
5. A reacts on the discussion of the
coaches (5). If needed, steps 2 to
4 are repeated with a new core
question (30 more are required).
6. A declares the next steps he will
make (5).
Steps in a Collegial Coaching
18 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 19
Community of Practice (CoP)
Six essential aspects of a successful CoP
Strong community: active members
with lively interest. Member pool is
often uctuating.
Clear, well-dened domain: specic
thematic orientation, relevant and
meaningful for all members.
A CoP is based on and linked to indi-
vidual practice of its members.
Personal motivation: members give
priority to CoP.
Mandate: organizations are interested
in concrete outcomes and allot time
and resources to the members.
Informal structure: going beyond
organizational structures; linking up
units within and/or between the or-
ganizations.
Ensure that key-stakeholders are
active members; a balance of giv-
ing and taking.
Strive for most practical and tangi-
ble outputs/outcomes; disseminate
them widely.
Carefully select how to be con-
nected balance face to face
meetings with other means of
communication.
Combine informality with a basic
set of rules for communication and
collaboration.
Ensure ownership within look
well after the roles of manager,
expert, facilitator.
Adjust to changes in the environ-
ment.
Important
20 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 21
Critical Incident Technique
The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) is
a tool to analyse and unearth the prob-
lem-solving behaviour of people. In in-
dividual or group interviews a particular
situation told as a story is explored, e.g.
a problem of a systemic organisational
adaptation or a problem caused by dif-
ferences between interacting parties. This
triggers a reection process on effective
and ineffective ways of doing something,
helping and hindering factors and critical
aspects in the specic situation. Also, the
interviewed people are encouraged to ex-
plore new ideas for problem solving and to
identify recommendations for effective fu-
ture practice. Thus, CIT is a tool for aware-
ness building for both concerned insiders
and interested outsiders.
1. Prepare: Describe the systemic
problem your partners are facing
and determine what questions
you would like to reect on jointly.
Based on this decide what key
actors to involve.
2. Create and tell a story: Chose
a critical episode and share it by
telling the story you created. It
does not have to be real, but it
needs to be realistic!
3. Ask questions and explore the
incident: Formulate questions for
the interview partner(s) which help
to identify:
what led to the incident in his/her
opinion;
how he/she would deal with the
incident,
how the incident could have been
avoided;
resources that people could mobi-
lise to deal with the issue at stake.
4. Analyse and interpret the ndings.
How to go about it?
22 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 23
Exit Interviews
Exit interviews have evolved from feedback
interviews with employees leaving the or-
ganisation to a knowledge management
tool, as a way of capturing knowledge
from leavers. Rather than simply capturing
supercial information, the interview also
aims to capture knowledge about what it
takes to do the job. Done correctly, exit
interviews can be a win-win situation for
both the organisation and the leaver. The
organisation gets to retain a portion of the
leavers knowledge and make it available
to others, while the leavers get to articulate
their unique contributions to the organisa-
tion and to leave their mark. Exit inter-
views are relatively quick and inexpensive.
In a knowledge-focused exit interview, a
face-to-face meeting is needed.
1. Start early. Plan the exit handover
with replacing staff.
2. Identify persons that might benet
from the captured knowledge.
Check their interest.
3. Make sure explicit knowledge
documented throughout the whole
working period is accessible.
Check for relevant additional as-
pects to be captured now.
4. For implicit knowledge, review the
key tasks of the person leaving.
Ask about how to go about those
tasks and the needed knowledge.
5. Ask for a walk through to identify
success stories and success fac-
tors, problems and pitfalls.
6. Identify knowledge sources (per-
sons, networks).
The best exit interview happens
during an overlap between the
leaving and the replacing person.
How to go about it?
24 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 25
Experience Capitalization
In an experience capitalization, key stake-
holders transform individual and institu-
tional experience and knowledge into cap-
ital that can be used in the future. Experi-
ence capitalization is future oriented and
aims at a change in collective institutional
practice. Its focus may be on strategic ori-
entation, basic concepts, or operational
activities. Small experience capitalizations
can be done in hours or days; more com-
plex ones may last weeks or even months.
Experience capitalization is made up of
learning processes that prepare change.
Its output is lessons learnt, and good prac-
tices; its outcome is induced changes; a
change in practice fulls its purpose.
There is no standard procedure for expe-
rience capitalization. Precise aims, clear
questions and a deliberate openness to
change are prerequisites for useful re-
sults that are easy to put into practice.
