committed to the proposed initiative in support of
CREATING SHARED MEANING,
the objectives of the organization.
COMMITMENT, AND
SUSTAINED EFFORT IN Holman, Devane, and Cady (2007) claimed that
effective organizational change initiatives are
ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE possible through high involvement of employees
INITIATIVES THROUGH and a systemic approach to improvement. High
involvement is achieved by engaging as many
INTERACTIVE AND
as possible employees in changing and
COLLABORATIVE designing their own system, while a systemic
COMMUNICATION approach implies that all people, functions, and
ideas that have an affect on, or can be affected
TECHNIQUES by the change, are included in the process. One
of the methods through which this can be
by Eriaan Oelofse, Ph.D., ChangeWright Consulting accomplished, is the World Café conversational
process. Café conversations are flexible and can
Published as part of the conference proceedings easily be adapted to different organizational
of the Prosci Global Conference on Change settings and circumstances. (Brown & Isaacs,
Management held in the US in April 2009. 1996, 2001).
Introduction The purpose of this paper is twofold:
• to present a description of a World Café
intervention that was conducted at a
It is generally accepted that personal change
South African Information and
precedes organizational change. Stated
Communications Technology (ICT)
differently, it is not organizations that change,
company as part of an approach
but the people (Gravells, 2006; Holden, 2007).
designed to create continued effort and
improve employee buy-in and
All too often, organizational change is initiated
commitment in a service improvement
by executive and/or senior leadership, with the
programme and
help of external consultants. This small group of
• to examine the impact of the
people spends a significant amount of time
intervention on the effectiveness of the
discussing, debating, arguing, and analyzing the
service improvement programme.
reasons for having to change – providing them
with the opportunity to move through three of the
This will be done by considering actual
four phases on the change curve a person
operational statistics regarding the site’s service
typically encounters when confronted with
stability, as well as an analysis of in-depth
change. These phases (denial, resistance,
individual interviews that were conducted with
exploration, and commitment) are based on a
six participants two months after the
derivative of Kübler-Ross’s (1989) five stages of
intervention.
grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and
acceptance), as applied in an organizational
The World Café
change context.
When this select group of leaders decide to
The World Café provides opportunities for
announce the planned initiative to the rest of the
creating meaningful conversations or dialogue
organization, the majority of employees are
around questions that matter. Although it
thrown into stage one (denial) of the change
appears to be a relatively simplistic practice, it is
curve, while the leadership group is effectively in
built on the principles of dynamic networks and
stage three (exploration). This apparent gap
living systems and provides a unique opportunity
between the leadership group and the rest of the
to access a system’s creativity and shared
organization can create a great deal of
knowledge that might not be available through
frustration, on the one hand because the leaders
more traditional approaches.
appear unsympathetic to the effects of the
initiative they are supposedly “pushing” through,
As such, the World Café provides a safe space
and on the other hand that the employees
where participants can contribute in the process
appear unwilling, non-supportive and non-
Copyright © 2008 ChangeWright Consulting (Pty) Ltd 1

of knowledge sharing through dialogue, engage free to contribute their thoughts and feelings.
with each other in a living system of personal The ideal World Café set-up consists of an
relationships, and act decisively in pursuit of informal atmosphere, background music, round
common aims (Brown et.al., 2007). tables with table cloths and refreshments on
each of the tables, flipchart paper, and a cup of
colored markers.
How does it work?
Explore questions that matter
World Café conversations have been used
successfully with groups as small as 12 people
Since the World Café conversational process is
and as large as 1200 people from around the
aimed at exploring new possibilities for inquiry
world (Brown & Isaacs, 2001). During these
and action, well-phrased and focused questions
events, participants are encouraged to
define intention, focus energy, and direct
contribute in small groups by speaking and
attention. Appreciative questions that evoke a
listening, without being concerned about solving
sense of future possibility also create more
the issue or saying the right thing. The purpose
energy and engagement than questions
is to share ideas, while learning from others in
focusing on what is wrong in the present.
the process of discovering innovative ideas and
generating new possibilities. It is not about
Connect diverse people and perspectives
reaching conclusions.
A defining feature of the World Café
During a World Café conversation, up to eight
conversational process is the intentional cross-
people sit around a table or in a conversation
pollination of ideas as participants move from
cluster to explore questions or issues related to
table to table in several rounds of dialogue. As
their work. Other participants at nearby tables or
participants move from one table to the next,
conversation clusters explore similar questions
patterns appear and additional perspectives and
at the same time. Participants are requested to
insights surface in combinations not previously
write down key ideas and insights of the
imagined.
dialogue. After a first round of conversation (20
to 30 minutes), participants are invited to change
Harvest and share collective discoveries
tables, carrying ideas and insights form the first
conversation into a newly formed small group. A
After completion of all the conversation rounds,
table host stays at each table to share the key
the entire group engages in a conversation to
ideas and insights that surfaced from the
share collective insights and provide the group
previous dialogue with new arrivals. This
with an opportunity to notice the underlying
process is usually repeated for three rounds and
themes and discoveries that have presented
is followed by a feedback session to which all
themselves during the process – often leading to
participants contribute.
outcomes that no one could have foreseen when
the conversation commenced.
This process doesn't have to be taught, but it
can be guided by using the following principles
How did the service
as discussed in Brown and Isaacs (2001),
Brown, Homer and Isaacs (2007), and Schieffer,
improvement
Isaacs, and Gyllenpalm (2004a, 2004b):
programme come
Clarify the context
about?
This involves determining the purpose of the
Café and deciding on the outcomes to be
achieved. When the purpose and outcomes
A newly formed regional office of a South
have been defined, it will focus the way
African ICT company embarked on a journey to
questions are framed and ideas are explored.
implement a strategy that is focused on
improving service delivery and support, as well
Create a friendly and warm environment
as client and employee satisfaction. In support
A friendly and warm or hospitable space
of the strategic objectives, the senior
provides a context where all participants feel
management team launched an initiative to
Copyright © 2008 ChangeWright Consulting (Pty) Ltd 2

