10 key takeaways from my visit to

By Henna Kääriäinen, Monkey Business, Team Academy Finland alumni

29. maaliskuuta 12

1. is over 20 years old• KP grew from a project done with the troubled

youth that needed to regain their confidence and self-respect. Methods used for doing that were gymnastic street theatre and ambitious common projects, like aiming to go to Soviet Union with 2000 Scandinavian young people with a plan of throwing a big rock concert at the Red Square in Moscow back in 1989.

• A radical & ambitious training was implemented to young professionals in 1991 when the first KaosPilots team took off to the ”flight of their lives”. Pic: Inner court of KP premises, where the

program of the youth still keeps running.

29. maaliskuuta 12

2. It’s all based on projects• In terms of project work KaosPilot

applies well the principles of learning by doing - learners there work for real clients all the time, there are no imaginary cases given.

• The final projects are done individually and may be done of whatever interests the learner.

Pic: Project Art of Hosting Karlskrona that was started in collaboration between the Kaospilots, Team Academy and MSLS and run for 3rd year now in 2012.

29. maaliskuuta 12

3. While being KaosPilots they are called students• While KaosPilot is an inspiring title to use in

every occasion, I could hear the word student very many times inside the house when referring to the learners in this program. I wonder how much the people in KaosPilots feel like being students?

• I understood they get some basic classes in areas like: project design, business design and process design and management. This basic training given for everyone might bring a student-like feeling, but otherwise I could sense that the people in the house are KaosPilots and entrepreneurs, not students. Pic: The stairway in KaosPilots Åarhus with a pic of

every KaosPilot.

29. maaliskuuta 12

4. The type of the training given shapes the projects done

• In the early KaosPilots teams the most common projects were cultural and other type of events.

• Starting to give classes in systemic process design caused a shift in the type of projects delivered. KaosPilots started to work on more complex projects addressing the challenges in the society and around sustainability. Projects done nowadays have shifted into social direction and have became more and more systemic.

Pic: A result of an Open Space session of drawing dreams hosted by KaosPilot Oliver and participated by about 10 people at AoH Karlskrona, 2012.

29. maaliskuuta 12

5. outposts & globality• In order to be the best school for the

world it’s necessary to learn the world and be there to serve it. KaosPilots do outposts for practicing the tools and to implement projects in other countries.

• The first outpost was done to San Francisco in mid 90’s and At this very moment a KP team is doing a 3-month-long outpost in Colombia. Pic: KaosPilots are spread all over the world to make the change happen. In

this pic it’s Espen, a San Francisco based KaosPilot. PIc by Liher Pillado.

29. maaliskuuta 12

6. Next up: Alumni network & Internationalization• The graduated KaosPilots who I’ve met say there’s

work to do for using the full potential of the alumni network. Right now KP is visibly & strongly working on that.

• Few years back KaosPilot opened schools outside of Denmark in Scandinavia & Rotterdam, Holland. For reasons unknown to me they then closed all of those that were ouside Denmark. Now there’s KaosPilots coming up in Switzerland. New emphasis is put on how to grow internationally.

29. maaliskuuta 12

7. Businessbusiness• KaosPilot might be the only Danish

Uni where studying costs, and it’s a private business as such. They offer the 3 years long KaosPilots program, as well as 3-4 days long master classes with the KaosPilot methods.

• Educational consultancy is an active branch of business from KaosPilots.

Pic: The educational methods created in the Danish city of Åarhus at the KaosPilots are interesting all around the world.

29. maaliskuuta 12

• A classic question seems to be: What’s your profession after graduating from KaosPilots? And the answer lies in the name itself, a KaosPilot. A KaosPilot is an agent for playful work, and embraces the world creating jobs that maybe weren’t existing before. KaosPilots navigate in the contemporary chaos.

• ”Maybe this is exactly what we need now. A new profession. A consequence of our understanding that organisational and societal challenges today force us not just to look for new solutions, but to look in a different way.” - sentence taken from The KaosPilots 20/20 book

8. Doing jobs that didn’t exist before

29. maaliskuuta 12

9. Culture is there in Åarhus• The environment is colourful, you can paint in the

walls, hang a hammock and organize the rooms as you wish. It’s all lively and dynamic. There’s something about this space and the feeling in it.

• ”You know, I was here in early 90s. It certainly has changed...yet...something about the atmosphere, the people, and the vibe feels absolutely the same.” - sentence taken from The KaosPilots 20/20 book

• The challenge here is: How to expand the innovation to other environments and countries? Pic: Entry to KaosPilots in Åarhus.

29. maaliskuuta 12

10. Vision: To be the best school for the world.

Pic: From the KaosPilots website, vision page.

29. maaliskuuta 12

Writer’s notes & thanks!• I had known KaosPilots since entering to Tiimiakatemia Finland in 2005, and had

paid a visit to their Rotterdam branch back in 2007. With our company Monkey Business also worked with Kaospilots around the AoH Karlskrona event. With this background I had a feeling of how it might be in Åarhus and still visiting the original spot was a deep experience. There’s just such an amount of stories and tacit knowledge in there!

• I’m looking forward to meet Simon from KaosPilots in Finland in the coming summer 2012 and keep finding synergies. There’s a lot in common between Tiimiakatemia & KaosPilots, both are radical innovations in the field of higher education and both create tons of entrepreneurs.

For more insights, projects or thoughts please contact: henna@banana.fi, www.banana.fi, @hennamonkey

29. maaliskuuta 12