Everyone's Blog Posts - The World Cafe Community

Conversations That Connect

2015-01-05T19:45:03.000Z

Early in my business career I was fortunate to work for a wise, experienced senior executive who was masterful at leading conversations that mattered. As a newly-minted MBA graduate I was at the bottom of the totem pole in a family-managed business.

My boss had been hired to upgrade the company’s management practices, employee benefit programs, and overall productivity. He tasked me with building ties to the leaders of several business units and engaging with them in conversations about the company’s future.

I was significantly younger than almost all of those business unit leaders. That was actually a good thing, because I clearly posed no threats to them, and as a newcomer to the industry it was easy to present myself as someone who wanted to learn the business (which was certainly true).

Over time I was able to establish myself as someone who cared about the business, respected the managers I got to know, and wanted to help make things operate more smoothly. I found a number of small projects that I could help with – setting up a sales training course, developing an affirmative action program, drafting several all-company memos for the CEO, and orchestrating a series of weekly brown bag lunches that brought small groups of employees into direct conversations with the CEO and several other senior executives.

I don’t want to brag, but I believe it is fair to say that my efforts had a positive effect on the company’s culture and the leadership’s commitment to management development. It was a long-term, “gentle” process that depended extensively on trust, integrity, and candor at all levels in the company.

As I reflect on that experience and look ahead to 2015 and beyond, I believe there were several things that made those conversations meaningful, both for me and for the executives I was connecting with.

First, I was eager to learn. As a beginner in the company and the industry I knew there was much I didn’t know. So I was genuinely interested in hearing about how those executives organized their work, what their experiences had been, and what they believed it took to be successful.

Second, because of that interest, I was more focused on listening than on talking. I believe I conveyed that focus through the questions I asked and my subsequent silence as I waited patiently to hear their responses.

Third, I learned to ask open-ended questions, and then to ask for more detail without in any way being challenging. I was simply curious to know more. And there’s nothing more compelling – and more personally gratifying – than to have another person genuinely interested in your ideas and experiences. The best way to extend a conversation and to genuinely connect with someone is to keep asking more clarifying questions.

Have you heard of the “Five Why’s” approach to getting to the root of an issue? It’s a central technique in the Six Sigma quality management approach. Simply put, just keep asking “Why?” over and over again to get to the root cause of a problem. The approach is generally attributed to Sakichi Toyoda, a Japanese industrialist and inventor, and the founder of Toyota Industries Company, Ltd.

The fourth factor that helped me connect with those executives was what the brilliant psychologist Carl Rogers called “reflective listening.” It’s both a mindset and a technique for feeding back to the other person both the content of what you’ve just heard and the feelings or emotions that the other person is currently experiencing. Reflective listening is a powerful way of conveying that you have truly heard and are empathizing with the other’s experience at a very deep and personal level.

I was recently invited to a dinner meeting that brought together about a dozen incredibly interesting people, most of whom did not know each other in advance. Early on we were standing in the living room of our host’s home, liquid refreshments in hand, getting superficially acquainted (name, where we lived, what our jobs were, and so on). Then one of the other guests came up to me and asked a very provocative but open-ended question: “If I really knew you, what would I know?”

Well, I found it impossible not to respond at a very personal level, and the ensuing conversation was far more profound, engaging, and meaningful than anything I’d ever experienced with a stranger (he also shared some very personal information about himself). And then as he turned to another guest and asked the same question of her, I did the same thing with someone else I didn’t know.

Within a few minutes every conversation in the room was being launched with that question. By the time we sat down for dinner, we were talking like old, trusted friends. And we were talking about things that mattered – deeply. It ended up being one of the most energizing evenings I’ve spent in a very long time. And I believe today that I can reconnect with any one of the people I met that night, ask them for help or advice, and be rewarded immediately with a caring, meaningful response.

So while many of us are now calling this an "Age of Networked Intelligence" (see “Creating Through Collaboration” for more on that label), I’ve become convinced that networking – having instantaneous global access to other people and information – is only a rudimentary capability.

Yes, the technology enables us to have that incredible access, but access isn’t what ultimately matters; the meaning is in the connecting, and connecting is a deep interpersonal process that involves respect, curiosity, trust, integrity, openness, and a deep commitment to engage with others at a very personal level.

What do you do to connect in a meaningful way? What gets in the way of having more conversations like my dinner meeting?

Does the Future of Work lie in the workplace communities?

2015-01-04T18:35:11.000Z

Ian Gee, former Global OD Director at Nokia Corporation along with his talented colleague Matthew Hanwell have seriously explore the topic in his recently released book "The WorkPlace Community: A Guide to Releasing Human Potential and Engaging Employees." They cite that, "we continue to use the same structures and organize work in the same way as we have for decades, but is there is a more effective way to benefit from our collective intelligence."

I am thrilled to see the work of Ian and Matthew out for us to read. One, because the topic is timely and relevant. And two, because I know first hand the quality of Ian's work. He was my client at the time Nokia was exploring ways to develop new values that would support their new business strategy. The company chose the World Cafe process methodology paired with the Jamming process by IBM to bring to the surface the beliefs and yearnings of their mutlicultural and mutligenerational people over all regions of the world. I am also proud of our the work we did in support of such a transformational initiative. We ran 16 World Cafes in the Americas from the USA to South America, in diverse parts of Europe, and in various Asian countries. One of the many joys of doing this work with Ian and Nokia was the seamless collaboration among the company and its leadership and "cafe ambassadors", the World Cafe team of consultants, and IBM's Jam team. This was one of those memorable experiences of emergent workplace community." What if we were able to converse in a similar way as we did in the Nokia project driven by a shared desired to unearth the guiding values for companies, organizations, and communities that have proven to be both resilient and able to change through a century or so? What if we use technologies that are available and appropriate to aid conversations that matter?

Get the book if you are interested in learning more about the approaches and tools Ian Gee and Matthew Hanwell have reserached and utilized. Or if you are more into a quick read, look at their article on the most recent journal of Personnel Today, called "Does the Future of Work Lie in the Workplace Communities."

