1. SOAR vs SWOT! Appreciative Inquiry at Work Dr Liz E Mellish
STORIES FROM THE FIELD
AI On-Line Conference
19-21 April, 2005
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2. Appreciative Inquiry – what is it?
Appreciative Inquiry is an approach to organisational development and change which grows out of social constructionist thought.
The appreciative inquiry approach offers us all the process and potential to positively explore, collectively imagine, collaboratively design and jointly commit to a path forward.
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3. Assumptions of Appreciative Inquiry:
In every society, organisation, group something works
What we focus on becomes our reality
Reality is created in the moment, and there are multiple realities
The act of asking questions of an organisation or group influences the group in some way
People have more confidence and comfort to journey to the future (the unknown) when they carry forward parts of the past (the known)
If we carry parts of the past forward, they should be what is best about the past
It is important to value differences
The language we use creates our reality
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4. Principles of Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciate: the best of what exists, values and hopes for the future
Apply: knowledge of what works, what is possible
Provoke: imaginations re new ways of organising, creative improvements, ideas and proposals
Collaborate: collective capacity building, shared expertise , resources and participative decision making
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5. 4-D Model of Appreciative Inquiry
Discover
Stakeholder engagement, exploration of best experiences, hopes and priorities for the future
Dream
Provocative propositions, principles
Deliver
Strategic deliverables, achievements,
Ongoing improvisation
Design
Organisational implications, key strategies
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6. ©Mellish & Associates www.mellish.com.au www.aileadership.com
How Does AI Work?
Appreciate the context: situational, specific and participant centred
Create the conditions: governance + scope of inquiry
Design the interview protocol
Design the Appreciative Inquiry process – 4 D Model
Locate and sustain sources of energy for change
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7. Organisational Change Case Studies
Need
Consulting
Outcomes
Business Unit
Service realignment
Staff engagement
Restructure / ABC
Business planning
Effective business unit 5 years on
University
New faculty
Participative decision making
Scope of Inquiry
Workshops – space design
Participant centred decisions
World class facility
Zero industrial disputation
Government Department
Strategic direction
Organisational arrangements
Merge cultures
Reference group
Scope of inquiry – questions
Workshops
Strategic direction statement
Cabinet endorsed organisation
Policy platform established
Health Promotion
Change behaviour of school children
Improved health outcomes
Germ busters program
Hand washing routines – schools
Mentor
95% program cost savings
($ / $20 000)
Sustained behaviour change
Virtual Community
Create it
Participant Centered Process
Workshop 4-D
Interests/ Creative dreaming
$5m revenue p.a.
Government Service Delivery
Share integrated service delivery learning
2 day summit
Low cost – high impact
Access Queensland
Agriculture Renewal
Shared vision
Community Engagement
Mixed stakeholders
Envisioning event
Culture change
Rural renewal
Strategic alliances
Catholic Settings
Renewal
Workshop
AI in Catholic settings
Pastoral planning
Staff renewal
Cluster planning
Indigenous Settings
Negotiation Tables
AI approach and skills
Shared Responsibility Agreements
Community action plans
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8. Sample Interview Protocol
Q1 Reflecting on your …. experience to date, what have been the high points? Select an example of when you felt you were making a real difference. What were the circumstances? Why did it feel good? Who were you working with? What did you/your client achieve? What was special about this experience? Describe the story around your example….
Q2 What is it that you value most about
Yourself, your distinctive competence / contribution
Your colleagues
Your clients/organisation
Q3 What 'gives life' to …. - without 'it' (this core life giving factor), the organisation would cease to exist?
Q4 What are your hopes for your organisation - what best might it represent, what might it achieve?
Q5 What key success factors would indicate to you that … is well positioned?
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9. Appreciative Inquiry Process Key issues for practitioners :
Shifting between two paradigms of management, that is managing the gap or the transition from viewing the world in essentially an hierarchical way, to a more participant centred way of viewing the world.
Applying both a macro process frame and micro strategies for large-group facilitation in the context of organisational change.
Balancing the risks and tensions in large-scale participative change work.
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10. Appreciative Inquiry Process: knowledge and skills required
Adopting an appreciative mindset
Professional obligation: Process Leadership
Social Obligation: Partnering in change
Managing diversity
Life streaming
Democratising strategy
Locating and maintaining the energy for change
Getting the whole system in the room
Empowering participants
Integrating micro and macro issues
Integrating strategy, structure and culture
Facilitating a shared vision
Creating social architecture for organising
Transferring ownership of the process
Stimulating lots of little fires
Sharing responsibility for organisational direction and quality with everyone
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11. ©Mellish & Associates www.mellish.com.au www.aileadership.com
Appreciative Inquiry Process: Questions for organisations re large scale systems change
In Transition
Need to reposition
Want to engage people
Are we in transition?
Is there a need for something better?
Does achieving a new direction & way of operating depend on our people?
Diversity
Co design meta strategic management cycle
Participatory decision making
Does creating & sustaining the change demand a participatory process?
Is questioning organisational life vital to sustaining it?
Is our meta strategic management cycle best driven by diversity & participatory decision making?
Social Sustainability
Participant centred process
Build a shared vision
Do we want to articulate a shared vision and the means of achieving it?
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