This story is about the Santa Cruz World Café held on March 24th, 2009
By Nicole Boyer and Brooking Gatewood, of Adaptive Edge
On a beautiful spring evening in Santa Cruz about two-dozen people gathered at The Empty Boat, an atmospheric little teahouse on Squid Row for a World Café dialogue on the timeless and timely questions: how do we “be the change”? What’s the relationship between our “inner work” and “outer work”— between personal transformation and transforming the world?
Why we did this
The first impetus to host this session was simple. Brooking and Nicole wanted an opportunity to do a dialogue session together. Since Santa Cruz was Brooking’s home turf, we thought that was a good place to start.
Then, the more we talked about it, the more reasons we found to do this.
The obvious hit us right away. For decades, Santa Cruz has been a hotbed of innovation for personal transformation work and world-changing activism, making this a fitting and fecund nexus for this conversation. “Location, location, location!” we chimed.
Nicole was also looking for inspiration for a book project called “Personal Futures”, which had been gestating, for too long, on the sidelines of her work. Then something clicked into place, an “ah-hah” that the café format could be a form of participatory research, a way to frame and understand the questions people were holding. All of sudden, this café became a pilot conversation for something much bigger, with a full day workshop being the intention for the summer.
Our civic instincts were powerful drivers as well— perhaps the most deeply held of all. At this moment of deep transition and uncertainty, we felt in our bones the importance of getting people to talk about these questions, to be more actively engaged in how to “be the change.” For it's moments of systemic change, when everything is in flux that individuals can make the most difference in influencing events and the future. So for a little investment in time and tea, we figured it was well worth doing… and it was.
Why people came—and who showed
As people gathered around 5:30pm, it was clear that many came out of sheer curiosity, drawn in by these powerful questions and the promise of something a bit different. Not many people in the room knew each other, a surprise given that many folks were long-time residents, and most had no clue what a World Café was or would be. As one person said later on, “I had no idea what this would be about, but instead of watching TV, I thought this would be a different kind of entertainment. And it was! It was best way to spend the evening!”
Serendipity also played a helpful role. Many in the room showed up because of Brooking’s excellent networking (often in person at her local café, Asana), and through the help of Daniel Blumberg, an amazing “connector” in the community with deep experience and passion for these questions. This café wouldn’t have been possible without them.
Our group was diverse for Santa Cruz, and delightfully so. We had therapists, energy healers and body workers to professionals in sustainability, real estate, financial planning, logistics, and marketing— plus a few people from San Francisco. Many people came with years of personal and professional experience with this subject matter, and others were in early phases of their own inner explorations. Beginner minds helped seasoned practitioners and vice versa.
What we did
The introductions, alone, would have met our expectations. Already a palpable energy was building in the room as everyone realized what an amazing group had been gathered— a buzz that continued well into the evening thanks to abundant quantities of pu-erh tea expertly brewed and served by Noah, a linguistics student at UCSC.
Once we explained the World Café principles, we spent the next two-and-half hours, at four lively tea tables, intimate and low to the ground, exploring our questions in 30-minute rounds, in the following sequence:
1. Why is this important? How does “inner work” translate into world-changing action?
2. What enables this to happen— i.e. the nexus between inner work and changing the world? What key factors need to align for real transformation to happen?
3. What are the barriers? What gets in the way of inner work translating into world-changing work? And what is the shadow side of all of work?
When the rounds were complete, people shared what was emerging for them. The key themes included: the importance of having good tools for these transformation processes; creating “containers” or safe spaces for the often painful and frightening explorations that can lead to inner change; creating community and support networks for birthing more whole leaders and supporting their work in healing each other and our planet. “What if our political leaders had to go through personal rites of passage before taking office,” said one person, “how world-changing would that be!” Many participants also expressed appreciation (and pleasant surprise) for the organization and structure of the World Café process itself, which was a living example of the kind of “containers” we need in the world.
Lastly, the group also recognized a great power in itself— perhaps the most important insight of all. Many participants were already engaged in great work that the rest of the group was eager to explore and help support, and a “yahoo group” will likely be created to help the participants continue to connect and support each other’s personal and professional journeys. The sense of excitement, shared-interest and connection was so strong afterwards that many of the participants went out for a late dinner, and dancing ensued well into the evening! We were thrilled to see this happen as a result of a three hour World Café process and are planning to host similar events on this subject in other locations later this year. Once again, we’re reminded that it’s the simplest of things that change the world.
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The co-hosts: The co-hosts were Brooking Gatewood and Nicole Boyer of Adaptive Edge, a "better futures" organization based in San Francisco. Brooking lives in Santa Cruz and is a long time environmental activist and is involved locally in dance church, women’s work, and co-operative living. Nicole lives in San Francisco and has spent her career engaged in futures thinking, strategic foresight, and scenario planning work. As her book project alludes to, she is deeply committed to helping people discover their best “personal future”. Nicole is also a steward of The World Café, and is working with its founders and foundation on its long-term sustainability.
This is inspiring. I have spent the last 20 years trying to have an experience like this in Detroit, my hometown. However, since 1999, I have not lived in Detroit. So, now, being displaced from my home community, I am looking to do that work in another community. I am thinking nationally and globally. I am at my individual crossroads of connecting work and life, having just finished my PhD and needing to find a new job by July 31st - I am simutaneously inspired and terrified. For those who don't live in Santa Cruz, how do we have a role? Posting this work implies that others can be involved, or, inspires them to build from your work? So, what are your insights in that regard?
Posted by: Angela Allen | May 15, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Hi Angela,
Where do you live? It's my belief that is that it is most certainly possible to create these kinds of communities anywhere - it doesn't have to be your hometown, but of course it does help if its a place you are living for at least 6 months to have the time to create the connections and build the community.
Here are some tips for creating these kinds of gatherings in your local community:
1. Visit local coffee shops, tea-houses. Shop around until you find the ones that are the hubs of social buzz and connection in your community. I often frequent a certain tea house in town that had a great energy and we actually invited a bunch of people from random conversations at that tea house!
2. Find people who can help you create the groups you want. This particular event was greatly helped by a man I know who has lived in Santa Cruz for 20+ years and who's primary life interest is around the question we addressed, so he put good energy and time into helping us create the group and find the right space for the event.
3. Start small. You can start by just inviting 4 or 5 friends for tea/dinner and facilitating the conversation a bit around the questions you want to ask. In fact in any group situation, you can practice asking questions that can bring the group into deeper conversation. These sorts of encounters tend to excite and inspire people, especially in places where access to such conversation is rare...and they will come to your big World Cafe event when the time comes, and bring friends with them.
Personal story: I actually just moved away from Santa Cruz a few months ago and have been actively practicing what I'm preaching her in my new locale in San Diego, trying to build community down here and eventually hosting another similar World Cafe event. I've been hosting weekly potlucks at my home around deeper questions and building community and offering a space for people to share in safety and about their passions. It takes time - some weeks we only have a few people, others we get a good sized group, but I believe creating space for conversation and connection is a great gift to offer and gives back in full every time.
At a larger scale as you indicated - I'd suggest tapping into bigger organizations like World Cafe, Conversation Cafe (which does a neat conversation week every year where small groups around the world meet and discuss the same questions and report back online), Obama's healthcare dialogues initiatives - there are lots of opportunities to contribute to larger events by simply offering to host your own local discussions.
Good luck - the world needs more such facilitators of connection so I encourage you to just go for it and see what happens!
Posted by: Brooking Gatewood | July 07, 2009 at 09:45 AM