We added flowers and set out colored crayons, like in many neighborhood cafГ©s.

We set up small tables in our living room and covered them with paper tablecloths. One rainy morning, we wanted to provide a comfortable setting for participants in a global dialogue on intellectual capital to enjoy their coffee while waiting for the session to begin. Several years ago, we serendipitously discovered the unique power of CafГ© style conversations. Using The World CafГ© as an organizing image allows leaders to intentionally design processes that take advantage of the natural dynamics that are already at play in order to create sustainable business and social value. It highlights the naturally occurring networks of conversation and social learning through which we access collective intelligence, create new knowledge, and bring forth desired futures. The World CafГ© is also an evocative metaphor that enables us to pay attention to aspects of organizational life that are often invisible, hidden by formal structures and policies. The World CafГ© utilizes the principles of dynamic networks and living systems to access a source of deeper creativity and shared knowledge that might not be available through more traditional approaches to collaborative work. In the process, knowledge grows, a sense of the whole becomes real, and new possibilities become visible. What is The World CafГ©? It is an innovative methodology that enhances the capacity for collaborative thinking about critical issues by linking small group and large-group conversations.

What if we could create an intentional, simple, and effective approach for fostering greater collaborative learning and coherent thought than is often available in large group settings? Our research reveals that what we have come to call вЂњThe World CafГ©вЂќ has a unique contribution to make when the goal is the focused use of dialogic inquiry to foster collective insight around real-life challenges and key strategic questions at increasing levels of scale. The crosspollination of ideas from group to group can lead to the emergence of surprising creativity and focus as we discover innovative ways to support a вЂњsystem thinking together.вЂќ Today, especially with the advent of the Internet, we are becoming increasingly aware of the power and potential of these dynamic networks of conversation and their systemic importance for large-scale collaboration, learning, and change. Reaching out in ever-widening circles, members of small groups spread their insights to larger constituencies, carrying the seed ideas for new conversations, creative possibilities, and collective action (see вЂњConversation as a Path to Large-Scale ChangeвЂќ). Consider the sewing circles and вЂњcommittees of correspondenceвЂќ that helped birth the American Republic the conversations in cafГ©s and salons that spawned the French Revolution and the Scandinavian вЂњstudy circlesвЂќ that stimulated an economic and social renaissance in Northern Europe. Small groups exploring important questions - and connecting with other groups that are doing the same - have always played a major role in social and institutional renewal. Since our early ancestors gathered in circles around the warmth of a fire, conversation has been a primary process for making sense of our world, discovering what we value, sharing knowledge, and imagining our future. But the process of co-creating the future through conversation is so natural we usually overlook it. CONVERSATION AS A PATH TO LARGE-SCALE CHANGE

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