Our World Cafe is a living example of a great community that also inspires a sense of global connectedness while recongizing the particular gifts of differnet people, generations, regions, beliefs, etc.

Enjoy the book if you choose to buy it. If not, keep building communities of concerned people who share a common interest on sustainable relationships, communities, and the present and future of the house we all share: our planet

Does%20the%20future%20of%20work%20lie%20in%20workplace%20communities%3F%20%7C%20Personnel%20Today.pdf The%20Workplace%20Community%3A%20Book%20for%20leaders%2C%20managers%2C%20HR%20professionals.pdf

What Makes an Effective Business Leader?

2014-12-18T03:33:34.000Z

Starting a business is not like getting up from bed on a nice Sunday morning to make pancakes just because you are hungry; doing so takes one years of hard work and tons of sacrifices to build courage and save money to turn his dreams into reality. However, wealth and passion are not enough for an entrepreneur to cement his spot in the corporate world. For him to continue thriving in such an unpredictable domain, he should be aware of the factors that make one a reputable business leader.

Bob Gandossy of the Top Companies for Leaders survey and Ronald Heifetz of Harvard Kennedy School have their takes on how business executives should behave to maintain their and their enterprises’ good stature. First, a business leader should know when to take a step back, and view the big picture. Taking into consideration not just a part of the business but it as a whole will let entrepreneurs make decisions that will improve the company en masse. A good leader should not only have control over his corporation but also of his emotions – he must not be driven by ego-fulfilment or hunger for money or power alone.

When travelling down the long and winding path to success, it is better to do so with partners who have the same interests and goals as you, according to both Gandossy and Heifetz. Teamwork and collaboration are key elements for seamless business operations for the company’s development, so it is important to find individuals who you will be able to mesh well with. Also, business heads should uphold trust and integrity in the workplace, remain fair when dealing with conflicts in the office, and treat their colleagues with respect.

Heifetz and Gandossy believe that a good leader should be able to ride the waves of the ever-changing global market. While following a concrete plan is essential for a business to prosper, mixing things up by taking current trends into account can translate into bigger returns that will help sustain the company’s projects. It would also help if businessmen know who they are up against; having information about your competitors can help make your product stand out from its peers.

An effective business leader should not only walk the walk, he must also talk the talk. Being a good communicator is an advantage to executives especially when their employees need motivation to strive harder for the benefit of the institution. Being an eloquent speaker also helps entrepreneurs leave a good impression on parties they hope to strike a deal with. Lastly, Gandossy and Heifetz urge aspiring business moguls to try what they think are “stupid” ideas, as these eclectic concepts may provide alternative solutions and break open new creative ground for you to explore.

Everybody can open a business, but not everyone is fortunate enough to see their “babies” take off and be a hit among consumers. If you desire to be a pioneer of a business that will change the lives of many people, assess yourself and see if you have the ability to lead before venturing into the business world.

Frank Wallem is a Norwegian serial entrepreneur. For more than 20 years in the industry, Frank has already put up, managed and sold a number of enterprise. Today, he is the Managing Director of an investment firm, Spin Invest AS and a logistics company Safe Finans AS.

Listen for Meaning

2014-11-15T19:30:00.000Z

Try this exercise sometime: When you are with a friend, stare into his or her eyes for a full minute (while he/she is staring back at you). This isn’t about flirting, or hypnosis.

No, it’s just about appreciating that you are looking at something completely unique (and so is your partner).

No one else in the world has the eyes you have just been looking at; in fact, a retinal scan is a more accurate way of identifying an individual than a fingerprint – almost as accurate (and a whole lot easier) than a DNA sample.

Each of us also possesses a unique brain – a three-pound mass of cells that contains over 100 billion neurons that are linked by over 100 trillion synapses – the pathways that create our memories and serve as the filters that generate the emotional meanings accompanying each of those memories.

(See my June 30, 2014, article “There is Only One of You” for a more complete discussion about the incredible carbon-based networks and processing engines that live between our ears).

But it’s not just biology that makes you unique; it’s also your experiences, your core assumptions, and your personal collection of talents, interests, and perspectives. And if we add in age, gender, and ethnic/cultural differences, there is no question that every single one of us is unlike any other human being in all of history.

Yes, I know: as a society we also have many shared values, interests, and understandings – and that is certainly a good thing. However, at the moment I am more interested in our uniqueness as individuals than in the commonalities that bring us together into communities.

As I have suggested elsewhere, I am generally appalled at how ineffective most organizations are at leveraging (or even uncovering) the incredible diversity of ideas, insights, and talents that lie right there within their employee base.

Becoming an effective leader involves much more than listening to what your peers and staff are saying; becoming a caring and cared-about leader requires that you also hear what they are feeling, and what they are seeking. Only when you truly understand what the current experience means to someone else can you take full advantage of their unique knowledge, skills, and capabilities.

The next time you are in a conversation, listen for the meaning behind the words, and seek out what that meaning can bring to the challenges at hand. And the best way I know to sort out what any idea or comment means to someone else is to ask yourself what is their frame of reference.

I first came across a simple three-part model for understanding someone’s personal frame of reference when I was teaching at Harvard Business School over 25 years ago. Warning: it’s simple in concept, but deeply profound in application.

Simply stated, our emotions result from the intersection of our assumptions and our perceptions – the interplay between the way we believe things should be, and the way they are (actually, as we perceive them to be). The meaning of any experience, including a conversation, comes from the interaction of those three components.

As Tony Athos and Jack Gabarro, two of my colleagues at Harvard, described it in their 1978 textbook Interpersonal Behavior: Communication and Understanding in Relationships:

…assumptions include all the beliefs, values, and attitudes that a person holds about how things are and how they ought to be…. Assumptions are the …values that we incorporate into our conceptions of the world and into our conceptions of ourselves so that they become part of us.

(link above is to the book description on Amazon.com)

Perceptions are what we see or hear as actually taking place in our present world – or at least what we think we are seeing or hearing.

Athos and Gabarro then observed that most personal and interpersonal problems come about when someone’s important assumptions are being challenged or contradicted by what they are currently hearing, seeing, or experiencing. It’s the gap between “what should be” and “what is” that drives our emotions.

