Appreciative Inquiry: Overview

Transcription

1 Appreciative Inquiry: Overview Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is (1) a way of being in the world; (2) an approach or philosophy for working with change in any human system families, groups, organizations, communities; and, (3) a five phase cyclical process of organizational learning and change (known as the 5D Cycle). AI as a way of Being in the World Appreciative Inquiry is grounded in Social Constructionist thought, a worldview that asserts that we use language and knowledge to create the world as we know and understand it. David Cooperrider, co-originator of Appreciative Inquiry (with Suresh Srivastva), writes: Appreciative Inquiry is based on a reverence for life and is essentially biocentric in character. It is an inquiry process that tries to apprehend the factors that give life to a living system and seeks to articulate those possibilities that can lead to a better future. More than a method or technique, the appreciative mode of inquiry is a means of living with, and directly participating in the life of a human system in a way that compels one to inquire into the deeper life-generating essentials and potentials of organizational existence. Defining Appreciative Inquiry Appreciative Inquiry is about discovering and applying new knowledge and new ideas about key aspects of organizational life. In particular it focuses on generating and applying knowledge that comes from inquiry into moments of excellence, periods of exceptional competence and performance times when people have felt most alive and energized. Examples of AI applications include (but are not limited to) productivity, innovation, strategy development, customer service, business process redesign, safety and quality, mergers, diversity, evaluations, organizational culture, management audits, leadership, and a host of other issues, problems, questions, or opportunities in the organization. Appreciative Inquiry is both a Process and a Philosophy 1. a process (Definition, Discovery, Dream, Design, Delivery/Destiny) for engaging people in building the kinds of families, communities, organizations, and worlds they want to live in; and, 2. a practical daily philosophy (applying learning from what works and gives life is more effective and sustainable than learning from breakdowns and pathologies) that can guide our work with families, communities, and organizations. Appreciative Inquiry as an Inquiry Based Change Process a) begins with agreeing on what we want to learn about (Definition) b) followed by participative inquiry into conditions which are present when the organization is performing optimally in human, ecological, and economic terms (Discovery) c) that knowledge is then translated into the fabric of the organization s daily life (Design) d) and in recognition that all knowledge is evolutionary, the organization continues to learn from that which is working and improvises based on those new learnings (Delivery/Destiny)

2 Appreciative Inquiry as a Philosophy of Change emphasizes collaboration and participation of all voices in the system approaches change as a journey (rather than an event) has a system orientation (focus on changing the organization rather than the people) values continuity along with innovations and transitions management, and Most Uniquely, builds on the Life-giving Forces present when a system is performing optimally in human, economic, and organizational terms.

3 Joanne Daykin Almonte, Canada President ND Learning Centre Appreciative Inquiry with teams Appreciative Inquiry in Education Change Strategic Planning Appreciative Inquiry Consultant Biographies Joanne Daykin is a trainer and facilitator with fifteen years experience. Following a career as a Child and Youth Counsellor for a variety of Therapeutic Treatment Centres and Special Education Programs, Ms. Daykin began her consulting practice. Using an Appreciative Inquiry Approach, she works with teams, organizations and communities to help them discover their very best and achieve their dreams. She uses an experiential approach to team building and is the first in Canada to combine this within an Appreciative Inquiry framework. This unique combination allows groups to articulate and define moments of exceptional excellence that already occur and make this become the norm, rather than the exception. Through her unique programs, she helps to build communication, teamwork and collaboration. Some of her areas of expertise include Experiential Team Building using an Appreciative Inquiry Approach, Organizational Change, Conflict Resolution and Team Coaching, Facilitation Skills and Interpersonal Communication. She completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Ottawa, and postgraduate degree in Education at York University. She is pursuing her Masters Degree in Organization Development from Concordia University. She is an accredited Master Trainer/Facilitator in Total Quality Management with the American Society for Quality and is a graduate of the 160 Hour Program in Third Party Neutral and Conflict Resolution with the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution. She is an approved provider of the DiSC Behaviour Profile System and also certified as a Level-2 Facilitator in Experiential Team Building. As Canada s first approved Master Trainer for Koalaty Kid (a non-profit organization that helps to improve the quality in education) she trains Principals, Teachers and Board Administrators in the theory, principles and tools of Total Quality and Continuous Improvement. She is a pioneer in the field of using Appreciative Inquiry within a Total Quality framework within the education system. This approach assists school teams and students to uncover and build upon their root causes of success. Ms. Daykin also works with numerous non-profit and community groups. She works to help build leadership skills and self-confidence of children and youth and speaks to high school students on issues of leadership, goal setting and accountability.

4 Catherine McKenna Ottawa, Canada AI Consulting LLC Whole system change Strategic planning AI training Catherine McKenna is an Ottawa based consultant specializing in team and organizational effectiveness. A partner in the international consortium AI Consulting LLC, Catherine applies Appreciative Inquiry as a practical philosophy and as an organizational change process with her clients. She has facilitated strength-based processes for management development, team building, strategic planning and training. Catherine is a leader in bringing Appreciative Inquiry to Ottawa. She has initiated and facilitated several practitioner-training programs and currently working with a team to establish a local community of practice. Prior to establishing her consulting practice Catherine spent eleven years in HR and Learning & Development at Nortel Networks. Her areas of expertise include mentoring, large group process facilitation, and training design and delivery. She holds a Master s of Industrial Relations and a B.A.H. in Psychology from Queen s University. She also has a certificate in Organization Development from NTL and is a certified interpreter of the Myers- Briggs Type indicator. Bernard J Mohr Portland, ME United States Founder and President The Synapse Group, Inc. Whole System change, Business Process Redesign. Collaborative work systems, Knowledge Management, Strategy Development, Social Transformation As President and CEO of The Synapse Group, Inc., (an international consultancy he founded in 1979 based in Portland, Maine with associate offices in Boston, Washington and Philadelphia), Bernard Mohr draws on more than 35 years of consulting and management in the fields of Organization Innovation, Design and Transition Management. He completed his undergraduate studies in Organizational Psychology (University of Waterloo), and his graduate work in Organization Change (University of Toronto) and Organization Design (Columbia University). A Registered Organization Development Consultant, Bernard is an Associate of the Taos Institute, and a senior faculty member of NTL Institute where he served between 1984 and 1988 as an elected member of NTL s Board of Directors and chaired NTL s professional development committee. Bernard s specialization is in the leadership, planning and execution of strategic change involving people, technology, culture and business processes. He is co-creator of Whole Systems Design

5 (an accelerated response to changing business conditions through an integrated approach to Strategic Planning, Process Innovation, Organization Design, and Technology Implementation) A leading practitioner and innovator in Appreciative Inquiry and Large Group Interactive methods (e.g. Open Space, Participative Design/Search Conferences, Whole Systems Design etc.), he developed North America s first advanced workshop in Appreciative Inquiry and the first Field Practicum in Appreciative Inquiry. A long time member of the Socio-Technical Systems Roundtable, he is also a founding partner of Appreciative Inquiry Consulting Some of his work is described in The Emerging Practice of Organization Development (Sikes, Drexler, and Gant 1989), Reengineering Management (J. Champy, 1995), Empowered Teams (Wellins et al, 1991), and Inside Teams (Wellins et al, 1994), Whole System Design. (Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Sept. 1998). and Appreciative Inquiry: Igniting Transformative Dialogue (in The Systems Thinker, February, 2001) He is co-author of Appreciative Inquiry: Change At the Speed of Imagination (Jossey Bass, February, 2001) A representative listing of his current and past clients includes: Air Canada, AT&T, A.E. Staley Mfg. Co., Arthur D. Little Co. (Technology Resource Center), Bell Atlantic, Bell Northern Research, British Petroleum British Airways Cabot Corp Canadian Pacific Rail System, Coca Cola USA, Department of National Defense, Domtar Gypsum, EXXON, Executive Council of the Episcopal, Church Georgia Pacific, Hannaford Brothers Company, Inland Steel, Internal Revenue Service, ITT/Hartford, L.L. Bean, Martins Point Health Care New England Telephone Co., New Brunswick Telephone, Norm Thompson Co., Nortel Novo Nordisk R.R. Donnelley and Sons Co. Smithkline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, Shell Chemical, Treasury Board of Canada, United Insurance Companies, US Gov t General Accounting Office, US Postal Service