improve clients’ trust and confidence in the How do you feel about the service
•
service delivery and support of the company. improvement programme?
Employees were challenged to an 80 day What will happen if we don't have
•
incident free service delivery and support period, something like the service improvement
with rewards in the form of celebrations for every programme on site?
twenty incident free days as motivation. An How can we improve the service
•
incident was defined as anything causing a improvement programme to achieve
break in service delivery and support which exceptional results?
could have been prevented from occurring by
any of the departments. The occurrence of an The first question provided participants with the
incident resulted in a “reset” of the current opportunity to voice positive or negative
number of incident free days to zero. emotions regarding the programme. Since many
employees were of the opinion that the
The improvement programme was launched by programme was not adding value, the second
means of a presentation during a question attended to the matter of legitimacy
communication “road show”, with a noticeable and focused discussions on the beneficial
improvement in service stability after the first few outcomes the programme has had on the site
months. However, the longest period of service since its inception. The third question addressed
stability was 24 days, after which a series of the issue of ownership and presented
resets during the next few months prevented the participants with the opportunity to make
company from reaching or improving on this suggestions on how the programme could be
record. Employees became discouraged due to improved.
all the resets (10 resets in less than three
months), and as a result, the programme started Moving from conversation to action
losing significance in the eyes of many
employees. Furthermore, it appeared that At the conclusion of the process, the manager
employees did not support or understand the asked for five volunteers (not part of the
guidelines of what constituted an incident; and management team) to form a design team that
that they lacked information on how to prevent would consider all the suggestions that were
previous incidents from occurring again. It made at the event to improve the programme,
seemed that the employees did not understand prioritize the key ideas, and suggest next steps.
that it was in their own best interest to do things The design team submitted a proposal on how
differently and improve service stability on the to enhance the service improvement programme
site – they interpreted it as just another to the management team one week after the
management intervention. World Café intervention.
Due to the strategic importance of this initiative To address the suggestions made by all the
to improve service stability, the management World Café participants, the design team
team found themselves in the unfortunate proposed the following enhancements:
position of having to continue with the • Departments to be measured separately
programme without the necessary support from in addition to the overall site
the employees. measurement.
• A change in the investigation, analysis,
The World Café intervention and communication of reset incidents to
optimize learning and prevent similar
To address the issues discussed above, the incidents from occurring again.
management team agreed to use the World • A change in the mechanics of the
Café conversational process to create shared resetting process – incidents should be
meaning and buy-in. Ninety employees (out of a categorized in levels of seriousness
possible 120) attended the intervention and based on the actual impact on
spent only two hours exploring the following customers. (Some “incidents” had no
three questions which were asked to touch on actual impact on customers.) If an
aspects related to the legitimacy of the incident occurs, i.e. a procedure was not
programme, motivation, and ownership: followed or a preventable error has
occurred, the count of the department
responsible for the incident will be reset
Copyright © 2008 ChangeWright Consulting (Pty) Ltd 3