The usual phases in an experience
capitalization are:
1. Needs assessment: Aims, bene-
ts, readiness for change, etc.
2. Planning: Aims in detail, elds of
observation, process, duration,
roles, resources, instruments, etc.
3. Implementation: Choice of stake-
holders (ownership), process man-
agement, documents, synthesis,
validation of outputs, etc.
4. Practice change: Decisions, plan-
ning and monitoring of the changed
practice, impact analysis, etc.
How to go about it?
26 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 27
Experience Documentation
Experience documentation is an effective
means to make own experiences available
to others and facilitate their learning. The
objective is to create a retrievable memory,
which in turn promotes accountability.
Experience can be documented through
an individual or team process, lasting
some hours to several months. The stora-
ble product may vary: text in print or digi-
talised, photos, videos or any combination
of the above. What is key to all forms of
experience documentation is that potential
future users are identied from the begin-
ning and the product is shaped to their
needs.
1. Assessing needs: Clarify the aim
and motivation for the documenta-
tion, identify potential future users
and expected results to address
their needs.
2. Planning: Decide on core focus and
ve to ten guiding questions; dene
the form of the product and clarify
the roles of all stakeholders.
3. Documenting: Describe the process
(including successes and failures),
involved actors, contextual factors
inuencing the experience, and
main results. Use an attractive
way of writing; illustrate with pic-
tures, graphs, personal stories and
quotes.
4. Facilitating future use: Decide on
how to make the documentation
available and how to inform others
about it.
How to go about it?
28 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 29
Facilitation
Facilitation is the art of guiding the discus-
sion process in a group. The facilitator is
responsible for the planning and imple-
mentation of an appropriate process; the
concerned group is responsible for the
content by contributing expertise. Facilita-
tion aims at being economical (goal ori-
ented and time efcient) and at ensuring
the well-being of all involved participants
(giving room to all voices in a group, es-
tablishing an atmosphere of listening to
each other, and striving for decisions that
are supported and owned by all).
Conditions for successful facilitation are:
openness and sharing, benets for all, and
respect for the facilitator based on his / her
competence, neutrality, independence and
credibility.
1. Negotiate your mandate with the
owner of the event. First get clarity
about the expected results, and then
choose the appropriate methods.
2. Successful facilitation begins with
preparation. Make sure, the pro-
gramme meets the expectations of
the owner and the concerned group.
3. Limit yourself to what is feasible. If
needed, re-negotiate your mandate.
4. At the start of every event, make a
clear agreement with the partici-
pants (objective, programme, time
frame, roles, and procedure).
5. Stick to your role (process man-
ager) and respect the role of the
participants (experts of content).
What is most important?
30 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 31
Good Practice
The essence of identifying and sharing
good practices is to learn from others and
to re-use knowledge. The biggest benet
consists in well developed processes based
on accumulated experience. Most good
practice programmes combine two key ele-
ments: explicit knowledge such as a good
practices database (connecting people with
information), and methods for sharing tacit
knowledge such as communities of practice
(connecting people with people).
1. Identify users requirements.
2. Identify good practices worth be-
ing shared.
3. Document good practices (title
and short abstract, prole of the
good practice, context, description
of processes and steps, lessons
learned, and links to resources
and key people).
4. Validate good practices with con-
vincing results in a new context.
5. Disseminate and apply good
practices.
6. Develop a supporting
infrastructure.
How to go about it?
32 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 33
Horizontal Evaluation
Horizontal Evaluation is a exible evalua-
tion method that combines self-assessment
and external review by peers. In general, the
focus of the evaluation is on the methodolo-
gy, not the project or organization that de-
veloped it. A Horizontal Evaluation makes it
possible for teams working on similar con-
tents, but in different contexts, to learn from
each other and improve their practice in an
effective yet enjoyable way. Focusing on the
learning process, the Horizontal Evaluation
overcomes several drawbacks of more tra-
ditional external evaluations.
Day 1 Get to know the subject: Lo-
cal participants introduce the method-
ology used in a given project. Visitors
limit themselves to asking questions
of clarication and requesting missing
information. The two groups choose
the evaluation criteria together.
Day 2 Visit the eld: In small
groups, the visitors conduct
semi-structured interviews in the eld,
carefully observe and triangulate
sources of information. After the visits,
each group synthesizes and presents
its ndings based on the evaluation
criteria.
