- May08 Newsletter

Newsletter

PERFORMA NEWSLETTER Issue 5, 2008

Welcome to the Performa Newsletter, where the Performa team of consultants and creativity leaders feature their latest thoughts and activities in the area of creativity and innovation.

World Café Cyprus,

a forum for conversations that matter

“Since our earliest ancestors gathered in circles around the warmth of a fire, conversation has been a core process for discovering what we care about. It’s how we’ve always shared our knowledge, imagined the future and created communities of commitment.”

World Café resource guide, by Juanita Brown and the World Café Community

Imagine joining three or four people at a Café-style table to explore questions where collaborative thinking can really make a difference. Nearby, other small groups are exploring similar questions, noting down key insights and perspectives. Soon, you move to another table, visit with new people, and cross-pollinate ideas and insights. As the conversations connect, they spark new discoveries. Innovative opportunities begin to appear. Collective knowledge grows and evolves. A sense of the larger whole becomes real, and the wisdom of the group emerges for all to experience and act upon.

The World Café is based on the assumption that people already have within them the wisdom and creativity to confront even the most difficult challenges. Given the appropriate context and focus, it is possible for participants to access and use this deeper knowledge about what’s important.

This is idea behind the “World Café”, which thousands of people on six continents have experienced, in corporate, government and community settings.

World Cafés in Cyprus?

You bet! Performa people have been trained in “hosting” the Café, and are pleased to introduce it in Cyprus. The first experience will be a discussion organized jointly by the NGO Support Centre and Performa which will explore the question:

In what ways might we, citizens of Cyprus,

positively contribute to the future of our country?

To learn more and possibly participate in this new forum, click here.

The World Café method can be applied to many areas of business and government. In New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States, the World Café has inspired the creation of local sites for hosting Café conversations on key issues related to business futures, sustainable development and community collaboration. In a global consumer products company, executives from more than 30 nations used Café principles to integrate a new, worldwide marketing strategy. Contact us to discuss how your organization might benefit from your own Café.

Learn more about

the World Café at www.theworldcafe.com

Performa at www.performa.net

the NGO Support Centre at www.ngo-sc.org

More sites:

   http://www.performa.net/EN/.the_art_of_innovation/
   The Art of Innovation – Integrating Creativity in Organizations
   A great new management art book from Performa Productions.
   Performa News – recent events
   http://www.performa.net/EN/news/434.html
   Performa News - coming events
   http://www.performa.net/EN/news/343.html

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"At the end of our workshop with Performa, not only did we emerge with new creative problem-solving skills, we emerged as a better, more dynamic, more cohesive team"

Kate Thompson,
Managing Director, Bearing Point

"Creativity enables people to think the unthinkable, do the undoable."

John Hayes & Patricia Hough