--- title: 7 Principles to Harness the Power of Collaboration description: Seven World Cafe principles for harnessing the power of conversation and collaboration for social and workplace value. image: https://ideas.bkconnection.com/hubfs/Campaigns/25th%20Anniversary/Blog%20Posts/FI_World-Cafe.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/seven-principles-harness-power-of-collaboration#main-content) [![BK Logo Transparent-1](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BK%20Logo%20Transparent-1.png?width=2400&height=600&name=BK%20Logo%20Transparent-1.png "BK Logo Transparent-1")](https://bkconnection.com) - [Bookstore](https://www.bkconnection.com) - Search Search Search - [Leadership](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/topic/leadership), - [Workplace Culture](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/topic/workplace-culture), - [Personal Development](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/topic/personal-development) # 7 Principles to Harness the Power of Collaboration ![](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/hubfs/Campaigns/25th%20Anniversary/Blog%20Posts/FI_World-Cafe.jpg) - September 28, 2017 ![Juanita Brown, David Isaacs, World Cafe Community](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/hubfs/Author%20Photos/World-Cafe.png) [Juanita Brown, David Isaacs, World Cafe Community](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/author/juanita-brown-david-isaacs-world-cafe-community) The World Café is a simple, yet powerful conversational *process *for fostering constructive dialogue, accessing collective intelligence, and creating innovative possibilities for action, particularly in groups that are larger than most traditional dialogue approaches are designed to accommodate.  **![World Cafe Seven Priciples](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screen%20Shot%202017-09-28%20at%2011.28.38%20AM.png?width=325&name=Screen%20Shot%202017-09-28%20at%2011.28.38%20AM.png "World Cafe Seven Priciples")** Anyone interested in creating conversations that matter can engage the World Café process, with its seven core design *principles* to improve people’s collective capacity to share knowledge and shape the future together. World Café conversations simultaneously enable us to notice a deeper living *pattern* of connections at work in our organizations and communities—the often invisible webs of conversation and meaning-making through which we already collectively shape the future, often in unintended ways. The following set of seven integrated World Café design principles has been developed over the years as a means of intentionally harnessing the power of conversation for business and social value.  ### **1. Set the context** Clarify the purpose and broad parameters within which the dialogue will unfold. ### **2. Create hospitable space** Ensure the welcoming environment and psychological safety that nurtures personal comfort and mutual respect. ### **3. Explore questions that matter** Focus collective attention on powerful questions that attract collaborative engagement. ### **4. Encourage everyone’s contribution** Enliven the relationship between the “me” and the “we” by inviting full participation and mutual giving. ### **5. Cross-pollinate and connect diverse** Use the living-system dynamics of emergence through intentionally increasing the diversity and density of connections among perspectives while retaining a common focus on core questions. ### **6. Listen together for patterns, insights, and deeper questions** Focus shared attention in ways that nurture coherence of thought without losing individual contributions. ### **7. Harvest and share collective discoveries** Make collective knowledge and insight visible and actionable. These simple principles, when used in combination, provide useful guidance for anyone seeking creative ways to foster authentic dialogue in which the goal is thinking together and creating actionable knowledge. --- ***Juanita Brown, Ph.D.** is co-originator of the World Cafe and has served as a Senior Affiliate at the MIT Sloan School's Organizational Learning Center (now Society for Organizational Learning), as a Research Affiliate with the Institute for the Future and as a Fellow of the World Business Academy.* ***David Isaacs*** *is President of Clearing Communications and designs and facilitates strategic dialogues with senior leaders in the U.S. and abroad. David is also a Co-Founder ( with Juanita Brown)  of the World Cafe Community Foundation and co-author of [The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter (BK 2005)](https://bkconnection.com/books/title/the-world-cafe#meet-authors).  **The World Cafe Community **is made up of organizational and community leaders and others who are fostering conversational leadership across the globe. * --- *This article is adapted from an excerpt in *[The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter (BK 2005](https://bkconnection.com/books/title/the-world-cafe#meet-authors)), * by Juanita Brown, David Isaacs, and the World Cafe Community. * Blog Post ## Related Articles Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. 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