Day 3 Conduct a comparative
analysis: Visitors and local partici-
pants identify strengths, weaknesses
and suggestions for improvement in
their respective teams and present
them in plenary. They synthesize re-
commendations for future use.
How to go about it?
34 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 35
Knowledge Fair
Knowledge fair is an event designed to
showcase information in a large amount.
Visitors can focus specically on what they
are interested in learning. They can interact
directly with the presenters, getting imme-
diate answers to their specic questions.
Knowledge fairs also provide opportuni-
ties to draw attention to best practices and
appreciate employee and team achieve-
ments.
1. Get top level support and publicize
the fair widely.
2. Put the fair where there is a lot of
foot trafc.
3. Get common displays for booths.
4. Be realistic about how much time
it takes for communities to prepare
and display.
5. Dont plan in too much detail for
the actual booths communities
can self-organize within a com-
mon framework.
6. Dont be too serious a fair can
be fun!
How to go about it?
36 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 37
Knowledge Map
A knowledge map is a tool for presenting
what knowledge resides where (e.g. peo-
ple, media, organizational units or sources
of knowledge outside the organisation) and
for demonstrating the patterns of knowl-
edge ow (access, distribution, learning).
Its principal purpose and clearest benet is
to show people in an organization or within
a network/supply chain very fast where to
go when they need expertise. It also helps
to understand what knowledge is essential
or at risk to be lost and thus needs to be
rescued or secured. The most common
way of presenting a knowledge map is
a simple graph with typically 60 to 100
nodes representing knowledge repositories/
sources and connections representing the
ow of knowledge (physical or mental).
1. In a series of interviews ask peo-
ple to provide information about
the structure of knowledge in the
concerned domain (and its inter-
linkages)
2. Let them rate the importance
for the company, the difculty to
replace it, whether it is acquired
mainly from study or practice
and the proportion of staff in the
knowledge area who would also
know about it.
3. Plot the results on a knowledge
map.
4. Analyze the knowledge map and
integrate the results in a know-
ledge management strategy, keep-
ing in mind that a knowledge map
is a momentary snapshot and
might change
How to go about it?
38 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 39
Knowledge Network
A Knowledge Network consists of a group
of people who provide each other with and
share implicit and explicit knowledge and
skills and develop them further. This hap-
pens through different channels and kinds
of contacts: specic one to one interac-
tions (E-mail, Phone, Skype, conferences)
or unspecic interactions amongst a larger
group (forum discussions, documents, pro-
les and ratings, newsletters). However,
any knowledge network rst and foremost
functions based on personal contacts that
are carefully fostered. A Knowledge Net-
work is not only about exchange amongst
colleagues but also about access to a maxi-
mum spectrum of knowledge(bearers) and
skills for all eventualities.
Informal participation and organi-
zation, no hierarchic structures,
the larger a network, the more
important a motivated facilitator
who stimulates and accompanies
activities striving for active interac-
tions and involvement of all,
a minimal budget that allows to
conduct the above mentioned
activities and facilitation in a pro-
fessional way,
integrate and make use of al-
ready existing networks as best as
possible,
in order to be useful for poor and
disadvantaged people, special
measures are needed to integrate
them.
Important:
40 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 41
Lessons Learnt
The formulation of lessons is the collection,
validation, consolidation and nally docu-
mentation of experiences, developments,
hints, mistakes and risks found during a
project. Drawing lessons makes sense at
the end of any project, activity and work
phase. Doing so not only gives credit to the
efforts made it also leads to a valuable se-
lection of information that can be useful in
the planning and preparation of new en-
deavours. Lessons are learnt rst and fore-
most at an individual level. In a team these
(often diametrically different) individual
lessons can be consolidated into lessons
learnt of the team. Likewise lessons learnt
of various teams can be consolidated and
made useful for the whole organization.
Clarify a) for what area lessons
are to be learnt, and b) who has
an interest in these lessons.
Delineate the system boundaries
(project, area of activity, action-
learning).
Formulate corresponding guiding
questions.
Collect (individual) answers to
these questions and any other
spontaneous idea.
Consolidate individual lessons into
shared lessons (team, organiza-
tion).
Describe the lessons learnt (and
the surrounding setting) in an at-
tractive and well-structured way.
Make lessons learnt accessible to
all interested.
How to go about it?