So the next time you see your conversation partner getting tight-lipped and red in the face, ask yourself what he or she must be assuming or wishing for that is in conflict with what is happening or what is being said at the moment. In the vernacular, pay attention to where they’re coming from, and you’ll understand a lot more about where they’re trying to go.

And never forget that each of us is on a unique, highly individual journey. We can enrich each others’ journeys, but we cannot trade places. And that is precisely what makes collaboration and conversation so special, so productive, and so satisfying.

Dr. Michael Picucci Interviewed for Somatic Perspectives on Psychotherapy

2014-11-12T23:12:44.000Z

I was honored to be interviewed for Somatic Perspectives on Psychotherapy by Serge Prengel as part of the Somatic Perspectives on Psychotherapy series. Friends, check out The Focalizing Institute's blog entry and the attendant audio interview here: http://buff.ly/1tIHSG3

Why are Good Conversations So Elusive?

2014-11-11T20:20:15.000Z

(this post also appears on my own blog, at http://thefutureofwork.net/why-are-good-conversations-so-elusive/)

It happened again. I was at a National Speakers Association Northern California Chapter event on Saturday, proudly wearing my button that reads “Ask Me About My Book” (a gift from Cathy Fyock, my writing coach). Several people did ask (thank you!), and I responded something like this:

Thanks for asking. The working title of the book is Changing the Corporate Conversation. I want to improve the quality of meetings and all kinds of conversations at work. I’m convinced the workforce as a whole is wasting millions of hours of time attending mundane, non-productive meetings of all kinds. My goal is to enable people to design and lead innovative, productive meetings that leverage the talent inherent in every organization.

How did that premise strike people?

Here is a small sample of their responses:

That sounds really exciting!"

"Boy, is that ever needed!"

"When will the book be done? I can’t wait to read it."

"That sounds terrific. My company’s meetings are just plain awful."

I get those kinds of responses every time I talk about the book. And I talk about it because, in my experience, far too many meetings (and many of the less-formal conversations at work as well) just don’t generate engagement, or learning, or even clarity.

We seem to be mired in mediocrity, settling for routine conversations rather than demanding more. What’s galling is that we all seem frustrated but unable to do anything about it.

What gets in our way? Why do good conversations elude us? I believe there are at least six major factors that affect our conversations at work (I have written something about most of them over the last three months or so):

Individual differences in the way we experience the world, and in how we process our experiences. Those differences often make it difficult for people to communicate effectively, if at all (I wrote a bit about how to understand individual frames of reference in “Listen for Meaning” and about how unique each one of us is in “There is Only One of You”).

Organizational Contexts –differences in organizational power and authority, functional focus, and task responsibilities combine to make it difficult for many people to get on the same wavelength, let alone be open, candid, and honest with each other. Read “To See a Corporate Culture, Listen to Its Conversations” for some discussion of how power differentials affect communication.

Organizational Cultures. Too many corporate cultures today value conformity, risk avoidance, and politeness – all traits that discourage candor and focus more on processes than on outcomes. See “Collaborative Conversations Create Constructive Cultures” for some additional thoughts on corporate cultures.

Management Practices. The way we schedule, manage, and follow up on meetings discourages meaningful conversation (see my blog post “Make Your Meetings More Meaningful” for some perspectives on this observation).

Stress. Everyone is being asked to do more with less, and for less. We just don’t have the time to catch our breath, slow down, and pay attention to others’ ideas. And isn’t that it takes to have a meaningful conversation?

Society. The richly connected world we live in today discourages meaningful conversations in a surprising number of ways. Yes, we interact with many more people, in many more places, than ever before. However, those interactions tend to be through short text messages (Twitter, email, Facebook wall postings) or brief phone conversations. We just don’t make the time for casual, leisurely conversations the way our ancestors did. We depend on digital media for entertainment, for news, and for other kinds of communication rather than word of mouth or personal conversations.

I am writing Changing the Corporate Conversation because I know we can do better. and because conversations are at the very core of what we do at work. I am passionate about the difference good conversations can make in organizational effectiveness and in our personal experiences at work (and beyond).

I also want to note that many of the ideas and stories I am compiling for the book have come from – of all things! – conversations. I’m always asking friends and colleagues what they think drives good conversations, and to tell me stories about meetings and conversations that stand out for them. It’s deeply confirming to realize how a conversation about improving conversations at work energizes everyone I meet.

If you have an insight, a concern, a frustration, or some advice about making meetings and/or conversations more meaningful, send me a note (at [email protected]">[email protected]) and let’s talk about it. Or post a comment here; I’d love to hear your story, and possibly include it in the book.

Consenting: A 7-Minute Guided Meditation from Dr. Michael Picucci

2014-11-06T20:16:53.000Z

Feeling stuck or down?

The colors in this link - http://buff.ly/1u41NUz - are a visual that someone shared w/me in relation to their experience of this 7-minute guided meditation.. Many have found listening to be transformational, or at least a great stress reliever. The more you listen the more effect it seems to have. Let me know how it works for you before I post more of a similar nature.

To hear the guided meditation, relax and click here: http://clyp.it/umkybwci

'Creating a Better Future: Going Within to Move Beyond', A New Email Newsletter Platform

2014-09-23T19:49:30.000Z

'Creating a Better Future: Going Within to Move Beyond' is one of the cool topics and offerings in our present newsletter. IMPORTANT: We are switching newsletter platforms and anti-spam etiquette is to invite you to opt-in to the new mail list even if you were on it previously. In appreciation, for your support, we will send you the first and second book chapters of Michael's primer on focalizing, 'Focalizing Source Energy.' And we have lots of goodies coming your way including new opportunities to experience focalizing directly: http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/177821/3f5bf81376/135000283/436d725ccb/ .

NYC: Systemic Healing Conference, 9/22 to 9/26, 2014

2014-09-11T17:13:28.000Z

Systemic Healing Conference: 9/22 to 9/26, 2014, in NYC. You can also come for individual days of interest. Therapists and coaches encouraged to attend, as well as interested individuals. Dr. Michael Picucci will be presenting Friday all day 9/26. The entire week will also be translated into Portuguese on the spot. Many attendees are coming from Brazil for the event. See attached flyer for details, a few openings still exist: http://bit.ly/1qNzKpw .

