KaosPilot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A KaosPilot is someone who is trained or professionally engaged by the KaosPilots International. KaosPilots use creativity, innovation and prosess and project management skills to solve practical problems and create social, environmental and business opportunities. The name KaosPilot springs from the idea of being able to navigate (pilot) through chaos (in Danish: Kaos). People who identify themselves as KaosPilots normally have a degree from one of the KaosPilots International certified institutions, which presently include OMH Business School in Oslo and the University of Malmö.

KaosPilot students and graduates have been change agents in a number of Scandinavian businesses, working with companies such as Lego, Bang & Olufsen, Synnove Finden, and Carlsberg and with organisations like the Danish Government, the Danish Red Cross and Unicef. Although primarily known in Scandinavia, the KaosPilots International decided to expand operations in 2006, and have been identified as a new and innovative type of business school for managing change.

Contents 1 Becoming a KaosPilot 1.1 Core Skills 1.2 Criticism 2 Focus 3 Alumni 4 External links

[edit] Becoming a KaosPilot

KaosPilot students are selected through what candidates describe as an exhaustive evaluation process. Only 35 students are accepted into any one KaosPilot International certified educational institution per year. According to the KaosPilot strategic plan outline, the idea is to take in the students that have the highest potential and desire, not necessarily the largest experience, to make use of the education to better follow and fulfil their dreams. As such the selection process usually has two stages: a written, initial entrance application, and a 2-3 day selection process, through which the candidates are given a number of tasks to complete, and are, according to the selection criteria for the Oslo KaosPilot School (.pdf Norwegian language) evaluated on the basis of their enthusiasm and energy; ability to work with a group; creativity and originality in approach; and ability to deal with uncertainty and rapid and stressfull change. The Oslo selection pamphlet also states that some 400 canditates typically apply, of which about 70 are accepted to the selection workshop, resulting in 35 students taken in to the KaosPilot program.

Uniquely, potential candidates are often also observed by the contemporary first year KaosPilot students, in collaboration with staff and other proffessionals (often alumni). This is according to Uffe Elbaek (founder) to ensure that the evaluation is as detailed and as close to the candidates as possible in terms of cultural and generational considerations, and also to provide the first year students with a chance to help design and facilitate a process that they themselves have gone through.

Once all evaluations have been submitted, the final selection is made by a team comprising core staff, student representatives and sometimes other individuals (such as alumni). The final selection is made with the aim of creating a diverse and dynamic team comprised of excellent and creative individuals.

[edit] Core Skills

KaosPilot training is focused on process management and creative business design. The curriculum (pdf file) is such that from their first day of school, students are emmersed in team-building exercises, workshop facillitation with external clients, evaluation exercises, energisers, brainstorming and idea development processes, meeting facilitation, project design and innovative business design processes and projects. Throughout this, each student is given personal attention by a coach or team manager -often an alumni student returning to energising environment of the school after a couple of years of work experience. As a result, KaosPilots are expert facilitators, innovators and project managers, and are outgoing, sociable, and often creative in their approach to other people. They also have a sound understanding of themselves and their own needs, as well as confidence and ability to initiate, develop and carry new and pioneering projects, ideas and businesses (Article in Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten -Norwegian language).

Unlike traditional business schools, nearly 30% of the training program focuses on developing each student's "inner pilot," using assertiveness training, stress prevention, group dynamics, and physical training (FastCompany, Issue 3).

[edit] Criticism

The KaosPilots have been criticised for being more about presentation than content. Projects sometimes fail miserably, and clients sometimes find themselves unsatisfied with the end product. KaosPilots have also been criticised on several occasions for beeing overtly optimistic, idealistic and arrogant in their estimation of their own ability.

[edit] Focus

More a mindset than an education, KaosPilots carry out a wide range of projects and initiatives. These are, according to the KaosPilot strategic plan outline, usually, but not exclusively:

• Internationally oriented

• Entrepreneurial

• Socially responsible

• Problem solving/ create win-win-win situations

• Crossings of social innovation, culture and business

Many KaosPilots have studied or worked elsewhere before being accepted into the KaosPilot course. They often come seeking a challenging environment in which their enthusiasm and existing competencies are given room to grow and expand. Each new student on the first day of school is given not an ID number but a stack of business cards with his or her name on them and a key to the school building. The message is this: you are the school; you must do it yourself. So students, too, are called KaosPilots.

"...Marianne Stang .. [on KaosPilots team 2 Aarhus] ...became the first director of Learning Lab Denmark, a prestigious government-established laboratory for research on learning. “It turns out,” Stang says, “that students increasingly want teachers who also act as coaches, and they want more attention paid to real-world projects. These are two fundamental elements that are ingrained at KaosPilots, and they will eventually spread to other educational institutions.” Extract from Ode magazine

[edit] Alumni

With to date some 300 graduated KaosPilots spread out across all continents (although primarily in Europe), KlubKaos was established in the fall of 2006 as the KP alumni organisation. It is not a traditional alumni however, because it includes both present and graduated students. KlubKaos is open to all KaosPilots, because (according to their [http://www.KlubKaos.net/ website):

"KaosPilots share a certain mindset. We want to be a positive force in the universe. We all passed the admission workshop. We have a mission. We like to party. And together we have a huge amount of ideas, skills, experience and contacts."

The purpose of KlubKaos is to help KaosPilots tap into these resources, by developing ways to connect, communicate and collaborate with KaosPilot students and graduates around the globe. KlubKaos' stated ambition is to create a lively and inspiring worldwide KaosPilot community.

[edit] External links

• KaosPilots Aarhus (English language)
• KaosPilots Oslo (Norwegian language)
• KaosPilots Malmö (Swedish language)
• KaosPilot Rotterdam (English/Dutch language)
• Entrance Examination (English language)
• Flight Navigator (Enlish language)
• KlubKaos -alumni pages (English language)
• KaosPilot A-Z FastCompany Review (English language)
• Ode magazine article about KaosPilots (English language)
• FastCompany fast 50 2005 (English language)
• KaosPlots go Global (Danish language)
• University of Bergen student newspaper article about the KaosPilots (Norwegian language)