We all like to have a chat with friends from time to time. Recent research has shown that this is not only a good thing to do, but that conversation – particular types of conversation – can actually make us smarter. It has been shown that conversations can improve the performance of groups and help us to be more innovative, as well as make us individually more capable at problem-solving. This article describes how meaningful conversations can be used to improve knowledge sharing and business outcomes, and summarises five rules for more innovative meetings.
As posted here before, I wrote a version of The Innovation Conversation a while ago for the Ark Group report Innovation and Transformation Through Knowledge Management, edited by Evie Serventi. This article is now available for download from this site.
Since then, a slightly condensed version of the article has also been published in the May 2014 issue of iKnow – The Magazine for Innovative Knowledge Workers. This magazine is issued twice a year by the Institute for Knowledge and Innovation – South-East Asia (IKI-SEA).
This time, my piece is presented as part of Conversation – An Overlooked Technology, a collection of articles on organisational conversation, guest-edited by David Gurteen for this issue of iKNOW. David explains the background of this work on his site.
Amir –
The approach that I have used is to ensure that a wide range of measurement techniques is used. There is no single questionnaire – the best approach is to combine both quantitative and qualitative measurements and look at the overall picture. Use both direct and indirect measurement – for instance, if a communication program was aimed at boosting sales of a specific product, measure sales both before and after the program. I can deliver a workshop on this topic, and it is included in my presentations on the KM Toolkit – see this post for an overview with a slide pack.
For a different view of this, have a read of The Ivory Tower, and see the last section on measurement. There is also more specific detail in Chapter 5 of the KnowHow Case Study.
Hi Keith, I would like to know if it possible to measure the effective communication in the organisations? Is there any reliable questionnaire for measuring the effective communication in the organisations? how many organisations are aware about this matter? which their communication impacts on their performance or innovation.
Thanks