CONNECTIONS CAFÉ

where distributed teams bond together and connect the dots

 
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17th century London. You are a smart person, looking for intelligent conversations. To swap ideas. To meet like-minded people. Spot opportunities. You head, not to a pub, but to a coffeehouse. That’s where minds meet. And not just in London. Coffeehouses in Paris, in Vienna, in Turkey: that’s where you would make powerful connections with people and ideas.

Coffeehouses led to the birth of legendary institutions like the London Stock Exchange and the Royal Society. Proof that when people systematically practice curiosity together, *poof*, there will be magic .

In the 21st century, Curiosity, Serendipity, and Cross-Pollination will plant the seeds for your business’s future

Curiosity in teams has been shown to solve tough problems, improve engagement, and lead to better team outcomes. However, many teams are unable to make mindspace for curiosity at work. Remote & Hybrid working has worsened this attitude. Slack channels and All-Hands are all about business as usual. Anyone working away from HQ will be left out of the water-cooler conversations that used to spark ideas. When serendipity is lost, the result is stagnation.

Serious about encouraging a culture of innovation and growth? Then you’ll need a virtual coffeehouse: a mindspace where your staff can bump into each other and rub shoulders with stimulating ideas.

What is CONNECTIONS CAFÉ?

  • A calendar of curiosity-driven sessions to spark Serendipity & Perspective in teams

  • No monotony here: there’s a mix of stimulating formats (see below for examples)

  • Designed to fit into your existing cadence of team interactions (such as weekly status checks, cross-team meetings, or team get-togethers); no new time slots needed

  • Remote-friendly interactions that spark water-cooler moments

  • Encourages internal networking and visibility for employees within and across teams

  • Where leaders can interact with & collaborate with a cross-section of employees

  • Content that stimulates, inspires, and stretches perspectives

  • A space that encourages “scatterfocus” i.e. the ability to make creative connections across dots

 
 
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Interested in bringing the benefits of Connections Cafe to your team?

Choose To Thinq has run such sessions for R&D teams at companies like VMWare, for mixed teams at companies like IDeaS Tech Center, and for small, distributed product teams such as Krishagni.

Book packs of sessions in multiples of six, or start with one paid trial session.

FIND OUT WHY CURIOSITY IS SO VITAL FOR BUSINESSES

L&D Leader and Curiosity Expert Stefaan Van Hooydonk talks to CTQ about how companies pay a high price for not being curious enough.

 
 

Choose To Thinq and Curiosity are old friends

A culture and practice of curiosity is crucial to staying future relevant in a shapeshifting world. We have built several routines and systems for ourselves and our clients, based on our experiences working in innovation centres, designing compounding habits for teams and individuals, and through our interests in reading and quizzing.