An Engagement Café is a form of Knowledge Café designed to help people engage with an issue such as a new policy or procedure in the context of their organization.
The problem
Individuals and workgroups in organizations frequently write policy documents and document processes or procedures. They set out principles by which people should work. They set out strategies and plans for the future. They document what should be done and how it should be done.
They then publish the document according to company procedures.
Often, that is it – they tell people about the document by email and expect people to read it and take action.
It is not too surprising that many such documents never get read.
Reports aren’t knowledge.
In a 2014 World Bank report, it was found that out of about 1,500 reports produced in the years 2008 to 2012, 517 of them were never downloaded at all.
And even when a meeting is convened to communicate the work, it is a standard Powerpoint presentation plus Q&A type meeting more often than not. Such sessions are rarely engaging or effective.
Conversation is king.
Content is just something to talk about.
An improvement
A document or report, in isolation, achieves little. It is just content – information. It is not knowledge.
A second step is needed to turn the document’s content into actionable knowledge in people’s heads.
There are different ways to do this, but one of the more effective methods is to run one or more Engagement Cafés that allow people to interact face-to-face to:
Knowledge is the capacity for effective action.
There is no capacity for effective action in a database.
- read the document
- make sense of it
- put it into their context
- discuss it
- question it
- actively engage with it
- internalize it
- learn from each other
- be motivated by each other
- put the newly gained knowledge into action
The Process
The process takes the form of regular Knowledge Café but with a more substantial talk upfront.
[Status: work in progress – more needs to be said about the process]
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Photo Credits: Sally Gurteen (CC BY 4.0)
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I really like that idea. I might need some further insights how you think how an Engagement Cafe should/ could be prepared. Sometimes we do Q&A sessions where a document or screencast was provided before, but it seems that from the group size of 10 people this does not seem to work properly, in particular now virtually this is a challenge.
Happy to talk about this Jan. I think a Café style approach would work on Zoom as well as face to face.