Welcome! Using Appreciative Inquiry to Unleash the Power of Your People

Transcription

1 Welcome! Using Appreciative Inquiry to Unleash the Power of Your People

2 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)

3 Appreciative Inquiry is a positive, strength based alternative to problem solving as a means of initiating and managing change in organizations.

4 Why Should You be Interested? Appreciative Inquiry can give your organization a competitive advantage by:

5 Why Should You be Interested? Appreciative Inquiry can give your organization a competitive advantage by: Fully engaging the creativity and talent of your existing employees unleashing their potential

6 Why Should You be Interested? Appreciative Inquiry can give your organization a competitive advantage by: Fully engaging the creativity and talent of your existing employees unleashing their potential Magnifying the speed at which you can execute positive innovations

7 Why Should You be Interested? Appreciative Inquiry can give your organization a competitive advantage by: Fully engaging the creativity and talent of your existing employees unleashing their potential Magnifying the speed at which you can execute positive innovations Creating an organizational culture that attracts the best and brightest talent to it, and keeps it.

8 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. Appreciative Approach since 1987 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.

9 Appreciative Inquiry is based on the ancient wisdom that Whatever you focus your attention on G R O W S

10 The Case of Pro Care 79% Customer Satisfaction Desire to improve First they held focus groups with Dissatisfied Customers

11 The Case of Pro Care Using this approach: the bottom dropped out Customer satisfaction plunged Staff morale plunged

12 The Case of Pro Care The Appreciative Inquiry Alternative Interviews with satisfied customers...outstanding Customer Satisfaction Experience Generative Benchmarking 95% fully satisfied customers after 8 months

13 British Airways Lost Baggage Given that whatever you focus your attention on grows, how to reframe?

14 British Airways Exceptional arrival experiences

15 Because whatever you focus your attention on grows Appreciative Inquiry seeks to discover the root causes of success rather than the root causes of failure.

16 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

17 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)

18 Appreciative Inquiry is used to get more of something.

19 What do you want more of in your company/organization? Profits/Productivity? Employee loyalty? Customer loyalty? Effective teamwork? Increased creativity and innovation? Shared leadership? High morale and enthusiasm for the job? Fiscal responsibility & accountability?

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

21 Business Results Using Appreciative Inquiry

22 Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Enhancing Profitability Through Business Process Excellence 2003 The 25 cent Challenge attempted for 10 years Net income 2004 year end 2005 Year End Increase (in $000) $ 7,825 $ 8,956 $1,131 (source GMCR Financial Statements) 14.45% Feb. 05 Feb, 06 Increase Stock Price $26.02 $ % (source Yahoo Finance)

23 According to their web site, GMCR has had double digit net sales growth for the last 27 consecutive quarters. (as of January 2010)

24 Business Results Using AI GTE Telecommunications (Verizon) 67,000 employees (during communications industry restructuring, job cuts) In just one year s time (1996 to 1997) employees support for GTE s business direction jumped 50 percent and their perception that information is shared openly rose nearly 140 percent.

25 More Business Results Using AI GTE Telecommunications (Verizon) credit verification process, resulting in $3 million collected in payment process, saving $7 to $8 million annually. insufficient funds process, saving $4 million in 1996 (Cheny & Jarrett, 1998, p.46)

26 More Business Results Using AI GTE Telecommunications (Verizon) Over 10,000 innovations were attributed to the Appreciative Inquiry process.

27 More Business Results Using AI John Deere (Harvester Works Division) reduced their product development cycle from 5 years to 3 years produced immediate savings of $6 million positively transformed labour management relations

28 More Business Results Using AI Roadway Express (teamster union shop) employee driven improvements translated into $17 million in additional revenue for a year, and $7 million annual profit

29 Two More Examples Nutrimental Foods of Brazil Spectacular increases in profits (200% after 1 year, 300% after two years) and decreases in employee absenteeism Hunter Douglas Window Fashions Increased productivity/decreased waste in manufacturing to levels they had previously thought were mathematically impossible.

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31 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.

32 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.

33 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? When have there been times that men and women have worked together in this company and the experience was 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? 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.

34 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? When have there been times that men and women have worked together in this company and the experience was 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? 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.

35 "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"

36 Developing an Appreciative Mindset Gervase Bushe The Appreciative Self Clear Leadership Tracking Fanning

37 The 4D Model

38 1 st D - Discovery This is generally done using one on one interviews lasting between 1-2 hours Conscious decisions about who interviews whom add value to the process. Uses pre-written questionnaires. All of the questions have a positive focus.

39 1 st D - Discovery Introductory Questions These lay the groundwork for story telling. They ask about: The person s beginnings & attraction to the organization The person s peak experiences since joining the organization The qualities the person values, both personal and organizational

40 Time to Try It! Use Introductory Questions conversation 12 minutes

41 1 st D - Discovery Topic Questions There are usually 3-5 topics A positive preamble to introduce the topic Questions to elicit story telling about peak experiences related to the topic

42 Time to Try It! Building Resilience interview 90/10 8 minutes each

43 Brief Debrief How was that?

44 1 st D - Discovery Concluding Questions Direct 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.

45 Time to Try It! Concluding Questions interview 90/10 7 minutes each

46 Brief Debrief How was that?

47 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.

48 Interview Summary Forms Most quotable quote Most compelling story What is most important to the individual 1-3 themes for each topic Vision Maintaining the positive core

49 Compiling the Info Information from the Discovery process needs to be compiled and shared Word Clouds offer a good visual presentation

50 Active Members Initial Attraction

51 Active Members High Point Experience

52 Active Members Valued Most About the Church

53 Active Members What More is Desired

54 2 nd 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.

55 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 heliotropic principle

56 The Generative Metaphor Intervention Medic Inn transformed organizational culture from one of hostility, 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

57 Time to Try It! Imagine that every problem or inadequacy of your organization is solved, and your organization is now in its best possible state. What does that look like? Draw some images on the back of the question sheet.

58 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

59 Communication Red 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.

60 3 rd 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.

61 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

62 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.

63 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.

64 4 th D - Destiny The specific action plans and strategies for bringing the vision into existence How the energy and focus generated by the inquiry plays itself out over time. Ideally it helps to create an appreciative learning culture 5-step process

65 Communication Red 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.

66 RDPL s Action Steps Hold a 1-hour training session for the use of the blog 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.

67 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

68 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.

69 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.

70 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.

71 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 longlasting 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?"

72 Change is Inevitable The best way to predict the future is to create it.

73 Appreciative Inquiry is a positive, visionary approach that: energizes and empowers people, and releases their potential promotes buy-in, reduces resistance strengthens relationships builds loyalty, morale and commitment creates happier, more productive organizational cultures.

74 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

75 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.

76 Mini Discovery What was your peak experience during today s workshop? What is the most significant idea or concept you will take away from this morning, and how will you use it in your organization?

77 References (all highly recommended) Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination J. Watkins & B. Mohr Encyclopaedia of Positive Questions Vol. 1 D. Whitney, D. Cooperrider, A. Trosten-Bloom, B. Kaplan The Appreciative Inquiry Summit J. Ludema, D. Whitney, B. Mohr, T. Griffin The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change D. Whitney, A. Trosten- Bloom

78 Thank you! Jim Taylor