42 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 43
Mentoring
The mentor is an experienced person who
is able, willing and available to teach, train
or coach a person with less knowledge in
a specic area regardless of age, gender,
or expertise in other unrelated areas. The
mother of four children may be a mentor to
young parents, the young computer cham-
pion to a senior staff, and the senior expert
to the young professional. Mentoring aims
at (1) skills development, (2) fostering the
understanding of the organisation and its
culture, and (3) career development. Be-
side this traditional mentoring (with xed
roles), peer mentoring (with interchanging
roles) and team mentoring (with a network
structure) are practised, the latter two hav-
ing common features with other methods
(peer assist / peer review).
Reect on own past experiences as a
mentor or disciple (beneciary). What
has been a great experience? What
made it successful? Check the men-
toring concept (as a part of the knowl-
edge management) of your organisa-
tion: What are accepted standards?
1. Determine the goals of the men-
toring process. Dene the bene-
ciarys expectations and preferred
learning styles, and reveal the
mentors concept.
2. Choose the right mentor. Experience,
knowledge and skills are one thing
a ne relationship between mentor
and beneciary the other. Your boss
might not be the best mentor for you.
3. Develop a mentoring plan. Include
moments for emergencies.
4. Dene objectives for each meet-
ing. Focus on the disciples situa-
tion and questions, not on the
mentors experience.
5. Give up the mentoring when you
feel strong enough.
How to go about it?
44 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 45
Open Space
Open Space is a self-organizing practice
that allows all kinds of people in any kind
of organization to create inspired meetings
and events. It is known to kindle enormous
energies and to bring forth fast and well-
documented results. Participants of an
open space event create and manage their
own agenda of parallel working sessions
around a central theme of strategic impor-
tance. By inviting people to take responsi-
bility for what they care about it releases
the inherent creativity and leadership in
people, establishes a marketplace of in-
quiry, reection and learning bringing out
the best in both individuals and the whole
group. Open Space is useful to work with
5 to 1000 people, in events of two hours
to several days. It is best when the work
to be done is complex, people and ideas
involved are diverse, the passion for reso-
lution of conicts are high, and time is very
limited.
1. Select a statement/question that
frames the higher purpose and
widest context for discussion.
2. Invite all stakeholders and/or who
you feel should be part of it.
3. Prepare the workplace: a free
space and writing materials (noting
down ideas), a blank agenda wall
(posting of issues and ideas for dis-
cussion or work) and a news wall
(reporting back from sub-groups).
4. Explain theme and process of the
event and invite people to write
down what is important and of
meaning to them (form: topic, own
name, time, space for meeting).
5. Open the marketplace offers
are put on the agenda wall. Peo-
ple sign up and work independ-
ently (incl. reporting back to the
news wall).
6. Closing round to collect and share
highlights.
7. Mail report (collection of sub-group
reports) to all.
How to go about it?
46 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 47
Peer Assist
Peer Assist is the most economic way of de-
signing a project based on others experi-
ence and knowledge and thus avoiding er-
rors and mistakes. A work team starting up
a new project or task the hosts call on
another team having acquired experience
in the respective eld of activity. Peer assist
allows the requesting team to gain input
and insights from people outside the team,
and thus, reusing existing knowledge and
experience rather than having to reinvent
the wheel. It is worth using a peer assist
when a team is facing a challenge, where
the knowledge and experience of others
will really help, and when the potential
benets outweigh the costs of travel.
1. The host team claries the purpose
and invites an experienced team
(3 to 8 people).
2. Allow time for socializing and cre-
ate a good climate.
3. The host team explains its project,
needs and the expected outcome.
4. The visiting team further explores
the situation and gives feedback to
what they heard.
5. The visiting team identies options
to solve the problem. The host
team listens carefully.
6. The visiting team presents their
nal feedback and (even unex-
pected) conclusion.
7. The host team commits to actions
and to keeping the visiting team
updated.
8. Together, they identify lessons
learnt.
Steps in a Peer Assist?
48 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 49
Ritual Dissent
Ritual dissent is a formalised way for a
group of peers to criticise sketched ideas,
drafted proposals or strategies in order to
strengthen them. The learner gives a short
presentation and then turns his/her back
to the peers to listen attentively to their
feedback without reacting to it. Listening
in silence without eye-contact increases the
attention of the listener and depersonalises
negative feedback.
