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"World Cafe" under a different banner - An experience of a summer intern


What do you mean by World Cafe?

 World Café provides a lived experience of participating in a dynamic network of conversations that continually coevolve as we explore questions that matter with family, friends, colleagues, and community. The metaphor of the “World as Café,” helps us notice these often-invisible webs of dialogue and personal relationships that enable us to learn, create shared purpose, and shape life-affirming futures together. (Brown, Homer & Isaacs, 2005)

The cross-pollination of perspectives that results is one of the trademarks of the  World Café. A series of progressive discussion engages people in a constructive way. People build onto their ideas. Latent and collective knowledge becomes visible. Group wisdom emerges. A developing feeling of the bigger whole changes how members see themselves and their connections. Collective intelligence develops and evolves, and creative conceivable outcomes for activity are put forth. 

Old wine in a new bottle !!

 In my experience at the organization where I did my summer internship, I came across an initiative named "Journey Experience Day" (JED). The aim of this activity was to build a stronger connect with the "Doing" part of the organization's transformation journey. People had a realization of the "Being" part. The organization had a team driving Strategic Focus Areas (SFA). Although the team had support from the employees but the involvement of the people had a negative gradient. Thus, the JED was envisioned. A lot of midnight oil was burnt to cherish the outcome of this event. 

 On the day of JED, employees in the organization visited the different rooms each representing a particular SFA where the team leader/s explained the ideology of the projects undertaken and how it is linked to the vision of the organization. The employees hopped from one room to another to get a hang of the projects. These people discussed in groups about the projects and finally, decided to take up one or more based on their interests. This helped in creating a shared purpose. Collective wisdom emerged. The leaders with the help of the top management approached this event methodically keeping an eye on what they seek to achieve through their SFA program in different spheres of the organization. All the conditions required for accomplishing the objective of this event were planned and mapped in a way that will enrich the employee experience, evoke emotions and create a sense of engagement. Through dialogue, people were able to bond with colleagues based out of different locations and take a step towards building a better future.

During my initial days, I had heard people saying this activity as a visioning exercise. As I grew older in the company, I got exposure to this JED event. Now, when I look back at this event, I can clearly relate it with World Cafe and its features - Contribute, Listen, Connect, Listen together and Share collective discoveries.

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