Jim Taylor

Web:www.rolyatcorp.comEmail: rolyatcorp@shaw.caPhone: 403 343-73883421 – 39th St. Red Deer, AB T4N 5T7

An Introduction toAppreciative

Inquirypresented at

Welcome!

Appreciative Inquiry

is a positive, strength based alternative to problem

solving as a means of initiating

and managing change in organizations.

Appreciative Inquiry

“The study of what gives life to human systems when they are at their best.”

A methodology for positive change An invitation to a positive revolution A process for whole system

transformation (e.g. Avon Mexico)

Why Should You be Interested?

Appreciative Inquiry can help your organization create a better future by:

Fully engaging the creativity and talent of your existing employees and volunteers

Magnifying the speed at which you can execute positive innovations

Creating an organizational culture that attracts the best and brightest talent (and volunteers!) to it.

Two Approaches to Initiating/Managing Change

Problem Solving Approach

Asks: “What are the problems here?” Focuses on: Problems, deficiencies, what’s wrong, what’s

broken, what isn’t working. Seeks “fixes” to problems. (A traditional role for management consultants.)

“Appreciative” Approach

Asks: “What works well here?” What is this organization like when it is at its best?”

Focuses on: Peak experiences, best practices, life giving/life enriching forces. (This approach creates enormous positive momentum for change.)

Appreciative Inquiry is based on the ancient wisdom that

Whatever you focus your attention on

G R O W S

The Case of BP Pro Care

79% Customer Satisfaction

Desire to improve…

First they tried a “problem solving” approach: they held focus groups with “Dissatisfied” Customers

The Case of BP Pro Care

Using this approach:

…the bottom dropped out

Customer satisfaction plunged

Staff morale plunged

The Case of BP Pro Care

The Appreciative Inquiry Alternative

Interviews with satisfied customers

“...Outstanding Customer Satisfaction Experience”

Generative Benchmarking

95% fully satisfied customers after 8 months

Because “whatever you focus Because “whatever you focus your attention on grows”your attention on grows”

Appreciative Inquiry seeks to discover the

root causes of success rather than the root

causes of failure.

The term “Appreciative Inquiry” comes from:

“appreciate” to value or admire highly to recognize with gratitude to increase in value, like money in a

good investment

“inquiry” • to seek to understand through the

asking of questions

Appreciative Inquiry is used to make some existing positive quality in the organization “appreciate”, by systematically “inquiring” into where this quality already exists within the organization, even if it currently exists only in very small amounts. (e.g. Avon Mexico)

Appreciative Inquiry is used to get “more” of something.

It is not used to try to “get rid of” something (e.g. low morale, apathy, poor performance, dysfunctional organizational culture).

What do you want more of in your organization?

Employee and volunteer loyalty? Effective teamwork? Increased creativity and innovation? Better client service? High morale and enthusiasm for the

job? Fiscal responsibility & accountability? Shared, inspiring leadership?

Whatever positive quality you want “more of”, Appreciative Inquiry can help you get it by discovering where the quality already exists in your organization, and then leveraging this to create more.

Ideally, an Appreciative Inquiry is like a 3-legged stool.

5 Generic Processes

1. Choose the positive as the focus of inquiry 2. Inquire into stories of life-giving forces 3. Locate themes that appear in the stories

and select topics for further inquiry 4. Create shared images of a preferred future 5. Find innovative ways to create that future

The 4D Model Global Excellence in Management Initiative

British Airways

Lost Baggage

Given that whatever you focus your attention on grows, how to reframe?

British Airways

“Exceptional arrival experiences”

Women feel devalued in this company. They complain about male coworkers' attitudes towards them, about workplace harassment, and about limits on the jobs available to them.

Women feel devalued in this company. They complain about male coworkers' attitudes towards them, about workplace harassment, and about limits on the jobs available to them.

What can we do about “machismo” attitudes? Who is harassing women and when are they doing it? What circumstances give rise to harassment? What kinds of harassment policies do we need? What is preventing women’s advancement in the company and how can we reduce the barriers?

Women feel devalued in this company. They complain about male coworkers' attitudes towards them, about workplace harassment, and about limits on the jobs available to them.