Active Pause, Resourcing Clients

2014-09-11T12:37:47.000Z

'Active Pause' like Focalizing is gently transforming the therapy experience. Serge Prengle just shared on LinkedIn for therapists: Michael Picucci talks about a way to use Active Pause for resourcing clients in therapy and shares 2-minute clip: http://bit.ly/ZhSQLv .

Active Pause ...

2014-08-15T19:40:27.000Z

Fast growing 'Active Pause' grounding phenomena is winding its way into Focalizing & Dynamic Linking technologies in very effective ways. The other day Serge Prengel and I Skyped on my my travels with exploring this the Pause. He clipped a bit of a bit of my travels with exploring it. You can see the 2-minute clip here: http://bit.ly/1sJ9qfX .

I need your help. Thank you

2014-08-12T19:57:54.000Z

I am trying to win a scholarship to study for a master degree in ADR. I am in the final and need votes in Facebook to win. you can go to www.estudiarenfuniber.com/finalistas and vote for Rosa Abdelnour Granados.

Thank a lot if you can help.

World Café at the World Summit on Information Society

2014-06-11T08:55:19.000Z

In 2011, I introduced The World Café into ITU, the UN ICT agency, where I was then employed. The World Café was developed by Juanita Brown and David Isaacs and now comprises a global community of practitioners. It is a wonderful collaborative meeting methodology, and this highly participative tool became immediately very popular in ITU, an organization that supports dialogue and consensus.

I am proud and honoured to conduct my 12th high-level international ITU/UN world café type event on 12 June 2014 for the World Summit on Information Society WSIS+10. http://j.mp/1l8i4Dz

This is a real multistakeholder platform, where civil society, public and private sectors from all over the world are present to contribute to the Information Society beyond 2015.

The café event will enable the active involvement of each and every participant to explore key questions about the implementation of the WSIS Action lines for development.

#WSIS #WSISPROCESS

Another Amazing event in an amazing place..."Seidise...LIVE!" - Galbiate, Italy

2014-05-05T10:41:05.000Z

We have transformed a virtual venue born on fb three months ago into a "live" event...

You can find details on http://seidise.blogspot.it (only in italian...sorry)

thank you all for your heart and presence

Money is messing up my local economy: 7 things to learn

2014-04-19T17:00:00.000Z

A recent report on local currency and local economy from Sweden, complied by Transition member Steve Hinton, sheds light on some of the pitfalls and opportunities for local community action. The report comes in the wake of a resilience project to create a “back-up” currency, envisioned as a preparedness tool should Sweden’s ubiquitous digital money system fail due to loss of electrical power over a longer period. Most money today in Sweden is digital, only a few percent is notes and coins. With its harsh winters and long distances, Sweden is particularly vulnerable.

The first part of the project involved creating a currency without clearing. The project, a cooperation between Transition Sweden and ISSS, the Institute of Swedish Safety and Security, revamped the German Minutos currency as a volunteer currency, covering a maximum of 400 volunteer hours per year per person.

Then Local Transition groups participated in workshops – conducted in a way resembling a fluid world café -to learn more about the currency and the possibilities to use it in local resilience projects to develop the local economy.

FIRST LEARNING: CAN YOU REALLY CREATE MONEY OUT OF NOTHING

The workshop involves making your own paper money and getting it endorsed by people who know you. Half way through cutting the notes to shape, participants would look up. a quizzical look in their eye and say “can you really create money out of nothing?”. Other participants, busily trimming their own vouchers would look up as say “why not? That’s what banks do!”

Conclusion: some basic information on the money system is needed if people are to understand how to develop their local economy.

SECOND LEARNING: I FEEL USELESS

The next step involved, just to have some “market” to try the currency out, had people creating ads for their own services. Often as not, participants would state at a blank paper and blurt out how useless they were.

Conclusion: participants and local volunteers (not all) will need easing gently into participating. Several visible wins (like planting nut trees along the streets) will raise spirits. Leadership is needed at the beginning to structure up activities so people can contribute with their skills and feel positive about what they can do.

THIRD LEARNING: SHOPPING IS FUN WHEN IT’S SUSTAINABLE

The workshop proceeds to simulate buying and selling. It’s fun. Maybe it comes from playing shops as kids or maybe it is just because it’s a human activity but creating a market and buying and selling feels good. Which brings us to the next learning…

FOURTH LEARNING: MONEY AS SCARCITY PUTS A DAMPER ON EVERYTHING

Reflecting over why the simulation is fun and normal buying and selling is so fraught with negative emotions, participants speculate that it has to do with a culture of scarcity; not enough atmosphere to receive carbon dioxide, not enough money to go round, not enough jobs etc.

What is good to do in the simulation is to ask people how many hours they could volunteer a year for their local Transition project. If you add all of these up, in an average size workshop, you see the equivalent of 2-3 full time staff. When you realize that together you already have, just using volunteers, the equivalent of small business staffing, you can get away from the scarcity mentality.

Conclusion: whenever running events and meetings always keep a positive atmosphere of having enough.

FIFTH LEARNING: YOU NEED ENTERPRISES

The first few times we ran the workshop we just simulated buying and selling between individuals. Something seemed to be missing. The rural development projects funded by the EU give you half of the money needed. The other half is expected to be covered by volunteer time. We introduced this into the workshop by grouping participants and asking them to design local economy development projects. They then did a “Dragons Den” investment pitch. Based on the pitch, participants “donated” money to the projects of their choice. Armed with donated cash, the projects went off looking for suitable volunteers.

This was just a simulation, but the results were always good, each project gaining enough donated hours and volunteers to have a good chance of succeeding.

Conclusion: local economies need local projects. We saw later on how several thriving local communities, with local shops, local investment companies, organic meat production, all started with volunteer projects (and some EU grant money).

SIXTH LEARNING: YOU NEED A PLACE

This might sound trite, but a sense of place is essential. Many people have very little knowledge of the place they live, and subsequently should a crisis come, they have a steep learning curve. Starting with projects that bring people together, so they get to know each other, and projects that help people get to know the place, are the foundation of a living local economy.

