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Appreciative Inquiry Newsletter Issue
1, May 1998
This is Part 1of Issue 1 of a quarterly email newsletter
devoted to Appreciative Inquiry examples and activities.
THANKS
Before describing the purpose and contents, I want to thank several people for helping
make this happen: David Cooperrider for all the e-chatting we did to develop the
newsletter idea; Dawn Dole who helped me contact people, Walter Bruck, Steve Cato, Joep de
Jong, Muriel Finegold, Mette Jacobsgaard, Bill Kinsey, Liz
Mellish, Ravi Pradhan, Hamdi Qenawi, Marge Schiller, Magdalena
Steinmeyer, Laverne Dees Webb, Anastasia White, and
Margaret Wright who helped me bring together the information for this issue and have
offered to help with future issues. And many others who have been good sounding boards and
provided encouragement to keep going!
CONTENTS OF THIS NEWSLETTER
The first issue of the newsletter is in two parts: Part 1 is to introduce the purpose of
the newsletter and the people who have helped me put it together. There is also the first
part of an interview with David Cooperrider.
Part 2 has examples where Ai has been used in different parts
of the world, information on publications and events, and the continuation of the
interview with David.
I hope you enjoy this. Do give me your comments and feedback,
CONTENTS OF ISSUE 1
* Newsletter format
* Information on the Contact People
* Interview with David Cooperrider - Ai 10 years on by Marge
Schiller and Steve Cato
Infinite Capacity of Organizations
Multicultural settings
Crafting Questions
Holographic Interview Protocol
* Issue 1 Pt 2 Outline
* More country contacts
* Forward the newsletter
* Contributions to Future Newsletters
NEWSLETTER FORMAT
The intention is to have short news items or examples giving highlights of recent work
with some learnings. This signposts people's activities.
If you would like more detailed information, please contact the person at the email
address given at the end of the item.
Having said that, the items in both parts of this first issue are longer than you might
expect! I wanted the Contact People to introduce and describe themselves in their own way.
And, I thought everyone would want to have the full interview with David.
Please, bear with us as we develop the newsletter.
CONTACT PEOPLE
The following people have kindly agreed to help me bring together information for the
newsletter.
In this first issue, I asked them to write about themselves and their work. There is
information about some and others will send information later.
They are:
Walter Bruck/Germany Walter.Bruck@usa.net
Steve Cato/USA West Coast scato@worldnet.att.net
Joep de Jong/The Netherlands jlsjc@WORLDONLINE.NL
Muriel Finegold USA East Coast Marafine@aol.com
Mette Jacobsgaard/Denmark 101572.622@compuserve.com
Bill Kinsey/Zimbabwe bkinsey@econ.vu.nl and
root@bruin.uz.zw
Liz Mellish/Australia lmellish@eis.net.au
Ravi Pradhan/Nepal Ravip@wlink.com.np
Hamdi Qenawi/Egypt hamdiq@iiedt2.gega.net
Anne Radford/England + Co-ordinator editor@aipractitioner.com
Marge Schiller/USA East Coast MRSENTP@aol.com
Magdalena Steinmeyer/Mexico hgstein@ibm.net
Laverne Dees Webb/USA Iowa LaverneW@aol.com
Anastasia White (South Africa) letsema@wn.apc.org
Margaret Wright (Scotland) 100067.2577@compuserve.com
MORE INFORMATION
Walter Bruck (Germany)
Walter.Bruck@usa.net
I started as a self-employed consultant in 1997 with the Ai approach, which I use as a
base for the Appreciative Business Development in Germany. For me Ai is consistent with my
picture of the world and raises the possibilities of miracles.
As Marcel Proust said "The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands
but seeing with new eyes."
As a consultant for Appreciative Business Development I see it as my task to free the
potential of people and teams for personal growth and enduring company success. By my
intervention the spirit in the company is revived and a new momentum is born. In this way
the company can be successful in the global competition.
For my work I can draw on my professional experience as a consultant for Roland Berger
& Partner, the biggest German Top Management Consulting Company with over 800
consultants.
To end this I like to say, that every moment and every situation of life is our best
teacher. I'm looking forward to telling you more about what is going on in Germany.
Steven M. Cato, Ph.D. (USA West Coast) scato@worldnet.att.net
Steven M. Cato, Ph.D. has worked with executives, managers and organizations in a variety
of settings to foster and create organizational change for the past 27 years. In that time
his focus has been multiple. He has helped work teams discover and develop their strengths
as well as worked with whole organizations to help them sharpen their strategic focus and
more effectively use their human resources. For the past several years he has become a
leading practitioner of Appreciative Inquiry- a cutting edge change methodology.