What can we do about “machismo” attitudes? Who is harassing women and when are they doing it? What circumstances give rise to harassment? What kinds of harassment policies do we need? What is preventing women’s advancement in the company and how can we reduce the barriers?

What are some examples of the very best experiences that men and women have had working together in this company, experiences that were very positive for both? What circumstances made these positive experiences possible? How can we recreate these conditions so that men and women have more "best" experiences working together?

Appreciative Inquiry is used to make some existing positive quality in the organization “appreciate”, by systematically “inquiring” into where this quality already exists within the organization, even if it currently exists only in very small amounts. (e.g. Avon Mexico)

"When people are asked to participate in a change effort targeted at changing behaviors - specifically their behaviors - they are ambivalent at best. When people are asked to bring their best forward for the benefit of the organization they do so with enthusiasm and pride." Diana Whitney, David Cooperrider, Maureen Garrison and Jean Moore in "Appreciative Inquiry and Culture Change at GTE: Launching a Positive Revolution"

Developing an Appreciative Mindset

Gervase Bushewww.gervasebushe.caThe Appreciative Self Tracking Fanning

1st D - Discovery This is generally done using one on one interviews lasting between 1-2 hours

Conscious decisions about “who interviews whom” can add great value to the process.

Uses pre-written questionnaires

1st D - Discovery Introductory Questions These lay the groundwork for story telling. They ask about:

The person’s beginnings & attraction to the organizationThe person’s peak experiences since joining the organizationThe qualities the person values, both personal and organizational

1st D - Discovery Topic Questions – There are usually 3 - 5 topicsA positive preamble to introduce the topicQuestions to elicit story telling about peak experiences

related to the topic

Concluding QuestionsDirect the interviewee’s attention to the future, and to

what the organization is being “called” to become. They connect with the interviewee’s imagination and

vision of the future. They ask about the “positive core” of the organization

that should be preserved into the future.

Time to Try It!

Use Introductory Questions - conversation

Overcoming Adversity – interview 90/10

Sometimes our greatest accomplishments result from challenges or adversity that we overcome. Tell me about a time when you overcame a significant challenge to achieve something noteworthy. What was the challenge? How did you overcome it? What positive results did you produce? How did this make you feel? How does it make you feel now, as you recall this episode?

Debrief

What was that like?

Compiling and Handling the Data

Interviews are summarized on “Interview Summary Forms” and distributed as widely as possible among organizational members prior to the “Dream” phase.

2nd D – Dream– group

activity

Imagining the best possible future for the organization that is grounded in the very best of what has already been.

A vision/image of that best possible future is collectively created.

Organizations are not “pushed” by their past; they are “pulled” by the collective image they hold of their future. (The wake does not drive the boat!)

“The Generative Metaphor Intervention”

Medic Inn transformed organizational culture

from one of suspicion, backbiting and negativity, into one of openness, cooperation and collaboration

transformed the hotel from a 1 star to 4 star facility in one year

Time to Try It!Create an image of your ideal future

Dream/Imagine

Imagine that every “problem” or “inadequacy” of your current organization is solved, and your organization is now in its best possible state. What does that look like?

Draw some images on p. 5

RDPL AI Process

One of the presentations created by a group at Red Deer Public Library to illustrate their vision of an ideal future for the library.

Provocative Propositions

Written in bold affirmative language in the present tense

“provocative” – offer stretch and challenge, but are achievable

Grounded in the best of “what is” Reflect people’s highest aspirations

– they provoke passion

CommunicationRed Deer Public Library

We communicate openly, honestly, accurately and in a timely manner while being sensitive to the context and individuals involved. We recognize that individuals have different preferred methods of communication, and we accommodate these differences as much as possible. All staff have access to a single internal point of contact to communicate essential information. We provide appropriate channels to facilitate the free flow of information up, down and throughout the organization and to our external stakeholders.

RDPL’s Action Steps

Hold a 1-hour training session for the use of the blog – learn @ lunch

Have sections on the blog for each department Use one or more of the monitors as an “info

board” specifically for staff Have a computer in the staff room Designate the blog as the central source of

info for staff – encourage its use.