to zero, while the overall site count will programme and the World Café conversational
be reduced by the number of days process. This approach is also ideal for gleaning
linked to the level of seriousness of the rich and insightful information and eliminates, as
specific incident. However, any incident far as possible, socially desirable responses.
impacting on the customer still resulted
in an overall site reset to zero. Respondents
Due to the collaborative process and the All respondents participated in the World Café
involvement of so many employees during the intervention and were selected randomly. One of
design of the enhanced initiative, it was possible the respondents was in the operational site
for the management team to accept the proposal management team, another respondent was a
and implement the changes within three weeks team leader and four were team members.
after the World Café intervention.
Method of data gathering
Based on the trend of resets depicted in Figure
1, it is evident that there was a noticeable Data collection was done by means of in-depth
improvement in the number of incident free days individual interviews lasting between 25–30
(service stability) after the World Café minutes. A semi-structured discussion guide
intervention. The first reset after the was developed for the interviews to allow for
implementation of the enhanced improvement more flexibility and responsiveness to emerging
programme occurred on day 25. In accordance themes, whilst at the same time allowing
with the newly created resetting process, the sufficient structure to make a comparable
count was moved back by three days. The analysis possible. The interviews were
second reset occurred on day 44 when the conducted until data-saturation was reached (i.e.
count moved back by four days. The last reset repetitive patterns of themes emerged). Data
occurred on day 68 and the count moved back saturation was reached after six interviews.
by four days. The site reached the goal of 80
incident free days 16 days later.
Treatment of the data
Audio-recordings of the interviews were
transcribed verbatim for content analysis.
Figure 1 – Trend of resets of the service
According to Jackson II, Drummond, and
improvement programme
Camara (2007), content analysis refers to a
variety of ways for conducting systematic and
World Café
objective textual analysis that involves
event
100
comparing, contrasting, and categorizing data.
90
81
Statements that shared the same underlying
80
meaning or idea were grouped together for each
68
70
Number of days
of the questions. Verbatim statements from the
60
50
respondents were used (where appropriate) to
44
40
illustrate and explicate the main themes.
30 25
24
18
20 16 16
15
12
Results
10
9 9
7
10 5 3 3
2 2 1
0
0
Reset 10
Reset 11
Reset 12
Reset 13
Reset 14
Reset 15
Reset 16
Reset 17
Reset 18
Reset 19
Reset 20
Reset 1
Reset 2
Reset 3
Reset 4
Reset 5
Reset 6
Reset 7
Reset 8
Reset 9
Current
Employee perceptions about the
Research Design performance improvement
programme before the World Café
Research approach intervention
Due to the dynamic nature of the World Café The issue of employees not taking ownership of
conversational process, a qualitative approach the programme was a major theme and
was considered most suitable to obtain in-depth spontaneously mentioned by most respondents.
data regarding participant’s thoughts and Many respondents explained that the lack of
feelings about the service improvement ownership could be ascribed to the fact that
Copyright © 2008 ChangeWright Consulting (Pty) Ltd 4

employees did not understand why the various aspects of the improvement programme
programme was initiated, or why it was created opportunities for alignment and resulted
important to support this initiative. in participants taking ownership of the
programme.
“People from head office came and told
us about the programme and how it is “This was the first time it was really
going to work, but they didn't really give communicated well. People could see
enough information... Then the process and understand what it was about –
was kicked-off and the information was and just this communication already
never really given to people on grass made a big difference. One of the
root level” (Respondent 4). questions we discussed in the small
groups was what the impact would be if
Furthermore, a number of respondents we don't have something like this
emphasized that senior management did not programme, many people understood
involve employees in the planning of the for the first time that this programme is
programme. This resulted in employees good and that we need stability on the
becoming despondent and de-motivated. Due to site” (Respondent 6).
the stringent success criteria and the increasing
pressure brought about by the numerous Finally, it appears that the World Café
“resets”, many employees felt very negative intervention not only created feelings of
about the programme. This also resulted in a empowerment, but also of hope:
situation where employees did not want to be
innovative or do anything creative due to the “...most of all, what was said there gave
fear of failure. people hope... most people came out of
there feeling hopeful... they felt positive
and felt that they now have control over
Experiences of the World Café
the situation and that their viewpoints
intervention
were considered” (Respondent 4).
All six the respondents emphasized that they
Perceived impact of the World Café
benefitted from participating in the event:
intervention on the success of the
“It was excellent in my opinion... it was service improvement programme
fantastic. We couldn't have asked for
anything better... this thing really When asked about the impact of the World Café
pumped life back into the initiative... We intervention on the success of the adjusted
couldn't have had anything better in my service improvement programme, all the
opinion” (Respondent 3). respondents concurred that the intervention had
a tremendous positive impact:
The respondents agreed that the event provided
a perfect opportunity for interaction with other “I am very sure that if we didn't have
employees. In addition, the increased interaction this intervention, we would still have
facilitated by the World Café conversational struggled on like before... there were
process resulted in feelings of ‘inter- lots of new ideas that we worked with
connectedness’. Due to the friendly and warm after the session and created a new
environment created by the intervention, all process. This intervention definitely
respondents were of the opinion that it provided created the turning point in our
an opportunity where employees could programme and created lots of energy
contribute without fear of victimization and add and creativity in teams. It also
suggestions on how to improve the current stimulated interaction between the
programme. people and the various teams”
(Respondent 5).
Participants in the intervention also felt that their
suggestions were taken seriously and that
something was going to be done about it.
Respondents also mentioned that the
meaningful conversations or dialogue regarding
Copyright © 2008 ChangeWright Consulting (Pty) Ltd 5

initiatives in order to move faster and more
Discussion effectively once the initiative has been
implemented. And often it does not necessarily
require long, intricate and big budget
interventions – in this case, a relatively
The analyses of the qualitative interview data, as
simplistic, but well-planned, two hour
well as the actual success of the modified
intervention had a major positive impact on the
service improvement program as depicted in
success of a service improvement programme.
Figure 1, reiterated the fact that those who
envision the future are the ones who end up
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