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JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe1
Discovery Cafe: Focus Group Methodology for
Organization Development and Organization Change
Presented by: Jillian R SchenckNew Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Human Resources, Organization Development and Training Services
NSDTA 2015
NSDTA 2015 Session Presentation
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe2
Session Description
Discovery Cafe: Focus Group Sessions for Organization Development and Organization Change
NSDTA 2015
Opportunities for meaningful discussions about our organizations are invaluable for vibrant, relevant work to be accomplished. Meaningful discussions are also difficult to accomplish in our complicated, busy work cultures. We'll explore how focus group discussions work, some research behind the use of them, examine steps to organize and facilitate, capturing useful data and ideas to utilize the data. The work is based on 'Discovery Cafe', a focus group process used within the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services to help management see and explore how employees really feel and what they are really seeing in the organization and develop steps to address concerns revealed.
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe3 NSDTA 2015
What if a conversation begun today could ripple out and create new possibilities?
What if Conversation is how things get done?
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe4
NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
•Exploring how employees see their work world
•Developing strategies to create desirable change in the workplace
NSDTA 2015
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe5
NH DHHS Culture – SWOT Analysis
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Strength Leadership wants to hear employee voice 2700 employees
Weakness Trust issues at all levels 2700 employees
Opportunity ‘Permission’ to conduct listening sessions
Threat Suspicion of usefulness of listening
sessions
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NH DHHS Culture – Discovery Cafe Events
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Discovery Cafe events Groups of less than 20
Held at community college sites (neutral sites that provided regional event locations)
2 hour sessions
Groups selected randomly from employee listings sorted geographically & by supervisor / non-supervisor
Information gathered, recorded
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Discovery Cafe 2010 & 2012
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2010: “Exploring Opportunities and Challenges in the Work Environment” Provided perspective on the current workforce climate
2012: “Putting Our Conversations to Work” Encouraged participation in Department-wide initiatives
Both events focused largely on exposing and discussing issues; initiatives primarily focused on systems and work environment changes
Themes that emerged: Operations, Workforce Development, Leadership Development, and Community
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe8
Outcomes
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Operations HR Employee Entrance and Exit Mandatory supervisor training Redesign of DHHS New Employee Orientation Department-wide staff recognition program DHHS electronic timesheet
Workforce Development Office Safety Protocol Compassion Fatigue: Front Line Support & Training Internship Process Improvement Employee wellness education sessions
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe9
Outcomes (continued)
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Leadership Development Performance Management & Appraisal Training Increase supervisor training and development
opportunities
Community Increased development and attention to
Public Education of HHS mission and functions Pro-active sharing with media and public
relations regarding DHHS
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe10
NH DHHS Discovery Cafe -Reporting the Results
NSDTA 2015
Reporting back from Discovery Cafe events Information gathered, recorded by event
Emergent themes noted
Information combined under themes where possible
Report with overview of insights, ideas and initiatives provided back to employees
Initiatives targeted, action plans developed & implemented
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DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe12 NSDTA 2015
DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe13 NSDTA 2015
DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe14 NSDTA 2015
DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe15 NSDTA 2015
DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
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Discovery Cafe 2015
NSDTA 2015
“A Stronger Future Together” Building on strengths present in the
workforce to develop actionable ideas to further strengthen the organizational culture and climate of DHHS
Intended to engage the workforce across the department in day-to-day actions & behavior changes to influence culture change
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Cafe Conversations:Philosophy & Design
• Based on “The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter”
• Not your typical Focus Group methodology
• Opens up a large topic for exploration
NSDTA 2015
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The World Café is a simple yet powerful method for large and small groups of people to:
• foster collaborative dialogue • share and create new knowledge• build community• inspire collective action
What is the World Cafe?
NSDTA 2015
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World Café
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
(powerful when used together!)
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The World Café model is especially useful when you have:
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A limited amount of time
A lot of people
Questions that matter to the people gathered
The intention to build community, strengthen relationships and engage everyone's unique contribution
Desire to access collective intelligence that come from the intentional rapid cross-pollination of diverse perspectives and ideas
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Purpose
NSDTA 2015
Generate input, share knowledge, stimulate innovative thinking, explore action possibilities
Create a dense web of connections in a short period of time as threads of conversation reveal new patterns
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1. Communication Across Silos
2. Broad Engagement on Strategic Initiatives
3. Create Shared Direction, Momentum for Action
4. Cross Pollinate Learning, Generate New Insight
5. Build Community and Trust
6. Uncovering Deeper Issues
Cafe Outcomes
NSDTA 2015
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The knowledge and wisdom we need is already
present and accessible
Intelligence emerges as the
system connects to
itself in creative ways
Listening into the center
Connecting ideas
Noticing new
possibilities
Honoring unique
contributions
Collective insight evolves
from…
CAFÉ ASSUMPTIONS
NSDTA 2015
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• Diversity of Perspectives
• Cross Pollination of Ideas
• Attention to Meta Level Themes & Patterns
• Questions that Matter to People
And when we acknowledge:• We have the capacity, creativity and
wisdom to address our most challenging issues!