Inviting peers early enough to a ritual dis-
sent process helps to ensure that knowl-
edge and experience of others is integrat-
ed in the elaboration of a new concept,
strategy or proposal. This may mitigate
the risk of a rude awakening later in
the process, i.e. when the idea, proposal
or strategy is presented for the rst time
outside the core group.
1. Appoint a resilient and robust
spokesperson to give the presenta-
tion.
2. Invite a critical audience that is
sufciently external to have a dif-
ferent perspective on the issue.
3. Short presentation of the idea,
proposal, concept, etc. At this
stage the audience does not make
any comments.
4. The challenge: The spokesperson
turns around so his/her back fac-
es the audience. The group then
criticizes the ideas, without sugar
coating it too much. The spokes-
person listens in silence and takes
note.
5. Conclusions: The spokesperson
takes some time to reect on what
she/he has heard. She/he then
turns around to face the group
again and tells them what she/he
has learned.
How to go about it?
50 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 51
Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping
A Stakeholder Analysis is a technique to
identify actors relevant to a project or pro-
gramme and to become familiar with their
perceptions, interests and inuence. Stake-
holder Mapping provides an overview of
the stakeholder landscape. Development
cooperation projects are joint ventures of
various actors (stakeholders). It is often the
stakeholders who tip the balance towards
success or failure. A profound understand-
ing of the actors and their interests, goals
and relationships is therefore crucial for ef-
fective planning and implementation.
1. Dene the scope of the mapping:
issues at stake, timing and fre-
quency, perspectives.
2. Identify the relevant actors and set
up their basic prole (actor, agen-
da, arena and alliances = 4as).
3. Identify key stakeholders accord-
ing to their legitimacy, resources,
and network.
4. Cluster the stakeholders according
the basic characteristics: civil soci-
ety, private sector or public sector.
5. Be aware of the gender trap: Are
specic needs and interests of
women and men considered?
6. Visualise the relationship between
stakeholders, e.g. close, weak,
informal, coalitions and alliances,
direction of dominant relation-
ships, conicting interests.
7. Share and discuss the stakeholder
map with different stakeholders.
How to go about it?
52 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 53
Story Telling
Story telling is used in organisations as a
communication tool to share knowledge
with inspiration. The language used is au-
thentic (experience, not fact oriented); it is
the narrative form that most people nd
interesting and attractive.
Story telling has of course existed for thou-
sands of years as a means of exchanging
information and generating understand-
ing. However, as a deliberate tool for shar-
ing knowledge within organisations it is
quite recent but growing very rapidly, to
the extent that it is becoming a favoured
technique among an increasing number of
management consultants.
1. Be clear about the key message of
your story.
2. Build your story on an own experi-
ence. Note key-words. What is the
lesson learned?
3. Warm up. Announce to the public
that you are going to tell a story. In-
vite the public to listen closely, to be
receptive and comprehending, and
to ask questions only at the end.
4. Tell your story. Build an atmos-
phere of curiosity. Use a dramatic
voice. Observe your listeners.
5. If indicated, relate your story to the
topic discussed.
How to go about it as a storyteller?
54 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 55
SWOT
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool
used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats of a project. It
means monitoring the internal and external
factors of the project with the aim of getting
a clear understanding of what is going on
in the project and the surrounding context.
It also enables participants to take a breath,
make a judgment and share their visions on
the four aspects mentioned above in order
to enrich the common perception.
1. Make sure that the objectives pur-
sued are clear to all.
2. Draw the SWOT grid (past fu-
ture; positive negative).
3. Fill the SWOT grid according to
this order :
a. Strengths / Success
b. Weaknesses / Failure
c. Opportunities
d. Threats.
4. Ensure that all experiences are
taken seriously.
5. Have the individual actors com-
ment on their contributions and
clarify questions of understanding.
6. Record the common view rst and
discuss contradictory opinions
later.
7. Follow-up: Transfer the results into
a planning process.
How to go about it?
56 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 57
Visualization
Visualization is a way to make presenta-
tions and discussions more efcient and
effective. The spoken word is supported
by a visual representation (text, pictures,
graphics, objects, etc.). Current means
are beamer or transparencies for presen-
tations, and charts or cards for recording
discussions.
Visualization
puts the focus on the point under dis-
cussion;
makes the content easier to remember;
forces the speaker to prepare in ad-
vance and to use a precise wording
and structure;
reduces emotional implications in a
heated discussion;
serves as documentation by recording
statements, ideas, results and to-do lists.
