Brock { Abroad }

I also believe that KLM has been able to better see what working with Knowmads is like, as well.What makes Knowmads special, in my opinion is that the very experience is transformative. We “work” on transforming the very definition of work.We attempt to blur the lines through our mission of “combining passion,business,and playful learning.” I believe we are able to do this because we remember that education does not stop once you enter the work-force. As a matter of fact, it should be fun, encouraged, and continue.This type of passionate and playful mentality of life-learning is the reason why I believe such a variety of people show up at our doors to work with us.

This includes KLM, a huge corporation that I never would expect to have knocking on my door anytime soon. With their erect postures and perfectly pressed pants, I initially wondered if we were even from the same planet! The journey we’ve taken with KLM so far has been an absolutely amazing adventure. We first met with the KLM representatives at our potential partner meeting back in February. After hosting them the first time, we were met with a professionally executed presentation from KLM. Welcoming us to the KLM team, we were introduced to the people we would working with on behalf of the KLM community. Online, we were introduced to the KLM ‘in touch’community. Spending the past few weeks working with KLM on co-creation sessions, we’ve been focusing on desk research on KLM and the future of the aviation industry.Desk research has given us much more insight into the customer needs of a frequent business class flyer as well as what the corporate business world of KLM feels like. After bringing us to Schiphol Airport and interviewing KLM ‘super experts’, our field research has begun in earnest.

Our main learning from this experience taught us that many of our initial brainstorming ideas were already in place at the airport. After visiting and spending an hour talking about our experience with KLM in a later meeting, we determined that the facilities available were not well marked for the flier, however.

Understanding the total customer journey is an important element to creating a successful business model. As one of our main curriculum topics we cover at Knowmads, new business design was a tool we were able to further explore with the KLM assignment. Bringing in Patrick Van der Pijl, the co-author of Business Model Generation, we did a workshop on new business models. This was particularly helpful in seeing the competition in the industry as something much bigger than just other airlines.

Seeing KLM in the business of connecting people, our vision of what the world and what the world of KLM looks like and can do has completely changed.We shed further light on this feeling we had towards the assignment in a social media workshop that opened our eyes to where online connection could take us.KLM also attended this workshop with us.Continuing to learn from each other, our next steps in the assignment include a field trip with KLM, hosted by Knowmads,to the Hub Amsterdam, a working place for (freelance) social entrepreneurs.This is to gain inspiration into what a great flex-space can look like. After our ‘sensing journeys’, our first-hand experiences flying with KLM, and continuing our co-creation sessions, we look forward to better telling the story of KLM to explore the story of their future.This, we believe is a journey based on connection, community, and choice.

These are the certain themes we’ve gathered from our work so far. After just finishing another exciting session with the ‘men in suits,’ I look at the wall. Behind the two men I now feel much closer to, there is a big plane outlined in blue paint on the wall. With the letters KLM painted on what we like to call our ‘canvas,’ I look atthe dashboard we’ve been navigating from. With a calendar, lessons learned,stepping stones, goals, questions, and activities, I think Knowmads has definitely been taking me on a journey.