Outcomes Are Better When Informed By. . .
NSDTA 2015
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe25
Key Principles: Shaping our futures through conversations that matter
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1. Context
2. Welcoming Environment
3. Genuine questions that matter
4. Encourage full participation
5. Cross-pollinate conversations
6. Collaboration and innovation from listening
7. Insights and patterns from reflection
8. Gather and share to identify action priorities
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Utilizing Appreciative Inquiry
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Values what is
Envisions what might be
Engages in dialogue about what should be
Develops strategies to bring about what will be
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Appreciative Assumptions
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• Systems move toward what we focus on
• The language we use helps to create our reality
• Confidence and comfort to journey to the future (the unknown) comes from carrying forward the best parts of the past (the known).
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Problem Solving vs. Appreciative Inquiry
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o Define the Problem
o Fix what’s broken
o Focus on the decay
o What problems are you having?
Search for Solutions that may already exist
Amplify & replicate what is working
Focus on life giving forces
What is working well?
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Outcomes of Appreciative Inquiry
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Recognition and affirmation of the organization’s strengths, values and core competencies
Deep understanding of the factors that contribute to individual and organization success
Strategies to build on individual and organizational success
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How does a Cafe Conversation Work?
Rounds of conversation at different tables Different question for each roundEach Conversation builds on the previousLook for themes & connections
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Paper on tables to create a visual memoryRelax & enjoy! Harvest Collective Insight & Learning Connect to Next Steps
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Sample Event Agenda Overview(2 Hour Event)
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1) Arrival & welcome (5 min)
2) Cafe context, process, etiquette (10 min)
3) Conversation, Round 1 (30 min)
4) Conversation, Round 2 (30 min)
5) Conversation, Round 3 (15 min)
6) Personal Reflection & break (10 min)
7) Insights & Sharing (Harvest) (10 min)
8) Next Steps (5 min)
9) Request for Feedback (5 min)
10) Adjourn
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JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe33 NSDTA 2015
DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
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• Say hello • Begin the conversation with
Question 1
Café Round 1
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What if listening together reveals a deeper
intelligence?
Café Round 2• Table Host shares major ideas from
Round 1• Conversations continue, using
Question 2 to develop deeper ideas & themes
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Café Travelling Instructions…
• One person stays as host
• Others move to different tables
• Host welcomes new people
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Hosting is an attitude as much as an activity
What if intelligence emerges as the system connects to itself in diverse and creative ways?
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe36
Café Round 3:• Host shares one nugget or theme from
Round 2
• Explore the conversation: what themes, connections and insights are you seeing from your first two rounds?
Consider:What happened?What made the conversation possible? What happened after?What made it meaningful for you?
NSDTA 2015
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Discovery Cafe 2010Questions
Based on the request from the DHHS Commissioner to ‘find out how people are feeling about working for DHHS’
NSDTA 2015
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Discovery Cafe 2012Questions
Based on the request from the DHHS Commissioner to find out
1) Are employees aware /impacted by the initiatives since 2010, and
2) How are they doing now?
NSDTA 2015
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe39
Harvesting our Collective Wisdom
Identify patterns, collective knowledge and new possibilities; themes, connections, insights, new questions or ideas…
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What if the harvest provides nourishment for further exploration and action?
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe40
Innovation & Discovery in Collaborative Conversations
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Understand complexity Explore the views of all stake-
holders Test ideas and assumptions
together Build new knowledge collectively Generate innovative solutions
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Discovery Cafe Harvest:Individual Reflection & Group Sharing
NSDTA 2015
What 3 wishes do you have for changing the organization?
What about this organization makes you glad you work here?
Describe one or two situations in which you felt most valued by this organization.
What would you do with this information if you could?
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Considerations & Strengths of this Process
This process creates a movement from the traditional view that talk and action are separate to an understanding of conversation as a core process for re-creating our world
NSDTA 2015
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When Designing a Café, Consider…
1. What is my Purpose and Intention?
2. How can I invite people so that the purpose and intention come through?
3. Who needs to be in the room?
4. Who will you partner with?- to design the Café questions- to “make it happen”
5. What are the questions that matter? NSDTA 2015
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A Change of Pace & Style
NSDTA 2015
Informal, relaxed Frame- breaking Highly interactive All-inclusive Collaborative talking Connects Knowledge is in the room Innovative thinking Connect different
perspectives
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Questions are intrinsically related to action, they spark and direct attention, perception, energy and effort…
Creativity requires asking genuine questions, those to which an answer is not already known.
Questions function as open-handed invitations to creativity, calling forth that which doesn’t yet exist.
-Marilee Goldberg Adams The Art of the Question
The Importance of Questions
NSDTA 2015
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Focus on
what matters
Opportunity to meet new people
Collaborative
dialogueLink and
connect ideas.
