The World Café is a very simple process by which people of all stripes, of all capabilities, at any level in a system can have a conversation around an important question having to do with its future. It’s essentially a small group conversation that has no limit to scale. They engage in a conversational process that evokes the lifeblood of the individuals and more importantly, the collective capability in the community that leads to potentially the co-evolution or the generation of collective intelligence. It starts with the assumption that the collective intelligence is already present.
The first principle is: Set the context.
- Why are we having the gathering, or meeting or café?
- What's the purpose?
- What's the mission?
- Why do we want it?
The second principle is often neglected: Create a hospitable space or environment, with tablecloths, music, and food - a welcoming space with a spirit of invitation.
Third principle is to identify:
- What are the most important questions that we need to engage in this conversation?
- Why are we having this conversation?
- What do we want and need to learn?
And the fourth principle: Encourage everyone's contribution.
This is the diversity design principle. It assumes that everyone in the organization or everyone at the café has a unique contribution and in small tables of four it’s very easy for everyone to contribute. By connecting diverse perspectives (by moving people from table to table, at least twice, if not three or four times), connecting the ideas, connecting the questions, connecting the people literally from table to table.
And then the fifth and last principle: Harvest and share and gather the collective discoveries and insights of the conversations at the café table. |