SEVENTH LEARNING; THE FIVE P’S OF A LOCAL ECONOMY

A resilient, local economy needs the five P’s. All of them need to be in place, and how you work with each aspect depends on the situation you are in.

PLACE: A good understanding of all aspects of the place that affect resilience: organizations, culture, ecology, infrastructure, history etc.

PEOPLE: The better people know each other and have established good relationships the better. And a good knowledge of each other’s skills and capabilities.

PROJECTS: The better the work is projectised, the faster development can move. Structured projects offer opportunities for people to engage that have difficulty structuring up and starting activities themselves.

PRODUCTS: local services, local products, the more the better. Otherwise the local economy is dependent on import and thus the money leaks out.

PAYMENT SYSTEM: A system is better than none. Sometimes local currency, or volunteer currency is ideal, others the national currency can work.

The 5P’s workshop, where participants simulate creating their own currency and creating a viable marketplace is part of the Swedish Transition movement’s Reconomy movement’s toolbox. To read the full report from the recent workshops or to order the English version of the workshop materials, visit Stephen’s website at http://stephenhinton.org

Local currency and market simulations in café form: a report

2014-03-26T10:10:15.000Z

Published on the 26^th March, a new report from the Institute of Swedish Safety and Security, ISSS, written by fellow Stephen Hinton, sums up recent experiences with running workshops in café style on local economic development, risk preparedness and voluntary currency. Two results speak volumes about the sustainability predicament we find ourselves in today. Firstly, in simulating creating a local currency most participants realized they had no idea of how their national currency was created. Secondly, it became clear that creativity and collaboration are held back when money is a bearer of scarcity.

From following what happened in the workshop simulations, it seems the best way to approach developing a resilient local economy is to start from where you are, who you are, and what you have. And collaborate. And get multi-skilled. Preferably organize into projects to focus energies. All of these factors are essential regardless of whether a currency or points system or any other system is used.

Download the report here. ITK_report2

Kids Cafe

2014-01-24T02:54:18.000Z

Can anyone share thoughts or experience for the design and hosting of cafes for kids from grade school through high school?

Curiosity.....Keeps Us Alive or leads to a Miserable End

2013-09-10T04:32:50.000Z

Long time back COLUMBUS started his journey; he sailed all across ATLANTIC and discovered a land which today we called as AMERICA. His curiosity brought him there. Same did by VASCO, otherwise we living in this divine land INDIA were never known to the world before that.

We all are curious, we were curious and we will be curious rest of our life, I think it is the curiosities which keeps us moving and keep us feel alive.

Nobody in this entire world is interested in the obvious things, with the things which are known to us, and with the fact which is visible in front of us. Everyone around us seems to be interested in the hidden things; they all want to know the secret which is not yet revealed.

This is the curiosity of ours which have brought us to this tech savvy era we are living in. Our curiosity has made us do a lot of development. Landing on Moon, Flying in the sky, talking while watching someone who is very far away from us... all these were seems to be a dream in the past which now is possible and in reach of most of us.

What makes us do this, from where this curiosity came in us?

Sir Albert Einstein once said: "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” meaning that it's not that why we ask so many questions, it is entirely about our basic mentality which is nothing but "We Want To Know" and that is why the curiosity within us is never ending and has its own reason of existing.

But apart from all sort of developments which this never ending mentality of ours has given to us, Our Curiosity has another different and dangerous perspective too.

The perspective of taking interest in others life. We humans, we all are of so curious nature that we all want to peek deep in others life.

In this very busy life of ours when someone asks us: “hey! Do you have some time for me",
The most common reply we give is: "Sorry dear, I am a bit busy right now"

We all are very busy with our routines, we never have time for others, but in contradiction to this we can't deny the fact that we all are very much interested in others life and the irony is that we really enjoy this and in spite of our busy schedule we get ample time for this activity. We want to know each and every detail about others like:

What happened to them?
What are they doing?
Where are they leading?
What are their future plans?

Aahhh, seriously all these queries which seems to be nonsense & childish now, looks very sensible and of huge interest to each one of us in our life.

Our curiosity has made us do this; we are those species who want to know each & everything around us, without knowing the fact of its relevance to us.

We never look mainly for the details or the info relevant to us, we always show more interest in others life & in others accomplishments and after knowing we always get worried for the things which happened in others life like their achievements and their growth. Also often, we get very happy sometimes by hearing a bad news about others like poor results or loss in business as if their downfall will going to make any rise in our life or will leads to uplift our life’s existing condition

Oscar Wilde, once mentioned “The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing.”

Sometimes this curiosity in us leads to major problems as they say "Curiosity killed the cat" - "a proverb used to warn of the dangers of unnecessary investigation or experimentation" which means one should never be curious about the things not related to him or her. As a matter of fact it is the curiosity only which makes us touch unknowing things around us and which in actuality proved to be an explosive which can harm us and many others like us

So, it is the curiosity that keeps us alive but being more curious about irrelevant things can be dangerous and can bring our happy life to a miserable end too.

If every one of us just concentrates on our self development and then the social development, the entire society will develop. Peeking into others life and being curious about happenings in their life will simply prove to be a wastage of time and ultimately our self development will be hindered as time available to all of us is limited & it is up to us where we invest the only precious thing ever exist “TIME”

So Be Curious, Be Aware... to learn, to develop you, but be true to yourself and don't let your curiosity leads to self destruction or to the devastation of others

Believe me...In this world...We are here to live and let others live happily and peacefully by being united and by supporting each other to whatever extent we can.

Zoomlion World Cafè, Changsha (China), July 12th, 2013

2013-07-26T14:16:18.000Z

I am aware that sometimes trying to summarize emotions, thoughts, feelings and even the discussions in words is a quite challenging and not productive endeavor. So, summarizing in a few words the Zoomlion World Cafè event of July 12^th is definitely a challenge for me. Maybe it will be easier for those who participated in the event to catch in the following words something that they recognize. For those who were not there, I hope that, without a full understanding, their curiosity can be somehow stimulated.