Write legibly! Check font size, density,
contrast; block lettering, distance be-
tween letters and words.
Use colours restrictively! Use white or
light coloured chart paper and pastel
coloured pin-board cards. Use black
markers for general text and colours
for decoration.
Let posters speak for themselves! Put
a meaningful title on top or in the cen-
tre. Structure your poster to guide the
eye. Be aware of the proverb: If the
eye is not attracted, the feet will pass
by.
Use a simple language. Avoid abbre-
viations.
Install technical means before the
meeting! Check if they are running
properly. Verify the legibility of the
visualization.
Rules of visualization
58 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 59
World Caf
In the World Caf, small groups seated
around caf tables discuss a theme that
matters in two to three rounds. The World
Caf format is exible and adapts to fos-
ter collaborative dialogue. Clarify the pur-
pose! Pay attention early to the reason
you are bringing people together. If it is
not important, don' t do it! Create a hos-
pitable space from the invitation to the
physical set-up of the World Caf. Explore
questions that matter to the participants!
A World Caf may only explore a single
question, or several questions in progres-
sive steps. Encourage everyones contribu-
tion, from actively contributing ideas and
perspectives to active listening. The oppor-
tunity to move between tables in several
rounds connects diverse perspectives. A
nal plenary discussion helps to sum up
and nd conclusions.
1. Seat four or ve people at small
Caf-style tables or in conversa-
tion clusters.
2. Set up progressive (usually three)
rounds of conversation of approxi-
mately 20 30 minutes each.
3. Discuss questions or issues that
genuinely matter to the community
engaged.
4. Encourage participants to write
and draw key ideas on their table-
cloths (prepare by covering tables
with paper and leave markers).
5. Upon completing the initial round
of conversation, ask one person to
remain at the table as the host
while the others move to other
tables carrying key ideas, themes
and questions into their new con-
versations (cross-pollination).
6. Ask the table hosts to briey share
the main ideas of the previous
conversation at the start of the next
round.
7. After several rounds of conversa-
tion, initiate a plenary discussion
and strive for common answers,
patterns and possibilities for action.
How to go about it?
60 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 61
Yellow Pages
An organisational yellow pages is a tool
to help people nd others within their or-
ganisation, who have the knowledge and
expertise they need for a particular task or
project. It is like a staff directory including
details about knowledge, skills, experience
and interests. The main benet results
from a multitude of simple ten-minute con-
versations in which people ask each other
for a quick word of advice or a steer in the
right direction.
1. Dene the purpose of the yellow
pages.
2. Create ownership with the people.
3. Consider formal and informal
information.
4. Include name, job title, team, job
description, current projects, pro-
fessional qualications, CV, areas
of knowledge and expertise, areas
of interest, key contacts (internal
and external), membership of
knowledge networks or CoPs.
5. Assure easy handling of entering
and searching information.
6. Keep it up-to-date.
7. Encourage its use.
How to go about it?
62 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit 63
Methods for Knowledge Management and their Specic Suitability
Group Size
I: Individual
T: Team
O: Organisation
Moment
P: Preparation
A: Action
R: Reection
Level
B: Basic
I: Intermediate
A: Advanced
After Action Review T R B
Appreciative Inquiry T O P A R A
Balanced Scorecard O A A
Brainstorming T P A R B
Brieng and Debrieng I P A R B
Collegial Coaching I T P B
Community of Practice (CoP) T O A A
Critical Incident Technique I T O P A R A
Exit Interviews I T O R I
Experience Capitalization O R I
Experience Documentation I T O R I
Facilitation T A I
Good Practice T O A R I
Horizontal Evaluation T O R A
Knowledge Fair O P A A
Knowledge Map I T O P A I
Knowledge Network I T O P A I
Lesson Learnt I T O R B
Mentoring I O P A I
Group Size
I: Individual
T: Team
O: Organisation
Moment
P: Preparation
A: Action
R: Reection
Level
B: Basic
I: Intermediate
A: Advanced
Open Space T O P A A
Peer Assist / Peer Review T O P A R A
Ritual Dissent T P A R I
Stakeholder Analysis
and Mapping
T O P A I
Story Telling T O A R I
SWOT T P A R B
Visualisation T P A B
World Caf O P A A
Yellow Page I T O P A R A
64 SDC Knowledge Management: Toolkit
Notes: