Building Our Most Desired Future: Appreciative Inquiry in the Workplace University of Wisconsin October 2008 Presentation by: Jane Magruder Watkins Appreciative Inquiry Unlimited

Please turn to someone sitting close to you and spend 10 minutes doing the following: One of you asks your partner the following question: “Tell me a story about a wonderful experience you have had in your work. Perhaps it was a time when you felt that you made an important contribution, or a time when you felt particularly satisfied and pleased with your work. What was happening? What part did you play in the story? How did it work out? What did you learn?” (As you listen to the story, make a list of the exciting things that you hear – things that you feel were important to your partner as she/he shares with you.) After 5 minutes, swap roles and the person being interviewed now becomes the interviewer. Repeat the process.

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY (AI) is both a Theory & a Process It is a Philosophy to live by! It is a Perspective that can be applied to any organization change process or model.

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY THEORY

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY (AI) IS ALL ABOUT WHOLENESS

WHOLENESS Seeing, experiencing, and understanding the world as an integrated, connected system created by the interactions of all its parts – animate and inanimate !

SYSTEMS WORLDVIEW In the new Systems worldview, we move from: the primacy of pieces to primacy of the whole, from absolute truth to coherent interpretations, from self to community, from problem solving to creating. --Peter Senge, Otto Sharmer, et al

FOR EXAMPLE: We want to play a game of football, a sport known for being highly competitive. So we go to an agreed upon location; we suit up in agreed upon gear; we locate an agreed upon ball; and we play a game by agreed upon rules and regulations. What a “competitive” process? I don’t think so! To have a football game, cooperation and competition are part of a whole, essential to the game’s success.

CONSTRUCTIONIST An understanding and acceptance of the social constructionist stance toward reality and social knowledge; i.e., that what we believe to be real in the world is created through our social discourse, through the conversations we have with each other that lead to agreement about how we will see the world, how we will behave, what we will accept as reality.

SIMULTANEATY A realization that inquiry is change; that the first question we ask is fateful, in that the organization will turn its energy in the direction of that first question, whether positive or negative; and, as a result, the seeds of change are embedded in it.

POETIC A valuing of story telling as a way of gathering holistic information that includes not only facts, but also the feelings and affect that a person experiences and the recognition that stories (like all good poetry) can be told about any aspect of an organization’s existence.

ANTICIPATORY An understanding that behavior and decisions about actions are based not only on what we were born with or learned from our environment, but also on what we anticipate, what we think or imagine will happen in the future.

POSITIVE A belief that a positive approach to any issue is just as valid a basis for learning and that it is just as contagious as a negative approach, which makes taking the positive stance an antidote to cynicism.

There are consequences for using deficit language: –30 year survey: 54,040 abstracts containing the keyword 'depression', 41,416 naming 'anxiety', but only 415 mentioning 'joy'. “Maybe what looks like a symptom of depression – negative thinking - is itself the disease." (Martin Seligman, author of “Learned Optimism”) What is right What is wrong

Barbara Fredrickson: The effects of experiencing a positive emotion (joy, interest, contentment, pride, love, etc.) 1.An increase in personal resources that become reserves to be drawn on later. 2.Undo negative emotions. 3.Fuels psychological resiliency 4.Thinking becomes more creative, integrative, flexible and open to information “What Good Are Positive Emotions?”

BROADENS people’s momentary thought-action repertoires, and BUILDS enduring personal resources – from physical & intellectual to social & psychological. By creating chains of events that carry positive meaning for others, positive emotions can trigger upward spirals that transform communities into more cohesive, moral and harmonious social organizations.

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY PRACTICE

PROCESSES FOR ORGANIZATION CHANGE Paradigm 1: Deficit Based Research Paradigm 2 (AI): Strength Based Research Identification of Problems “Felt Needs” Appreciating the Best of What Is Analysis of Causes Envisioning What Might Be Analysis of Possible Solutions Dialoging What Should Be Plan of Action (Treatment) Innovating What Will Be Organizations are Problems to be Solved Organizations are Mysteries to be Embraced

Deficit Issues Sexual Harassment Employee Turnover Low Morale Turfism/Silos Customer Complaints Lack of Training Missed Commitments  Affirmative Topics  Positive Cross-Gender Working Relationships  Longevity  Highly Motivated  High Performing Team  Customer Compliments  Highly Skilled  Commitments Met

Destiny Create “What will be” Design Determine “What should be” Dream Imagine “What might be”  AFFIRMATIVE TOPIC CHOICE Discovery Appreciate “Best of what is” 4-D Cycle of AI

THE SUMMIT An AI Summit is a process for getting the whole system, or a broad representation of all levels of the system, into a planning session that values the participation and contribution of all the people. Summits can take many forms depending upon the number of people involved and the purpose of the gathering. It builds on the belief that for an organization to be healthy and productive it must seek out and build on the best ideas and full participation of all the people who work for or interface with the organization.

Other levels of AI Intervention: *leadership * organization design *mergers *strategic planning *teambuilding *diversity/cross cultural *coaching *(e) valuation *community building *couples/family *personal reflection *performance appraisal

By Changing the Language We Can Change the Intent By changing the language, we can change the intent! From: SWOT To: SOAR Strengths Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Opportunities Aspirations Threats Results Instead of the SWOT analysis, we can combine Strategic Inquiry with Appreciative Intent to SOAR: Strategic Inquiry - Strengths Opportunities Appreciative Intent - Aspirations and Results

THE EMERGING PERSPECTIVE FOR ORGANIZATION CHANGE

“A form of free dialogue may well be one of the most effective ways of investigating the crisis which faces society, and indeed the whole of human nature and consciousness today. Moreover, it may turn out that such a form of free exchange of ideas and information is of fundamental relevance for transforming culture and freeing it of destructive misinformation, so that creativity can be liberated.” David Bohm – On Dialogue

DIALOGUE BASED PROCESSES: OPEN SPACE WHOLE SYSTEMS WORLD CAFÉ FUTURE SEARCH APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY

AI: a process for our times AI embraces the constructionist nature of reality We create the world through our relationships and the conversations we have that describe “what is real.” We create the world we imagine. AI embraces diversity as a creative and generative force. AI as a process is congruent with the non-linear nature of human systems.

The Lorenz Attractor: An Image for Our Times Edward Lorenz wanted to predict the weather Computers made it possible to perform endless mathematical computations Three non-linear equations were entered in the computer. The computations led to a 3 dimensional figure that moved in a random manner with a few oscillations of increasing amplitude around a point; always staying within a field.

Translating the Attractor In Science:The image shows us that identifying the system’s attractors and the basins of attraction gives a picture of a dynamic system. In Organizations: The image shows us that identifying the organization’s positive core and the boundaries of the enterprise gives us a picture of an agile and creative organization.

Butterflies When we locate, through dialogue, the organization’s positive core and make clear through our conversations with each other the focus and scope of our enterprise, our system will create forms and function that are endlessly re-creating, perfectly functional, and remarkably beautiful!

Ultimately, we create the future we imagine.