His non-work interests are wide-ranging. Lately he spends time bicycling, brewing beer and
house remodelling. In the past he's been a "hobby farmer", raising sheep, dairy
calves, chickens, and turkeys but eventually decided raising kids was challenge enough.
Joep C. de Jong (The Netherlands) jlsjc@worldonline.nl
Managing Director, JLS International B.V based in the Netherlands with 3 lines of
business: Product Sales training in the IT business (Major clients are Compaq and Apple),
Communication, Team building and Management training. Major clients are Apple, Compaq,
Abbott, Nortel and a local University and Schools (although the real revenue makers in the
business world),Interim Management and Coaching of Management. Mainly in merger situations
or in 'changing environments' It is here that I personally spend most of my time.
We consider ourselves a Learning Company and regularly look critically and appreciatively
at ourselves and JLS International to see if we still do the things that are in line with
that vision.
Muriel Finegold (USA East Coast and Ai register) Marafine@aol.com
I have spent my 25 year career working with family and organizational systems to effect
change, first as a clinician and in the last ten years, as an organization development
consultant.
My focus is on a systems approach to strategic planning, change management, and
organizational learning. I've worked with senior management as well as teams and work
groups at all organizational levels to address a range of organizational issues. I also
teach a graduate level course in organizational effectiveness.
My current passion is working with whole systems using large group interventions to help
them design and move forward towards their preferred future.
I am a member of the East Marion Group, a national consortium of women consultants and
managers who have developed a model for women's personal and professional development
which is being offered to groups of women across the country.
My clinical background has informed my work; appreciative inquiry has transformed it. It
is gratifying to me to work with organizations and community groups, helping them to
acknowledge and appreciate their strengths and successes as a foundation for envisioning
new possibilities and directions.
Liz Mellish (Australia) lmellish@eis.net.au
Liz Mellish is a Brisbane based management consultant. She founded her practice, Mellish
Enterprises, in 1984 and with her colleagues provides strategic management, community
consultation, training and collaborative research services to clients in the private,
public, higher education and community sectors.
Liz is currently completing her doctorate in strategic change and appreciative
consultation processes.
We are committed to the process of positive inquiry as our work is starting to demonstrate
that both the process and the outcomes achieved are sustainable and help our clients
fundamentally reorientate their organisations and their practice towards a more hopeful
future.
Ravi Pradhan (Nepal) ravip@wlink.com.np
Ravi Pradhan’s consulting work in Nepal focuses on three areas: developing managers
and leaders for a new era, improving organizational effectiveness at a fundamental level,
and enhancing the competencies and skills of Nepali consultants and coaches.
In all his work, Ravi brings an in-depth experience of both the corporate and non-profit
sectors in Asia and in the USA. He has also skilfully integrated the best from the West
with the wisdom of eastern disciplines, particularly Tibetan Buddhism. In the same manner,
he has combined Appreciative Inquiry with the power of conversations and basic principles
of Buddhism.
He has trained with such innovators as Werner Erhard, Fernando Flores and David
Cooperrider as well as Buddhist teachers. Ravi has worked with many of the major aid and
development agencies operating in Nepal. Based on an action-learning cycle, most of his
engagements are spread over a year to guide and coach the client organizations to bring
real measurable breakthroughs in their organizations.
Ravi is also the co-founder of several innovative NGOs in Nepal: the Alliance for Energy
that helped persuade the World Bank to withdraw from the ARUN hydro power project and
promote smaller private sector investments; the Kathmandu 2020 campaign to educate and
mobilize the citizens to shape the destiny of this ancient valley; Boddhichitta Institute
to translate and publish in the Nepali language key Tibetan Buddhist texts.
Looking ahead, Ravi's vision is to develop and nurture a network of OD consultants and
change agents (in the developing world) focused on social transformation.
Marge Schiller (USA East Coast) mrsentp@aol.com
I have a husband, two sons, a PHD, 3 boats and a house outside of Boston. I work with
clients as diverse as Avon International (the cosmetic and women's
products company) to The United States Army. I have been working in Appreciative Inquiry
now for about 8 years and it is what I do.
As a reader of mystery books I continue to see organizational life as series of mysterious
happenings often not understood in the moment but requiring knowledge of past history and
sometimes the patience just to wait and see how it all turns out.
Magdalena Steinmeyer (Mexico) hgstein@ibm.net
Magdalena and her husband, Horst, are on their way from Germany to Mexico. "We are
now really living out of our suit cases. Our household is on its way to Mexico. After 30
years I feel as if they do not want me to come back at all. They have been making it soooo
difficult, that it has been very painful.
Fortunately I know, that in México there are also many people who have large minds and
hearts—this gives me energy not to give up. I ask myself, is that already AI? To try
to find the positive side, and focus and concentrate your attention there."
Magdalena, and Horst, have worked with businesses and organizations using Future Search in
Germany, Austria, Bolivia, Italy and México, in the Baltic countries and in the
transition of East Germany. They have been together FS and Ai after Ai training in England
in 1995.
Laverne Dees Webb (USA Iowa and Ai register) Laverne W@aol.com
President, The Webb Alliance, Management Consultants.
Focus: Change management in the public, non-profit, small business sectors.
What excites me about a newsletter: At last, a place to go for a synopsis of the current
work, experiences, and outcomes of AI endeavors in the field. I have been enormously
enriched and helped by my connections with others on the listserve. The newsletter will
support discovery and connection for people doing this work.
Values: Self: I like to think I'm making the world a little better because of the work I
do.
Margaret Wright (Scotland) 100067.2577@compuserve.com
Margaret, based in Edinburgh, was introduced to AI in 1995 while still working inside a
traditional large organisation. Since setting up her own consultancy the appreciative
inquiry approach has underpinned all of her work and she has used it in team working, the
voluntary sector and in helping executive committees plan strategy as well as integrate
new members.
Margaret says what most excites her about the newsletter is that there will be stories to
tell and practical examples to give about how AI can make a difference!
It is the question everyone asks when they hear about AI for the first time, 'Where can I
read about this?' In addition the newsletter will spread the word and the vibes and then
anything is possible-what is the best that can happen?
The possibility to create the future for themselves is there for everyone as well as the
opportunity to join with others to change things-for example -What is the best that can
happen for Scotland as it plans its new parliament and the way forward!
Exciting things are already happening on that front--more later.
INTERVIEW WITH DAVID COOPERRIDER
by Marge Schiller and Steve Cato
David Cooperrider is professor of management at Case Western Reserve University.
He lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio.
Steve Cato and Marge Schiller are points of contact for the World
Appreciative Inquiry E-mail Newsletter. They are both veteran organization consultants
primarily doing work with Appreciative Inquiry.
Infinite Capacity of Organizations
Steve and Marge: Appreciative Inquiry has been launched for about 10 years now. What
are the ways your own thinking is evolving around both theory and method?
David: I can share some surprises or shifts.
It is becoming clear that what is exciting is Appreciative Inquiry's contribution to the
larger shift in our understanding of the paradigm of change. At GTE one of the employees
shouted to Tom White, the CEO, "Are you ready for what is happening? Are you ready
for the center stage of the positive revolution?"
We are looking at a positive revolution. The change is in letting go of problem solving
strategies, of letting go of the vocabularies of human deficit. We are co-participants;
there is a deep energy to create positive change. Unless we create the positive in
organizations we will just keep creating resistance.
Organizations are filled with an infinite capacity. We could never map all the capacities
and abundance organizations have. We have a chance to help organizations tap into their
own infinite capacities, to tap into the stories and images that they have. If
organizations can access their infinite capacity - values, virtues, history- they have
more material than they can ever use. We can never map all the capacities.
If they have infinite capacity, and if that capacity is not found, it smolders like a fire
without proper oxygen. When that capacity is untapped you get chronic
problems.
We haven't found ways to tackle or connect with those capacities in a meditative sense.
I'm excited about the positive revolution from the discovery of infinite capacity.
Multicultural settings
Steven and Marge: Much of Appreciative Inquiry's early development was done in
multi-cultural settings. You have continued to seek out these kinds of opportunities. What
are some of the important learnings for you in using Appreciative Inquiry in
multi-cultural settings?
David: It's been revealing to have Appreciative Inquiry and some of the language that
surrounds it translated into other languages.
Marge, you remember with the Mexico group when we were trying to translate Appreciative
Inquiry vocabulary? First they said "investigation evaluativa". We tried again
and in the next translation they proposed it sounded too much like love and romance.
Finally we decided on "pregunta positiva"-- the power of the positive question.
One lesson was how important the nuances of the meanings of the words are, not only for
the local group but for all of us. We need to enlarge, elaborate and more fully understand
what we really mean. Translation slows things down to everyone's benefit.
Crafting Questions
This helped me to see where the strategic import of this lies. Part of this is in the
craft of developing questions for Appreciative Inquiry, of developing greater skill in a
way that conveys Carl Rogers' meaning of unconditional positive regard.
I am part of a large project called United Religions. We are trying to develop an
organization where the world's religions can speak with one another, a place where
increased understanding and inspiration can occur. There are about 44 different world
religions represented at one of the conferences representing many different countries.
Starting a conference with a time line didn't make a lot of sense. We needed a way to
begin that recognized and called forth the infinite positive capacity of these people and
the religions that were so fundamental in their lives.
We wanted to tap into these infinite capacities. For example with United Religions, the
questions were designed to value the wisdom, stories, traditions, texts and rituals and to
bring these into play.
Here is an example of one of the questions that we used: "Obviously, each faith
community has special gifts that it brings to cooperation. What beliefs, values, text,
metaphors, traditions and stories does your faith have that talk about cooperation?"
Another question went something like this, "We've all had moments of creating
something impossible. We've all been part of efforts where in the beginning it seemed that
what we were trying to do, could not be accomplished and yet somehow the miraculous
happened. Reflect on one of these occasions for yourself when your deepest energies and
commitment was called upon."
I believe in the power of the positive question. Now I give people an hour to an hour and
a half in the initial part of Appreciative Inquiry session to do their appreciative
interview as a dyad.
I do this very near the beginning of the work. It gives the group a holographic context.
People come in very different places. They get the experience of the in the first few
hours.
Holographic Interview Protocol
I try to create an interview protocol that models the whole sense of the time we will
spend together. This allows visionaries, planners, doers to about things from their own
unique perspective and they are more patient to let the rest of the time we have together
unfold.
So I ask them questions where they can talk about their visions, actions, plans, history,
etc. I don't use the more generic three question mini interview.
This interview has to be much more than an icebreaker. It has to have real depth. It
becomes the relational blueprint for the rest of the work. Also you needto underscore the
inquiry part of Appreciative Inquiry.
In the United Religions project, I did some homework on previous attempts at interfaith
cooperation. When I looked at how these attempts had gone in the last 100 years I found
that there were three styles of conversations people had in these settings: Canceling,
Tolerating and Inspiring.
In canceling conversations, the focus is on discovering whose truth is superior and what
is faulty with the others' religious beliefs and doctrines.
In tolerating conversations, there is a recognition that we live in a pluralistic world
and we must therefore tolerate the views of each other.
In inspiring conversations, we are genuinely inquiring into the best of each other's faith
traditions and looking for the resources of cooperation.
COUNTRY EXAMPLES:
*AUSTRALIA Strategic Planning and Change
* BANGLADESH Country strategy
* BRAZIL Company summit for customers and employees
* ENGLAND Combining Ai with Solution Focused Therapy
* GERMANY Who is the client?
* MEXICO Women to Work Award
* SCOTLAND Team development and Appraisals
* USA GTE, Omni Hotel and United Religions
* ZIMBABWE: Empowerment in small, isolated rural communities
EVENTS IN AUSTRALIA
PUBLICATIONS in Australia, England and USA and the Ai Bibliography
WEB SITES in USA, Canada and Australia
CONTINUATION OF INTERVIEW WITH DAVID COOPERRIDER
Ai and Future Search
Small, medium and large groups
Infinite Capacity- Positive Core Change
Symbols in multicultural meetings
Narrative and relatedness
Power of story telling
Constructingeffective questions
Provocative questions people have asked
Shifting Power Relationships
MORE COUNTRY/CO-ORDINATORS
FORWARDING THE NEWSLETTER
CONTRIBUTIONS TO FUTURE NEWSLETTERS
COUNTRY EXAMPLES:
AUSTRALIA Strategic Planning And Change
Liz Mellish (info@mellish.com.au)*
* note address change
1. Using AI and the 4-D model to facilitate the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission
strategic plan.
Outcome: a plan which reflects all staff's perspectives on working towards a
discrimination free community.
A staff member's comment : "it's amazing to see all our stories represented in what
we're all working towards now"
2. Using AI to facilitate the merging of 6 distinctly different academic cultures to form
one new faculty which reflects the best of all the contributing cultures.
One academic's comment: "For the first time we've had a process to support the
changes we're making and the process has helped bond and energise us to come up with
something new and exciting"
3. Using AI to facilitate enhanced community engagement in government decision making
processes with specific reference to the resource management of sustainable natural
resources.
The key benefit of using AI with the initial stakeholder group is that the process can be
infinitely replicated with multiple stakeholder groups.
BANGLADESH: Country Strategy
(tricia@lasa.demon.co.uk) Information from Tricia Lustig who lives in England. This
information is from her recent trip to Bangladesh.
I was asked to help an INGO in Bangladesh develop its Country Strategy for the next 5
years. In particular, I was to help them make it a more participative process than it had
been in the past. I decided to use Appreciative Inquiry to help people to dream in an open
way and to get the group out of its negativity.
It was a fantastic experience for everyone who participated. They were surprised by what
they came up with: a vision, strategy and plan which is the best it can be, utilised the
best of what is and challenges them in the coming years.
Here are some of the participants comments:
* I have learned that participation helps to find the reality. Participation is the
pre-condition of real learning
* Learned how to reach to constructive dream/vision through a creative group work and
portray how & what I feel about us
* Group work can be really fun & at the same time constructive by sharing the same
Dreams
* People are always ready to find flaws - not enough "Constructive" criticism
going around
* We all are very much innovative and we can contribute more in this process ...Our
participation together for our future. Everybody could decide anything
* I learned that if we take initiatives & are ready to make decisions as well as take
responsibility for them while "Enjoying" ourselves we can make a difference
& bring about change for the better
* How to minimise a 'Large' amount of work in a short time by providing input from
different levels. We could follow it in future for "Dreams"
* I learned that if you want to develop something, you have to draw a Dream.
BRAZIL Company summit for customers and employees
David Cooperrider (CoopDLC@prodigy.com)
Nutrimental foods in Brazil took a very daring step with Ai this Fall and created an Ai
Strategic Planning Summit for four days with everybody, all 700 employees as well as
customers and suppliers.
They shut down the whole plant! It was really exciting and the energy and vision and
planning process was a huge success.
Three months later their sales were up 35%--millions of dollars in yearly terms. They plan
now to have a 700 person whole company, one day AI meeting, 4 times a year!
ENGLAND Combining Ai with Solution Focused Therapy
John Nixon, Countdown UK Limited (john@countdown.co.uk)
I ran a mixed group in motor retailingùfrom people who run dealerships to people who
valet cars.
Subject: How to build the kind of relationships with our Dealership which we feel is truly
valuable.
After interviews and developing Provocative Propositions, I asked SFT questions like:
* What is the first small step we can all make?
* On a scale of 1 to 10 where is each person's confidence level that they can do it?
* What will each of us be doing that tells us that our confidence is one point higher?
* On the same scale, what is your willingness to do it?
* What will be the first signs of success? What will you be doing when that happens?
GERMANY Who is the client?
Magdalena Steinmeyer (hgstein@ibm.net)
Company: an international chemical/pharmaceutical company based in Germany.
Example of a rather "clandestine" or a "bottom-up" project.
This raises the question Who is the client?
Length of the project: From September 1997 to June 1998.
We have been experiencing the "magic of AI" especially in two workshops that we
did with sales-reps. Before the workshops they were disillusioned, frustrated,
demotivated, and afraid of top management. They were afraid of losing their jobs.
In the workshops: 1. The mood changed from "angry/ depressive" to "highly
energetic"
2. All of them re-discovered in themselves the qualities and values that had made them
successful.
3. They told common stories that they had worked in teams successfully, obtained optimal
results and a very high degree of satisfaction.
4. They concluded that they had succeeded when the company gave them some "free
space" (freedom), encouragement to leave the old tracks and some orientation on where
the company was going.
However, we have a completely old-fashioned top management group. They still try to lead
by "command and control". They seem not to realize and admit, that the sales
reps. are the ones who are in the field, know their clients best and have years of
experience.
The top management seemed to approve our approach. However,their approach is now "
consultants are here to do what we say". We have kept them informed of what we are
doing, and we have invited them to the sessions including a larger group event in Crete
this month.
Our dilemma as consultants is: Who is really our client? Top management or the employees?
We believe that top management is the sponsor, and the employees, who start feeling some
hope that everything is going to change "for the best", are our real clients. We
are trying to find a way to do an AI intervention with top management to bring to
"vibrate" on the same wave length as the employees.
However, there is the interesting question: Should a consultant do bottom -up (or even)
clandestine AI with part of the organization when top management changes its view about
the activities of the consultant?
MEXICO Women to work Award
David Cooperrider (CoopDLC@prodigy.com)
Avon Corporation in Mexico received an award for women to work--again using Ai. The
Catalyst Award is given to the best company in the country for its work on building better
cross gender relations.
SCOTLAND Team development and Appraisals
Margaret Wright (100067.2577@compuserve.com)
Team development
A two day course for one division of a large international client using Ai after doing
'traditional' team building days. Day One was traditional team understanding-stages of
team development, and team roles.Day Two it was straight into 'inquiry ' sessions, getting
to the possibility proposition stage before lunch.
The best was yet to come after lunch when energies, enthusiasm and creativity came to the
fore with marvellous colourful posters being drawn to highlight the team
statement/proposition.
The team were asked:
* to consider a time when they were performing
really well/things were going well
* what do you bring to the team
* what are your best qualities, skills experiences
* in an ideal world how would you like things to be in 18 months time for the team.
* What three things would you want to change.
Performance Appraisal
An engineering company in a very competitive area wanted to tap into the learning points
and experiences of their employees as they planned to grow bigger and better. They are
pleased with the way their employees are responding.
As well as covering the traditional skills needed for appraisal we built in AI. questions
to tap into employees' experiences of what was going well so that it could be mirrored
elsewhere in the group.
The process of appraisal in the group is ongoing, the first session being conducted with
the Board of the company.
USA GTE, Omni Hotel and United Religions
David Cooperrider (CoopDLC@prodigy.com)
GTE just won the 1997 award from the American Society for Training and Development for the
best organization change program in the country for its work with AI.
Equally exciting, the Omni Hotel (remember the article on Generative metaphor
intervention) did achieve their strategic change vision of moving from a one star rating
as a hotel to 4- star (the best in Cleveland). They have now officially been awarded the
designation.
The United Religions Initiative is also in full bloom where we will be guiding a 250
person Ai Summit at Stanford University in June, 1998. There will be people from over 50
countries and 40 religions.
ZIMBABWE: Empowerment in small, isolated rural communities
Bill Kinsey splits his time between the Netherlands and Zimbabwe.
(Until 4 June: bkinsey@econ.vu.nl, 4 June-22 July: root@bruin.uz.zw)
I return to Zimbabwe on June 4 to sign the contract which will ensure that our fieldwork
continues for three more years...into the new millennium! This will mean that I shall have
been working with 'my' 400 families--in 20 different communities--for a full generation.
The contract, while providing much-needed security, only covers the basic costs of
fieldwork and not professional manpower. So I shall of necessity be doing more
fund-raising.
The intention is to get more Ai into the work and to do some overt experimentation with
techniques of community empowerment in small, isolated rural communities.
It is a challenging and appropriate time for such work in Africa, where the withdrawal of
the state in response to IMF-mandated expenditure reductions risks stranding rural
communities even more than they have been. There is also the parallel challenge of
assisting and strengthening local government institutions to fill some of the gap left by
the withdrawal of state-level institutions.
And I am still struggling to identify a team to implement an Ai approach, as well as to
find time to improve my own skills!
EVENTS IN AUSTRALIA
(contact imc@imc.org.au).
Institute of Management Consultants conference "Leading Practices in partnering with
clients"
Date: 17-20 September 1998
Location: Coolum Queensland
Liz Mellish is leading a session on Managing people through Change - an Appreciative
Consultation approach.
Jim Lord has recently visited Brisbane and run workshops with Brenda Turnbull on
Appreciative Inquiry. (contact Jlordquest@aol.com )
PUBLICATIONS
1. Sue Hammond's "Lessons from the Field: Applying Appreciative Inquiry"
(forthcoming) (SueHammond@aol.com)
Liz Mellish is a contributor to the book and the Australian distributor
(info@mellish.com.au).
Anne Radford distributes Sue Hammond's books in the UK .
(editor@aipractitioner.com)
2. Thin Books on AI in the Australian Context, Facilitation and Mentoring will be
published this year. See Mellish Enterprises' web site www.mellish.com.au
3. "Participation Works! 21 techniques of community participation for the 21st
century" published by the new economics foundation, London. (They organised the
recent People's Summit alongside the G8 leaders' summit.)
Jonathan Porrit says, "This guide is invaluable ... in shedding light on what is an
increasingly important aspect of delivering sustainable development at the local level.'
(info@neweconomics.org)
4. Bulletpoint magazine for the Thinking Manager April 1998 Issue 50 in England Article on
Appreciative Inquiry. (subs@bulletpoint.co.uk)
5. Ai and Coaching article in publication for people who develop and manage lawyers.
"Blowing the Whistle on traditional training: how to develop coaching skills."
by Anne Radford axiom Issue 5 April 1998 (axiom@gti.co.uk)
6. Appreciative Inquiry Bibliography
Dawn Dole and David Cooperrider have been working on an Ai bibliography.
