cameron and green making-sense-of-change-management

Emerging inquiriesWorld CaféWorld Café is a conversational process whichenables groups of people to talk together, exploreand find their creativity about an issue that matters.This is not about problem solving or managedaction. This simple but innovative method wasdeveloped by founders Juanita Brown and DavidIsaacs in 1995.The World Café Community Foundation can befound at www.theworldcafe.com and is an excellentsource of information. The following box summarizestheir approach to this technique.The method starts by setting the context: what is the topic, who needs tobe invited, how long do we need, and what is the best outcome we canhope for? A hospitable space needs to be chosen and prepared withrefreshments and comfort, rather than cold impersonality. A café ambianceis then created, with small tables with table cloths – perhaps the type thatcan be written on – candles, and flowers, with markers ready for writing.Compelling questions are then posed to the groups. Sometimes onlyone question is used, and sometimes there are deeper levels of inquiry.Facilitators need to find questions that are relevant to the concerns ofgroup members and that provoke interest and energy. Questions thatreveal assumptions, enable people to reflect more deeply, seek what isuseful and open up new possibilities are all effective. Questions thatfocus on definitions, or the truth or what went wrong seem less effective.Turn-taking in the discussion is important to ensure everyone cancontribute, as is the connection of diverse perspectives. People are encouragedto record their emerging discussion visually on the tablecloth using thepens, and then move to other tables to add to their emerging pictures. Oneperson remains at the original table to summarize what has been discussed,and new arrivals begin by sharing the threads of their previous table discussion.New possibilities begin to open up, and the conversation deepens.At the end of the conversations, tables are invited to distil the parts ofthe discussion that have been most meaningful for them and share it withthe rest of the tables. In response, other tables may be invited to say whatwas surprising or new in what they have heard, and share only on thatline of inquiry. All this is often captured on flipcharts by the facilitator.326