I will try to point out the “why’s and the how’s” we have organized and lived this experience, the basic reasons that pushed us to design it, prepare it and some notes about how the experience was actually lived.

I like to consider these as “seeds”: what is important is to plant them, take care of them and trust that some of them will develop and become plants, flowers and fruits. But we can’t force them to do so. Just notice, from time to time, if there is something sprouting out from your ground.

And I like to bring this as an example of “the reasons why I work”, which I hope can emerge from the following lines.

The new organization in Zoomlion International structure, approved in the beginning of 2013, has brought an important change. Such change has been thought as one of the tools to allow a more efficient international development of the Company, with a deeper involvement at all levels.

During the first months some issues emerged from the structure, with a general request of reaching a better understanding of roles, responsibilities and workflows across the various departments, including the critical relationships between Region, Business Units and Supporting Functions.

In order to allow people to better understand their roles and stimulate their contributions, the Management of the Company decided to start a training program including a formal lecture on the “Matrix Organization Systems” (aiming at explaining what is a “Matrix” organization, how it usually works and which are the general problems that can arise with its implementations) and a full day “Workshop Training”. So we started to elaborate around some kind of session or experience that could “touch” the main issues at the heart.

The main issue, actually, was regarding COMMUNICATION among people and the good relationship needed to make the “Matrix” work and come true. The “Matrix” is not a target in itself, it’s a tool. Like a car can’t be driven without gasoline, the matrix cannot bring us where we want to go if we do not put “fuel” into it.

The “fuel” of the Matrix is made of a new attitude in Communication and Relationship: involvement, dialogue, attitude to proposal, listening, learning, trust, respect are some of the key words and principles of this game.

“Thinking together” can make a big difference. Exploring new creative possibilities can allow us to discover new opportunities. Each individual value, energy and contribution is respected and welcome. The sense of the team, the power of the group can grow.

We had to create the environment to offer a broad opportunity to all the relevant functions and to individuals to:

look at the current situation from different (and maybe unusual but more creative) perspectives,
look for “the other way” to see “problems”, from the perspective of the “solution”
share experiences, knowledge, feelings,
feel embedded in a powerful learning flow
experience the power of “collective intelligence”
feel the future solutions that want to emerge
step to a higher level of understanding and motivation

Three principles were underlined:

COMMUNICATION: suspend judgment and listen with open heart
CONTRIBUTION: Support participation and inclusiveness
RESPONSIBILITY: be accountable and proactive, a rigid process cannot be an excuse to do nothing

So the basic idea of the “Zoomlion World Cafè” was to experience the ability to make a dialogue “in truth” and possibly mobilize something that we can call “collective intelligence”.

A “conversational environment” has been reproduced to stimulate such collective thinking and we have pointed out a set of “guidelines” to allow this to happen:

Clarify the context and the purpose
Create a hospitable surrounding environment: you found tables accommodating up to five participants, with nice covers and colors, music, food, drinks, etc.
Ask “important” questions, something that truly matters: we have worked a lot on this in the background, some days before the event with some of the colleagues
Encourage the contribution from each one
Connect different points of view
Listen to catch intuitions and deep thoughts
Collect and share results
Have fun!

In the beginning we had a “landing” experience, something that allowed us to set the right mood of our heart for the rest of the day. The “landing” is a something to prepare ourselves from the “inside”. Prepare ourselves to see and hear people and things more deeply, including our own thoughts and emotions. In looking at the other members and welcoming them, people felt like looking into a mirror. That was a very important five minutes individual session.

After that, a reflection was assigned, so that each of the participant could focus on his or her own personal issues, what was truly important “for them”, in their heart. And the questions were the following:

Which changes in the past half year have affected you most and why?
Which changes do you think are mostly needed for the future in our company and why?
Which are the main sources of energy and motivation in YOUR daily job and how can YOU use them better?

People were invited to write down their comments. Writing down is very important because it brings “out” something that is “in”, i.e. it becomes explicit and you can look at it. It is surprising, sometimes, reading something we have written in the past and see how and why it may have changed.

Tables formation was free, even though in the first round of 45 minutes people found their places with other people with whom they felt more comfortable: same department, old friends, nice character or whatever. But that was just the beginning. Five people can find the way to have a dialogue in which all of them can participate and each on is listened to, with a sense of belonging, of team.

At the second round of 45 minutes, we have changed: one “witness” stayed in the same table, with the role of representing to others the main points of the previous talks, while the “ambassadors” would bring to other tables such main points. Exchanging the tables is an enriching experience for various reasons: we could “break” the comfortable feeling of becoming a separate team, with a known environment and already negotiated rules, although maybe not explicitly. We are pushed towards a new situation, somewhat unknown, where different persons are sitting, different rules have been experienced, different topics have been touched and different opinions have emerged. We are pushed in a new environment, so we are somehow obliged to adapt ourselves to that, while we are also free to bring in our own experience. (actually, this resembles very much what we can experience in our daily job). This experience is something that we tend to avoid by instinct, because it requires a certain amount of intention, a “shift” in the behavior, a choice. Nevertheless, after the “shift” people usually feel much better, as if they have discovered something of value that was hidden not far from them. And most of all, you experience the freedom of making this choice. You feel that freedom and responsibility are very much linked together.

To help the participants to live this event deeply, some guidelines were given and most of them have tried and maybe also experienced the nice feeling of not defending their opinions against different opinions, like in a fight, but respecting other opinions and trying to truly listen and learn. Their opinion not necessarily has changed, but possibly has transformed, has been enriched by a new vision, an new perspective. That’s the difference between “discussion” (confronting opinions as in a ping pong game) and “dialogue” (let different opinions become a new and shared meaning for all of us).

What actually happens is that we feel more respect for the other guy. And we feel more respected by the other guy. Even we still have different opinions in the end. We feel like: “Ok, I can see your point, I can see why you think that. And I respect that. Maybe my perspective is still different. But I feel like we are on the same boat and finally we have a common interest”.

Having three rounds of questions, allowed us to penetrate more deeply into this process, without having the pressure to produce any kind of “result” or “performance”, but just focusing on the “process”, on feeling aware of what was happening inside and around us.