3rd D - Design“First we shape our structures and then our structures shape us.” Winston Churchill

Design with an Appreciative Lens

Appreciative Inquiry is an invitation to embed your most cherished values in the structures that guide individual and collective action – locally and globally.

Designing with an Appreciative Lens

It is an invitation to design the social architecture* of your organization or community so that your values are inevitable.

* – the relationships, practices, programs, processes, products, services, policies, communications and technology

The AI Design Process

1. Identify the elements of your social architecture that were most talked about in your discovery and dream activities.

2. Consider the data – what did your discovery and dream activities say about the ideal for each element?

3. Write a set of Design Principles that describe and affirm your ideals, that put your values into the elements you selected.

Values-Based Organizational Design

Value: Openness, Transparency

Architecture: Executive Offices – First Floor, Glass Walls.

Social Architecture: Meeting Participation – Open to one person from any other department, just had to rsvp in advance.

Social Architecture: Financial Information – Open books to all employees.

Values-Based Organizational Design

Value: Human Well Being

Architecture: Office Space – Secretaries’ desks by the windows; Managers’ offices on the inside walls since they spend most of their time away from their desks in meetings.

Social Architecture: Executive Sabbatical – Each executive goes away from the company for 6 months every 5 years.

4th D - Destiny

How the energy and focus generated by the inquiry plays itself out over time. Ideally it helps to create an “appreciative learning culture”

4th D - Destiny5 Steps

1. Review, communicate and celebrate achievements to date to everyone in the organization

2. For each provocative proposition, generate a list of all possible actions that will bring it into being

3. Self organize for Inspired Action Projects4. Support Success of the Self Organized Projects5. Systematically apply AI to all aspects of the

organization

The Five Core Principles Defined

The constructionist principle

Social knowledge and community destiny are living, human constructions created through the conversations that we have with each other. "Reality is a negotiated interpretation." Shapiro & Carr, 1991

The five core principles defined: continued

The principle of simultaneity

Inquiry and change occur simultaneously . It is not the case that "first we do the analysis and then we decide on change." The very process of inquiry/analysis creates its own changes.

The five core principles defined: continued

The anticipatory principle

Current behaviour is guided by images of the future. Organizations are not “pushed” by their past; (the wake does not drive the boat) they are “pulled” by the collective image they hold of their future. Self-fulfilling prophecy: ”Pygmalion effect”, “placebo” effect.

The five core principles defined: continued

The poetic principle

Human organizations, including communities, are an open book, constantly being revised and co-authored. Its past, present and future are an endless source of learning, inspiration and interpretation.

The five core principles defined: continued

The positive principle

The momentum for change requires positive thinking and social bonding-qualities like hope, inspiration and joy in creating with one another. Positive questions guide organizational development and foster long-lasting and effective changes. People, businesses, organizations and communities move in the direction of their questions. "What impact is my question having on our lives together ... is it helping to generate conversations about the good, the better, the possible ... is it strengthening our relationships?"

“AI is based on a deceptively simple premise: that organizations grow in the direction of what they repeatedly ask questions about and focus their attention on. AI does not focus on changing people. Instead, it invites people to engage in building the kinds of organizations they want to live in. That’s hard to resist.” Gervase Bushe

“Organizations, says AI theory, are centers of human relatedness, first and foremost, and relationships thrive where there is an appreciative eye – when people see the best in one another, when they share their dreams and ultimate concerns in affirming ways, and when they are connected in full voice to create not just new worlds, but better worlds.”

Final Exercise – Mini Discovery

What was your best experience or finest moment during the last 90 minutes?

So……..! Go full speed ahead in the direction of

your fondest hopes and dreams for the future or your organization.

May all your new connections be positive connections!

Thank you!

Services

Workshops – 1 hr. to full day• A Four-hour workshop monthly at the Red Deer

Chamber of Commerce (excluding July, Aug.) – partners for Edmonton & Calgary?

• Full day Conflict Resolution workshops

Consulting – wide range, incl. performance evaluation using BARS and conflict resolution

Research – lit reviews, internet research Writing (including proposals) and Editing