Generative dialogue
Most conversations stay on the surface — trading positions, managing impressions, avoiding what’s uncomfortable. Generative dialogue goes deeper. It creates conditions where people can think together honestly, listen without defensiveness, and discover perspectives they couldn’t access alone.
We define generative dialogue as a conversation that enables a respectful exchange of perspectives, enhances relationships, and produces novel insights. It’s not debate, nor “being nice.” It’s the structured practice of thinking-in-relationship — and it reliably produces trust, insight, and perspective shifts, even across significant worldview differences.
Ultimately, these conversations can rebuild trust, grow important human democratic capabilities, and widen worldviews.
The Stream of Consciousness (SoC) practice
At the heart of our dialogue work is the Stream of Consciousness (SoC) dialogue practice — a simple but remarkably potent method that uses timed speaking turns, alternating speaking and listening roles, and carefully crafted prompts to move people into deeper layers of exploration and sharing.
We’ve used this practice for nearly two decades across diverse contexts — from university seminars and public forums to organisational sessions and transformative learning programmes. It has never failed to shift the space: fostering trust, humanness, and connection, while creating a sense of reflection and possibility.
Our research confirms what we’ve observed in practice: the SoC practice fosters more generative conversations while supporting the development of important democratic capabilities such as self-reflection, listening, and perspective-taking.
To read more about why we believe changing the conversation is our best lever for cultural change, see To Change the Culture, Change the Conversation on World/views.
Workshops & sessions
We offer generative dialogue experiences in a range of formats:
Open dialogue sessions — Regular, freely accessible sessions (online and on-site) where people come together to explore meaningful questions across diverse perspectives. Previously known as Worldview Cafes, these sessions bring people into deep conversation about the things that matter to us — from politics and AI to climate and mental health.
Facilitating Generative Dialogue Workshop — After a first, succesful workshop in Spring 2026, with people joining from over the globe, we intend to offer these workshops at least twice a year. Check our events-page or sign-up via World/views to stay posted!
Workshops for events and conferences — We facilitate dialogue sessions for conferences, festivals, and gatherings. Recent examples include the Learning Planet Festival, the Utrecht University Education Festival, and the Conference on Education for Transformation.
Organizational workshops — We bring generative dialogue into teams, organizations, and institutions — supporting better sense-making, deeper trust, and more aligned decision-making. Whether for a leadership retreat, a strategic session, or a culture-building initiative, the SoC practice can be adapted to a wide range of contexts.
Interested in hosting a generative dialogue session? Get in touch.
Generative Dialogue Lab @ UU
The Generative Dialogue Lab (GDL) is our collaborative project with Utrecht University, providing an experimental space for education, research, and cultural initiatives centred around generative dialogue.
The centrepiece of the GDL is the monthly Break your Bubble sessions — bringing together UU students and staff with diverse backgrounds and perspectives to practise dialogue on a wide range of topics. These sessions have been enthusiastically received, with evaluations showing that 98% of participants would recommend them to others.
The GDL’s ambition is to become UU’s network for dialogue, contributing to a vision of the university as a dialogical institution — where constructive exchange across difference is a core part of how the institution learns, decides, and evolves.
Break your Bubble sessions are open to all UU students and staff. Below a few examples of the sessions we’ve done in the past period. See upcoming sessions