Here are the questions that the participants “lived” during the three rounds of 45 minutes each:

Looking at our organization today

1. What do YOU consider really important today in OUR specific situation today and why is it so much at YOUR heart?
2. What do YOU think we should verify, clarify or put into discussion in reflecting on OUR specific situation? How do you suggest to act on this? How can you consider it as an opportunity?
3. How can WE contribute (suggestions, choices, decisions, next steps, new behaviors, etc.) to improve OUR situation and make it better? What did WE not considered so far?

The participants worked deeply on those questions and meanwhile they felt more and more involved into the dialogue, maybe developing a sense of curiosity on where the dialogue was going. Meanwhile, they may have felt a growing sense of “collective happening”, started to connect ideas, see similarities, draw links on papers that had been written by other people before them. Once again, writing down was a way of making thoughts explicit, make them VISIBLE to others.

The table covers and all the papers attached on the wall in the end was the evidence of the dialogue throughout the day, the participants felt it as the real “product” of the day, i.e. not a “result”, not a “performance”, not a specific “outcome”, not something that can be “summarized”, but the sense of a “process”, the process of “how to communicate in a different way and let a new learning emerge”. That is a “collective” experience.

That process has been the real outcome: learning that it is possible to have a dialogue without necessarily fighting against different opinions and struggling to defend our own assumptions, and feeling that this way of proceeding can be very energetic and productive.

The final step was to work on the “Learning points”. Learning points are not “opinions”, “ideas”, “suggestions”. Learning points are something new and meaningful, something that before was not part of my experience and now it is. Something that is interesting and that is worth notice, fix, apply.

Something you would like to bring with you as part of your personal and professional background, a new asset.

And then the “Big question”: usually, a day like this can open up new doors and new path for exploration. It is impossible that the process comes to a simple “full stop”, just ending, with all the answers to all the questions. That would mean that the questions were not so interesting and meaningful.

Usually, interesting questions bring more questions, more willingness to go deeper, understand more, explore more possibilities, see from more perspectives. And the feeling of having new “pending issues” is quite normal. And beneficial. Maybe not comfortable, but exciting. If you feel comfortable, maybe you have all the answers already. So maybe you can ask yourself if you are in the middle of an illusion. That’s why we have concluded with the “big question” session. The papers with Learning points and big questions have been collected and presented in public by a representative for each table. Then put in a common document as the summary of the “collective learning”.

That experience has to be considered as an “exercise”, but also as a “seed” to bring into real life.

I like to conclude with this quote:

“All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. We did not weave the web of life, we are merely strands in it. Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves”

(Si’ahl, American Indian Chief, 1887)

Designing the future of the Earth Cooperatively.

2013-05-29T20:31:40.000Z

Universal Platform for Developing Sustainable Earth Vision /Model Cooperatively
( www.modelearth.org/seed.html )

A sustainable world can never be fully realized until it is widely
envisioned. The vision must be built up by many people before
it is complete and compelling. (Meadows 2004, p273)

(Although I don't think that such a vision ever can be "complete"--I
think that such a "vision" has to be honed to a perfection for ever,
as our knowledge, on any subject, can never be "complete" -
Hearthstone.)

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To
change something, build a new model that makes the existing
model obsolete. (attributed to Buckminster Fuller, though I have
not been able, so far, to find the source)

One can--and eventually must--decide that a fate is an
inadequate substitute for a future. (Umair Haque
http://www.twylah.com/umairh/tweets/ - might not be accessible
forever--use Internet search--"fate", "substitute", "Haque")

We have to know what kind of a world we want to live in, if the one that we
live in now we don't like.
The challenge is to come up with an idea of a world that would optimally suit
us all; an ideal that all of us on Earth could focus on and strive for--a
harmonious, truly sustainable co-existence of us all on Earth.

It has to be an ideal accessible, discussable, and amendable by every- and
any-body at all times--the germ of a true global (and, of course local at the
same time) governance--a government where the governing would be done
by the means of a vision/model in common worked on, held and
striven for by all continuously.

The valid competition would be to improve on the ideal (vision/model), and
to find better ways of achieving this ideal, instead of competing for
advantage over others to the detriment of the whole, as has the prevalent
practice been till now.

There would, eventually, cease any need for "leaders" and
"followers"--everyone would have the potential to take a part in
embodying their own ideas (in concert with the wishes for an ideal
existence of all others) in the continuously being shaped collective
vision/model. The resulting collective vision/model would not be
static--an ideal could not remain an ideal without the possibility of
improving on it perpetually. It would be a space to resolve any
differences, controversies, conflicts, and any complaints that there
ever might arise among us; it would become a superior way of a
collective self-rule.

... (more at www.modelearth.org/seed.html ).

Thank you, sincerely -

Mr. Jan Hearthstone.

World Café Day 2, 16 May 2013 - WSIS+10 Visioning Challenge on the Future of theInformation Society after the target of the UN 2015 Millenium Development Goals http://ning.it/12voQah

2013-05-22T20:12:00.000Z

World Café Day 2, 16 May 2013 - WSIS+10 Visioning Challenge on the Future of theInformation Society after the target of the UN 2015 Millenium Development Goals

http://ning.it/12voQah

World Café at WSIS+10 Visioning Challenge 15 & 16 May 2013

2013-05-14T19:59:07.000Z

World Café at WSIS+10 Visioning Challenge 15 & 16 May 2013

The World Summit on the Information Society Forum 2013 represents the world’s largest annual gathering of the ‘ICT for development’ community.

http://tinyurl.com/bvzypmj

World Café across cultures and languages

2013-05-13T16:30:00.000Z

Most of the World Cafés I have hosted are in multicultural and multilingual settings. This has never been a barrier to meaningful communication. The café methodology connects us at such a deep, fundamentally human level, that when the system comes together, open dialogue is established within the first minutes of the first conversation. I have seen participants really engage to understand each other across organizational or national cultures, translate for each other and help each other out, with a strong intent of simply connecting. World Café really does bring the best out of us!