If you would like a copy or add a publication to the list, contact Dawn
(coopdole@modex.com).
WEBSITES on Ai and related topics:
1. Gervase Bushe, Simon Fraser University Vancouver, BC,
CANADAhttp://www.bus.sfu.ca/homes/gervase.html
2. Global Excellence in Management (GEM) Initiative Center on Social Innovations in Global
Management (SIGMA) Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University,
Ohio, USA
http://weatherhead.cwru.edu/gem
3. Jim Lord, Philanthropic Quest International, Cleveland, USA
http://www.appreciative-inquiry.org
4. Liz Mellish, Mellish Enterprises, AUSTRALIA
http://www.mellish.com.au
5. The Taos Institute, Taos, New Mexico, USAhttp://www.serve.com/taos/
CONTINUATION OF INTERVIEW WITH DAVID COOPERRIDER
by Steve Cato and Marge Schiller
(scato@worldnet.att.net + MRSENTP@aol.com)
Ai and Future Search:
Steve and Marge: You have been gravitating towards working with larger and larger groups.
What is leading you in this direction?
David: It's the relationship principle. The best comes out then. There is a great marriage
between Appreciative Inquiry and Future Search. When you get the whole system in the room
speaking with multiple voices, people come away amazed at what they can accomplish
For example, I was leading a strategic planning effort at a large university. I arranged
it so that in addition to faculty, students, administrators and companies in the area
would also be present. Initially the faculty were not too sure about what benefit others
could add.
What we continue to find is that incredible things happen when everyone is there and when
things are done in the context of Appreciative Inquiry. The fact is the best in everybody
came out. Wholeness heals.
Small, medium and large groups:
I have been wondering what the best group size is for doing this work. Our mantra of 6-8
is no longer unchallenged. Marv Weisborg likes 60. We did 100 in Mexico, 1800 people were
involved with United Way of America.
There is a spirit of new relationships. We still have to work between small, medium and
large scale groups. At GTE, we used satellite technology to hook up three remote sites.
I wasn't sure that the high tech set up could really work and so I pushed it pretty hard.
It was just the opposite! It really ignited. The Seattle group was cheering for the ideas
of the people in Minneapolis.
You see it! You hear it! It did create the feeling that we can change, and you feel you're
part of a whole systems dialogue. It's not rah rahû people feel really hooked up with
each other.
Infinite Capacity-Positive Core Change:
If we work together we can hypothesize an organization of infinite capacity.
If we believe there is infinite capacity in organizations and we invite the life giving
virtues, greatest vision of the future, its best virtues to be more present ...
Steve, what do we call it? Lately, I'm starting to call it the positive change core. If we
make that positive change core accessible, the common explicit property of everyone, they
act differently.
For example, if I have a clear vision of my daughter Hanna as a soul, as a spiritual
being, my interactions are different when that core is explicit and is the common property
of all. That is how we change.
If I act first with seeing people with a clear vision of their soul, things come out
differently. The positive core is the common property of the person. When you get people
together you can get this core. We are often asking what calls forth the worst in people;
we need to call forth the best. This is a movement from negotiation to narrative.
Symbols in multicultural meetings:
Often multicultural meetings get very tense. The dislodgement of certainty really happens
but when there are positive stories more dislodgement gets let in. Some of the barriers
start shifting in the telling of the stories.
There is often a chaotic moment when people are working well with each other and working
in this new way. In this moment it's as if they want to run into the backroom. Sometimes,
for example, this takes the form of a move towards consensus building or negotiating.
That's when I've found that it's best to allow even more chaos.
I have often asked people to construct symbols of their stories. People have used these
artefacts as a sail to concentrate the winds of chaos into movement and understanding. The
stories must precede the text of the conference. When that happens, there is a lot
different readiness to listen.
Narrative and relatedness:
Communication of change so often leads to "you had to be there". The stories can
create a common context when you shift the form of relatedness from negotiation to
narrative and relatedness. The right or wrong of the situation of the people involved
becomes irrelevant.
Power of story telling:
I'm intrigued with the power of story telling. Story telling around narrative forms is
important. We have too much "report talk" and not enough stories. In
appreciative stories, people let more stories from others "in" even when those
stories come from people who are "not like them".
People's ideas about each other change as they hear each other's stories. One of the books
I have especially liked is, Spinning Tales, Weaving Hope..Stories for World Change edited
by Brody, et al, New Society Publishing, Philadelphia 1992.
