Ameriquest Data Service (ADS) Project Background In February, 2004, the OD Director and HR VP of Ameriquest Home Mortgage contacted CPC for Appreciative Inquiry support. It was before the crash of the financial industry. Home mortgages were growing exponentially, and the company s 750-person information technology department (Ameriquest Data Services aka ADS) was experiencing high levels of both turnover and growth: 30% of the staff had less than 1 year of service. Their strategic focus was: To create a values-based culture and identity within Ameriquest Data Services (ADS), that enables Ameriquest to leverage the strengths of ADS as a competitive advantage. Additional objectives included: Create high commitment by engaging all ADS employees and contractors, along with a representative group of external stakeholders. Identify and celebrate the strengths and competencies of ADS as a competitive advantage. Create a shared vision across the ADS value chain. Craft an organizational design that clarifies roles and relationships, both within ADS and between ADS and the rest of the organization. Learn about Appreciative Inquiry and its usefulness to Ameriquest, through its application within ADS. Build Appreciative Inquiry consulting facilitation capacities within the Human Performance Group. Corporation for Positive Change www.positivechange.org Page 1 of 6
Ameriquest Data Services (ADS) Planning Team Agenda Time Activity Materials Tuesday 8:30 a.m. Welcome by (Carmen? Cindy?) Purpose of this Meeting Introduction of consultants 8:45 a.m. Introductions Each person does a brief 30-second intro Ball toss signals who goes next Ball 9:00 a.m. Overview of Agenda for 2 Days 9:15 a.m. Introduction to Appreciative Inquiry PP Slides Pro Care Story Definitions of AI 9:30 a.m. Appreciative Interviews Protocol 10 min. Set Up 90 min. 2 Interviews 45 Minutes Each 10 min. Break 10 min Debrief of Interview Process 11:30 a.m. Overview: AI 4-D Cycle / AI Summit PP Slides 12:00 p.m. LUNCH 1:00 p.m. Mapping the Positive Core What is it? Why is it important? How to identify? Narrative Analysis British Airways Story PP Slides 1:15 p.m Small Groups Work (3 or groups of 6 or 8people) Flip Charts Introduce Partners Sharing Stories Art Supplies Narrative Analysis Corporation for Positive Change www.positivechange.org Page 2 of 6
2:00s p.m. BREAK Identify the Positive Core of Organizational Transformation Prepare Pictures 3:00 p.m. Dreaming PP Slides Positive Image / Positive Action Dream Dialogue (individual reflection, moving to whole group?) (Whole group?) enactment 4:15 p.m. Agree on a focus (part 1) 4:45 p.m. Closing conversations 5:00 Close of Day Wednesday 8:45 a.m. Overview of the Day 8:50 a.m. Agree on a focus (part 2) 9:30 a.m. Getting Started with AI: Affirmative Topic Choice Human Systems Move in the Direction of What they Study Avon Story British Airways Story 9:50 a.m. Selection of 3 Affirmative Topics [Triads? Quads?] nominate topics (1 or 2) Group discussion White Paper 10:30 a.m. Break (10 min) 10:30 a.m. Selection of 3 Affirmative Topics (continued) Eliminate duplicates Cluster remaining Discuss Vote if necessary Dots 11:00 a.m. The Art of the Question PP Slides What makes great AI Questions? Discussion of Day 1 interview questions Anatomy of an AI Question Corporation for Positive Change www.positivechange.org Page 3 of 6
11:30 a.m. Small Groups Work (new groups self selected based on topics) Refine Topic if needed Write Questions 12:00 p.m. LUNCH (complete questions, if necessary) 1:15 p.m. Review questions / appreciative feedback 1:45 p.m. Choice points 2:30 p.m. BREAK 2:45 p.m. Choice points (continued) 4:00 p.m. The role of the Planning Team, going forward Ron s sheet 4:30 p.m. Immediate next steps (assign subgroups, etc.) 4:45p.m. Closing for the day One word each person Thank you from Roland? Kirk? Mark? 5:00 p.m. Close of Day Corporation for Positive Change www.positivechange.org Page 4 of 6
Ameriquest Data Services Planning Team Interview Guide Project Purpose Create a culture of appreciation and a shared sense of identity that can outlive rapid growth and acquisitions. Opening Interview Guide 1. What Attracted You to ADS Reflect back to your beginnings with ADS. What was it that initially attracted you? What were some of your early excitements? 2. High Point Experiences Please take a moment and think about your time with ADS. There have probably been some ups and downs, some twists and turns along the way. I would like to hear about a time you would consider a high point experience... a time when you were highly engaged and energized at work. (If you wish to do so, draw upon or elaborate on a story you heard in your pre-interviews!) a. What was the situation? What made it a high point experience for you? b. Who else was involved? What did they do to make it such a high point? c. What did you do that contributed to this being a high point experience? Now, tell me about a time that you were part of a highly diverse, perhaps even a virtual team of people that collaborated seamlessly and efficiently, achieving some kind of extraordinary result. It may have been an experience here at ADS, or in some other organization. It may have even been an experience in some kind of volunteer activity. a. What was the situation? The project or goal? b. What led to the team s ability to achieve such extraordinary results? (Consider the following: people, leadership, sytems, structures, processes, practices, services, etc.) c. What can we learn from this situation that can help ADS Technology Team to regularly deliver these kinds extraordinary? Corporation for Positive Change www.positivechange.org Page 5 of 6
3. Valuing... a. In your pre-interviews, you spoke with people within the Technology Team, and with others who receive our services. Based on the stories you heard, and on your own day-to-day observation of our work, what do you most value about today s ADS Technology Team? b. Think now about yourself and the work that you do. What are your unique skills and gifts? How do those contribute to the Technology Team s success, when we are at our very best? c. How about your work team: both the people you work with, day in and day out, at the larger team of which you are a part (i.e., Product Development, IT Infrastructure, or Business Applications)? What do you most value about that team, and its contributions to the ADS mission and vision? 4. Images of the Future Imagine it s three years from today March of 2010. Ameriquest Mortgage Company is on the front cover of Business Week magazine with the headline The Technology Advantage.... The article describes how the company s once-divided Technology Team became one of the Company s most significant assets, forging and delivering portfolio of world-class products and processes that radically enhanced the overall company s bottom line, enabling it to fully realize its dream of being the source for information and business growth. a. What has the company achieved? What specific measures of success are evident to the customers? Shareholders? Employees? b. Describe the Technology organization: its leadership, its communication processes, and the way work gets done particularly across functions and locations. c. How are customers treated? What are they saying about the organization? d. Describe ADS s systems, structures, processes, practices, and services, etc., as they exist in 2006. e. What things are you doing new or different? How does it feel to work in or with the ADS of your dream? Corporation for Positive Change www.positivechange.org Page 6 of 6