By Dr. Ben Gilad, ACI Faculty
Record attendance at ACI’s European CIP programs!
Being a lover of analytics, I can only marvel at the fact that there are probably more CI conferences out there these days than there are CI practitioners left out there. From industry specific conferences (now 2), to 6 annual meetings promoted by vendors in Germany, US and several regional “summits”, you wonder when CI managers have time to actually work? And how do they choose which conference to go to when all look and sound the same?
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About half of the CIP-I and CIP-II participants, posed on the last day in a departing photo. If they look 10 years older than usual it’s because I worked them hard.
Naturally with so many “networking” and “learning” events, I was wondering if attendance at our certification programs, which take a very different tack than the 45 minutes quickie sessions at conferences, will suffer. So when we decided to offer for the first time ever both CIP-I and CIP-II (Master level) in Europe simultaneously, I was nervous. Would we get enough Europeans to make the real learning (no quotes..) as career changing as it should be?
We had a record number of attendants! We never had a more inquisitive, involved, and fun group in Europe, the Continent of allegedly reserved people. Each workshop ran well past its official end time. People just didn’t want to let go. For me it was a ‘wow’ experience. I had to completely change my perspective on European CI analysts!
Like a reunion
The two groups mingled together at breaks and exchanged views. At times it felt like an international executive development program; it reminded me my teaching at the IMD executive MBA. It was such a diverse group of people from different companies, different specialties, different countries who came together to train in real CI. No instant “solution”, no vendor pitches. Real, in-depth, live, interactive, intense-as-can-be career builder.
The experiment with Network Analytics
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This is me showing off the centrality of ACI in a ‘CI space’ map. Everyone in the field wants to link to us.
We tried a new evening enrichment course this year, first time, and I chose Europe to test it because Europeans are less inclined to be nice. I wanted real feedback even if it hurt. The course, using organizational network analysis to create and tap informal Communities of Practice (CoP) interested in CI to enhance both competitiveness and the CI analyst political power was not the best course I have ever taught. To begin with, I regard anything to do with software a sideshow at best and a lunatic “tradecraft” fringe’s tool at worse. Then there is the issue of politics, and many CI managers shy away from that. But, this I believe is a mistake. So I overcame my reluctance to use software…
Why do ONA at all?
The wrong path charted by information vendors and tools suppliers over the last 20 years focused on harping more and better “tools” for better supply of intelligence (by the CI manager). The profession and its advocates neglected the demand side completely. This is analogous to providing better and better horse and buggy today and hoping demand for it will somehow return miraculously.
In line with the Academy’s philosophy of “back to basics” in educating the new generation of real CI analysts, I am shifting attention to increasing demand for CI. Hence this course will become a fixture in our curriculum.
‘Circle of Life’ moment
The course will get better. We didn’t charge for it (we actually bought our “focus group” dinner). The room was at capacity which showed people want help. The use of the visualization software is an eye opener whenever a network is bigger than a few colleagues. The analytics is somewhat primitive (measures based on distances), but that suits most CI managers. What I learned, however, was that for CI managers giving up on the “inquiry desk” role is tough. They get a lot of security (even if false) from providing answers to every question they are asked instead of using an internal CoP to carry out the conversation independently. I need to think how to respond to that. I welcome comments from our alumni. Still, one manager showed the results from using network analysis on an external network of experts to discover a significant blindspot of his company. The analysis, coincidentally, was carried out by a company, the CEO of which is… an ACI graduate. You can get his name of you write me.
I felt like that was the perfect circle of life moment…
Finally, at the end of the program, a woman from a consumer product company approached me. What she said made my jetlag and cold Amsterdam weather worth it. She said, “I know you are trying to elevate us from the librarian mindset and role, and I truly appreciate it.”
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A horrible photo of two of the students that made this class so lively. Thank you Heresh! Thank you Ahmed! Call me when you make VP (3 years and 4 months tops, mark my words).
Indeed, that’s why the CIP has been so globally successful. Thanks, Europe. See you next year.
If you have a question about our CIP program, feel free to contact me or Lynne directly. We answer all questions. Our next program is in Boston, in June. Have you registered yet?[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]