A World Cafe at a hospital in Bolivia

In June, 2012, A World Café was held at Hospital of Hope in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The event was titled, “Celebration Café” in recognition of the 7^th anniversary of the hospital. The purpose was to have an open dialogue among staff members representing a complete cross-section of Hospitals of Hope. The stated purposes were:

• To engage a myriad of voices from across the hospital related to the topic of what a ‘model’ hospital would be like
• To engage the organizational system in dialogue different from the usual ways of communicating in order to generate ideas and meaning different from the status quo
• To discern whether all staff were committed to the Hospital of Hope mission
• To allow all to have a voice in the future of their hospital
• To celebrate what’s going well with HOH

Participants

About forty personnel from the hospital including doctors, nurses, specialists, technicians, cleaning staff, administrative/executive staff members, and international volunteers were participants.

Hosts and Facilitators

The process was hosted and facilitated by 6 graduates students and two faculty members from Friends University, Wichita Kansas. The students and faculty were part of the Master of Science in Organization Development program and were facilitating the World Café as part of their international residency. Two translators were also

Process:

We converted the hospital waiting room into the café, using small square tables and a few round tables; each table was able to seat 4 people. 11 tables were set up to accommodate approximately four persons per table. The participants sat in groups of four. Each table was covered with a large piece of paper. We took the chart paper with us since it was not available in the location we were in. Markers and crayons were also provided. An introduction of the process was given, along with verbal instructions, translated into Spanish.

A few of the employees had their children with them which added to the energy in the room. They wandered around, looking at the drawings being created and even adding their own coloring!

The information was also displayed in Spanish power point slides projected onto a TV monitor on the wall in the waiting room. The process consisted of 3 rounds of questions. Each session was approximately 20 minutes long.

The following process was used:

World Café Round 1

As the first question was asked, participants were asked to capture their ideas with words or pictures on the paper provided at each table.

Question for round 1: What can each of us do to help the hospital achieve its mission of showing Christ’s love by healing bodies and souls?

World Café Round 2

For the second question, participants were asked to move to other tables, with person staying to be a host of the table. For this second round, participants were asked to capture their ideas by drawing pictures and not using any words.

Question for round 2: What would an ideal hospital look/feel like?

World Café Round 3

For the third question, participants were asked again to “popcorn” around the room, with person remaining at each table to serve again as the table host. Ideas were to be captured on post-it notes with only 3 words or fewer and/or pictures per idea on each post it note.

Question for round 3: In this time of celebration, what is there to celebrate about HOH?

Gallery Walk:

After the 3 rounds of questions, a gallery walk (display of papers from each table posted on the wall around the space) was utilized where participants walked along the wall, looking at the information and ideas gathered. Participants were encouraged to discuss what they noticed as they looked over the ideas presented on the wall. While the gallery walk was taking place, the facilitators placed new sheets of chart paper on the tables.

Reflection time:

After the gallery walk, participants regrouped at tables and were given the following reflection questions.

Reflection Questions:

What was most significant insight from today?

What did you most appreciate about this conversation?

What surprised you?

What challenged you?

What do we need more clarity about?

What is next?

The participants captured their ideas on new sheets of chart paper.

The event concluded with a full lunch. In Bolivia, this was very important because lunch is considered their main meal so this contributed to the level of participation and engagement.

The World Cafe worked very well in this setting and the feedback was very positive. The following were the outcomes:

Outcomes:

• Organizational energy observed as high volume of voices during the activity as well as additional people continuing to join the activity as time progressed.
• Inclusivity of voices—range of staff from across the hospital interacting and dialoguing with each other: doctors, nurses, cleaning staff, administrative staff, support staff, other medical specialists, and volunteers. Individuals and groups that would not normally interact were engaged in deep, meaningful dialogue around their passion for the hospital.
• Generation of many ideas reflected in text and pictures. Recognition across positions of similar dreams and concerns for the hospital’s future.
• Shared commitment for the mission of the hospital.
• The themes that came out of the event indicated that the staff has the desire and ability to become a Level 3 hospital.

Quote:

There were many thanks and a lot of hugs from participants to the hosts/facilitators. One cleaning lady, with tears streaming down her cheeks, thanked us, saying she had worked at the hospital for 7 years and this was the first time anyone had asked her ideas or what she loved about the hospital or what the hospital could become; for the first time, she was given a voice. This was powerfully moving.

Lessons learned:

The process works! The language barrier was not an issue, for several reasons. First, the translators were able to help introduce the questions and we provided all the instructions via the visual slides in Spanish. Most importantly, the language was not a barrier because the dialogue at each table was what was important and it was not necessary for the hosts/facilitators to understand individual conversations. The importance of remaining flexible and adjusting as the process evolves was evident. The need to be creative and allow the time to be flexible was essential in the Bolivian culture. It was also essential that a meal was provided, given the cultural context. The process also drew in participants (mainly doctors and specialists) who did not originally plan to participant. It was also possible to find a 3 hour block of time during the middle of the day to facilitate the process, with the understanding that there might be interruptions and the needs of the hospital and patients not being but on hold. It was a transformational experience for the hospital as an organization, for the participants, and for the students and faculty who facilitated the process.

I'm attaching some photos.