Constructing effective questions:
Steve and Marge: Since stories are so important in this work and it is the Appreciative
questions that call forth these stories, what rules of thumb do you use in constructing
the questions.
David: It is clear to me that the appreciative questions themselves are one of the keys to
this work. The nuances to meaning are important as we discovered in the Mexico project,
not just in translation to other languages but also in finding the codes that will unlock
doors to this infinite capacity.
The questions have to be elegant. Every question has an introduction where the idea is to
introduce it in a "glass half full way".
The questions all have a high affective component. The stories help people think through
the doorway of their feelings.
And so questions often begin with the phrase, "please tell me a story/tale
of...". Sometimes I use metaphors in questions. For example, "If this story
unfolded like a play,what would happen in Act I, what would Act II look like, Act
III...".
Another example: "If this partnership unfolded like a play, what would happen in Act
I, what would Act II look like, Act III...".
Provocative questions people have asked:
Steve and Marge: What are some of the most interesting and provocative questions people
have had about Appreciative Inquiry lately?
David: The number one question is "What do we do with all the deficit based
management practices, systems and philosophies we have invested in over the years?"
Shifting Power Relationships:
Another question that keeps coming up is on the relationship of Appreciative Inquiry and
power.
People are positive in systems where there is the least hierarchy. Positive perception
leads to the end of hierarchy. We need to address how Appreciative Inquiry shifts power
relationships.
I think positive inquiry and positive perception leads to the end of hierarchy. There is
an increasing need to address how Appreciative Inquiry relates to power relationships. I
have a lot of interest in how we can help usher in the end of command and control once the
appreciative process has started. There is rapid readiness to open up.
I met Dee Hock, former CEO of Visa. His whole life is against command and control. When he
retired no one would listen to his views on organizations even though Visa's profits went
up 10,000 percent under him.
He says, "We are at that very point in time when a 400 year old age is dying and
another is struggling to be bornûa shifting of culture, science, society and institutions
enormously greater than the world has ever experienced."
He introduced the idea of "chaordic" theory to capture his observation that
organizations can be highly functional when they embrace more chaos.
Power in relationships within organizations are often described as "command and
control". I would reverse "command and control" to make it "control
and command".
The reason command stays in place is because of the big investment in deficit measurement
and control.
The more positive the system, the less support there is for high command and control.
The more a system invests in appreciative measurements the more the hierarchy gets
challenged.
Steve and Marge, I've enjoyed this inquiry.
MORE COUNTRY CONTACTS/CO-ORDINATORS
If you know people in other countries who would like to contribute information for the
newsletter from that country, please let me know.
The current contacts are:
Walter Bruck/Germany Walter.Bruck@usa.net
Steve Cato/USA West Coast scato@worldnet.att.net
Joep de Jong/The Netherlands jlsjc@WORLDONLINE.NL
Muriel Finegold/USA East Coast Marafine@aol.com
Mette Jacobsgaard/Denmark 101572.622@compuserve.com
Bill Kinsey/Zimbabwe bkinsey@econ.vu.nl and
root@bruin.uz.zw
Liz Mellish/Australia info@mellish.com.au*
Ravi Pradhan/Nepal Ravip@wlink.com.np
Hamdi Qenawi/Egypt hamdiq@iiedt2.gega.net
Anne Radford/England + Co-ordinator editor@aipractitioner.com
Marge Schiller/USA East Coast MRSENTP@aol.com
Magdalena Steinmeyer/Mexico hgstein@ibm.net
Laverne Dees Webb/USA Iowa LaverneW@aol.com
Anastasia White /South Africa letsema@wn.apc.org
Margaret Wright/Scotland 100067.2577@compuserve.com
* Please note this address change
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO FUTURE NEWSLETTERS
Do send your contributions to one of the Co-ordinators or to me. We are particularly
interested in wonderful stories on
* how you have marketed or introduced Ai into organizations
* outcomes that would be interesting to others
* Ai for special groups such as training the trainer
* sector reports
* future events or publications
* learnings for you and your client that might help others.
I hope you have enjoyed this. Do let me have your feedback and comments. Issue 2 will be
distributed in July 1998.
Best regards,
Anne Radford
London, England
May 1998
Copyright 1998 Anne Radford.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Anne Radford
Management Coach, Consultant and Mediator
Email editor@aipractitioner.com
Tel 44+7000 077 011 (international) 07000 077 011 (in the UK)
Fax 44+7000 077 012 (international) 07000 077 012 (in the UK)
email editor@aipractitioner.com)Website
www.aradford.co.uk
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