Connect diverse perspectives
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References
Brown, J., The World Café, San Francisco, CA, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2005
Cooperrider, D.L. & Whitney, D., Appreciative Inquiry, A Positive Revolution in Change, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2005
NSDTA 2015
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Appendix
• Additional Quotes • Appreciative Inquiry information• DHHS Discovery Cafe sample
documents
NSDTA 2015
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“Conversation is at the heart of the new inquiry. It is perhaps the core human capacity for dealing with the tremendous challenges we face. To engage in great civilization we need to ask questions that matter. We cannot afford to spend our time on issues that can’t hold our attention, that don’t touch our hearts. The culture of conversation is a different culture, one that could make a difference in the future of our world.”
-Institute for the Future
In Good Company: Innovation at the Intersection
of Technology and Sustainability
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The capacity to see the world of the “other” sounds simple, but it is not. Yet it is the core of creating a new human history together.
Lic. Esteban Moctezuma Barragan, -Mexico’s Former Minister of Social DevelopmentNSDTA 2015
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“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as in being able to remake ourselves.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“The idea of contribution is especially instructive because it lies in the area that unites the ‘I’ and the ‘we.’ We contribute because we are part of something larger than our own lives and efforts, but the form of our contribution is based on our uniqueness and our individuality.”
-Carol Ochs, Women and Spirituality
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“There’s another aspect to fostering mutual intelligence. . .what I call creating the ‘collective mindscreen.’ How can we help people sense the whole, together? Harvesting and sharing key ideas and insights is like putting up tent poles. It’s what’s in the circle revealed by putting up those poles, not any of the individual poles, where the meaning of the conversation as a whole lies.”
-Finn Voldtofte, BDO ScanFutura
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“Because questions are intrinsically related to action, they spark and direct attention, perception, energy, and effort, and so are at the heart of the evolving forms that our lives assume. . .. Creativity requires asking genuine questions, those to which an answer is not already known. Questions function as open-ended invitations to creativity, calling forth that which doesn’t yet exist.
-Marilee Goldberg, The Art of the Question
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Appreciative Inquiry: What Is It?
NSDTA 201555
A framework for creating an imagined future that builds on the most positive and vital elements of the organization
What works well? Why does it works well? How we can extend that success across the
organization?
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Positive Psychology
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Strength based
Participatory
Discover the best in people
Assumes every living system has something that works well already
People have positive experiences, successes, satisfaction, that can be shared
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Appreciative Inquiry Model
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JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
A.I. Phases
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Discovery: Inquiry into the life-giving properties of the team
Dream: Developing common images for the future’ visioning the ideal
Design: Aligning values, structures and mission with the ideal. Developing achievable plans and steps to make the vision a reality
Deliver: Co-create a sustainable, preferred future.
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Discovery-Leads to the Positive Core
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Affirmative Topic Choice
Appreciative (positive) Questions
The Best of “what is”
Face-to-face interviews
Telling and listening to meaningful, personal stories of success
Sharing the Story
Drawing / Illustrating the Story
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Dream – Leads to a positive change
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Builds upon what was “discovered” during first phase of AI
Articulate dreams and their purpose. Recall the strengths and values behind
each dream Tangible vision that describes the future
can actually give shape and direction to the future
Vision only helpful when it’s in a positive vein
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Provocative Propositions
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A statement that bridges that best of “what is” (DISCOVER) with your own speculation or intuition of “what might be” (DREAM).
It is provocative to the extent to which it:◦ Stretches the realm of the of the status quo◦ Is stated affirmatively◦ Is grounded in the organizations reality◦ Challenges common assumptions or routines◦ Helps suggest real possibilities that represent
desired possibilities for the organization and its people.
David Cooperrider, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western University, Cleveland Heights, OH, 2002 February
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Why Provocative Propositions?
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Help to clarify visions
Create a set of unique statements that paint a picture of the desired future
Do not need to be consolidated
Will provide direction as needed moving to the next stage of DESIGN
Provocative propositions are the group’s best attempt to put the dream picture into inspiring challenging action.
Should describe how the organization/group/community would feel and look when all chosen themes are “at their best”
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Design – Leads to Action
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Concrete proposals for a new organization
Design Phase: Working from visions (dreams) to design actions, and needed systems and processes, that will help to lead to the desired future.
JSchenck NH DHHS Discovery Cafe
Destiny/Deliver Phase
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True translation of intent to action through implementation
Celebrate and build upon work accomplished in earlier phases
Align the actual practices with the Provocative Proposition created in the Design phase
Publicly declare your intentions
How do you make it so? (Deliver-implementation) How will you know when you have reached your
objective? How do you make sure it remains effective? (it’s
working)
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DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
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DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
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DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
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DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
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DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
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DHHS Discovery Cafe Sample Document
Mind MappingExamples