IAF Europe Association newsletter article about our 'Big Conversation' World Café

2013-01-18T19:30:00.000Z

At the IAF Europe conference in September I visually facilitated an adapted World Café for the closing session. We wanted to give facilitators the experience of being 'inside' the process, and for them to see how it worked with a graphic facilitator - something not everyone had possibly experienced.

I ran a 'back to basics' World Café with a pre-prepared template and just paper and pens on the tables - adding in the WC cards to provide guidelines for those new to the process (very useful, can recommend). We only had one participant move due to time, limited space and depleted energy levels on day 3 of an amazing and intense conference!

Things got really interesting in the final section when I opened it up to the room for their World Café adaptations, this was a incredibly experienced group (think Somali pirate negotiations, war zone facilitation and UN worldwide) and the results were fascinating. If you'd like to read the article please click here: IAF Europe Newsletter Thanks!

http://envinfoiiitmk.blogspot.in/

2012-12-14T04:09:37.000Z

Integrating Ecology, Information technology and Society

Formación y certificación en World Café™

2012-12-03T22:33:07.000Z

Con el nuevo programa de formación y certificación en World Café™ nos proponemos extender el uso de esta poderosa metodología en organizaciones y comunidades.

En el proceso esperamos certificar en el uso de la metodología a facilitadores competentes, para multiplicar el efecto en forma directa e indirecta.

Abrimos el espacio para brindar oportunidades de trabajo a los profesionales y facilitadores interesados en esta perspectiva y de transformación organizacional, social y cultural, a las entidades que deseen beneficiarse mediante la implantación de la metodología.

Mayores detalles en la nueva edición del boletín KMplanet News

LCW - Learning CAFé Workshops

2012-09-27T15:52:02.000Z

Compartimos con la comunidad el programa LCW – Learning CAFé Workshops, que tiene como objetivo alinear reflexiones, descubrimientos y propuestas colectivas, usando metodologías inductivas y participativas, a partir de las conversaciones humanas.

El portafolio LCW ha sido creado por Luisa Elena Sucre y yo, a partir de la metodología World Café^TM. El programa LCW integra metodologías complementarias y recursos de software, de audio y video, y de registro en mapas conceptuales, para la planificación, la realización, el control y la entrega de cada taller, así como enfoques novedosos como el de WCC^© en donde utilizamos World Café^TM para la investigación cualitativa o como el de STPV, donde los participantes disciernen sobre estrategias y propuestas de valor en un seminario de marketing especializado que cuenta con ayuda software.

Cada taller es cuidadosamente programado y realizado, tanto en lo académico como en lo logístico. La contextualización asistida y la definición de los objetivos conducen a las Preguntas Claves de cada taller, diseñadas y activadas con ayuda del Método de Construcción de Preguntas Movilizadoras CPM^©, desarrollado en CESOFT Colombia.

Es requisito que cada taller se realice en un ambiente cálido, tipo café, y se preparen minuciosamente los estímulos auditivos, visuales, gustativos y kinestésicos, en las mesas y en el salón. Para facilitar el proceso y el manejo de las agendas del cliente y de los participantes, aseguramos el cumplimiento de los tiempos de cada actividad.

Todo taller LCW tiene un Entregable. El siguiente cuadro indica los entregables del programa.

LEARNING CAFÉ WORKSHOP	ENTREGABLE
LEARNING CAFÉ WORKSHOP	Manteles, Murales y Café	Registro Gráfico	Mapeo Conceptual	Análisis de Resultados
TWC	•	•		^↑
TWCo	•			^↑
TALLErCAFé^©	•		•	^↑
CINEMaTALLEr^©	•			^↑
CINEMa^®CAFé	•		•	^↑
WCC^©	•		•	•
STPV^©	•		•	•

• Entregables de cada Taller. ^↑Opcional

Agradecemos a Juanita Brown, a David Isaacs, a María de los Ángeles Cinta, David Gurteen, Zulma Sofía Patarroyo y a todas las personas que co-inspiración esta propuesta, que nos proponemos multiplicar a través de la capacitación y la formación de facilitadores en las diversas materias y prácticas integradas a los Talleres LCW, así como también a través de un Programa de Certificación, que brindará oportunidades de trabajo y de enriquecimiento profesional a facilitadores de diversas disciplinas y orientaciones, para agregar valor en procesos de transformación organizacional, social y cultural.

Mayores informes en : http://cesoftco.net/

Freddy Trujillo

Bogotá, 27 sept. 2012

Advancing gender mainstreaming in the international community through World Café "conversations that matter".

2012-09-20T16:00:00.000Z

Advancing gender mainstreaming in the international community through World Café "conversations that matter".

Hi Folks

2012-08-29T20:05:01.000Z

A step into the darker reaches of beyond maybe. Just joined as a result of a realisation that the research tool I have been looking for is already out there.

My PhD topic is seeking to be able to use mimetic theory ( a theory of desire and scapegoating) to develop a systems model of workplace bullying. I had been struggling to see how I could pull this together and was reading Bojer et als 'Mapping Dialogue' and came across the World Cafe.

To be honest my interest was captured by the very use of the word cafe and I was determined that this will be the best course of action for me! The more I read the more I realised that it could very well work with my research.

I guess the long journey now starts to check it out and understand it properly.

Greetings!

2012-08-22T14:15:57.000Z

I am so encouraged by "meeting" so many World Cafe members online who share the goal of increasing communication to solve problems in the world, but also, just to enjoy talking with each other. This is what my Saturday Salons are all about-dinner/discussion groups that bring people together to talk about whatever is on their minds.

Although in-person communication is the most powerful, online communication has a valuable place, and I am happy to join you in thinking about and discussing ideas.

If you have an opportunity to stop by the Saturday Salon or "like" us on our facebook page, I'd love to hear your comments on the blog posts. http://saturdaysalon.comTopics range from serious to sublime-covering Family, Relationships, Spiritual, New & Reviews, Interviews, Politics, Art, and potluck favorites, recipes Saturday Saloners have shared with us. You can also order the book, SATURDAY SALON: Bringing Conversation and Community Back Into Our Lives, in print or eBook formats through the site, Amazon, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes.

Glad to have found like-minded souls here at the World Cafe.