Appreciative Inquiry, and structureret process design and facilitation

1. Appreciative Inquiry, and structureret process design and facilitation By Kaj Voetmann

2. Appreciative Inquiry

3. Kaj Voetmann • Kaj Voetmann, born 1955 in Denmark. Master in Organization and Leadership from Aarhus. Supplemented with Systemic Leadership, Organizational Development and Communication and Psychology. My specialty is Creating, maintaining and transforming organizations and I have been consulting, teaching and wring about that for the last 22 years. • I have experience with public, private and nongovernmental organizations in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Colombia. My latest courses were on transformational leadership and generative planning. • I work from Complexity theory (natural science) which is the foundation for social constructionism, Appreciative Inquiry and Dialogue as the main tools for human development. Traditional theories based on assumptions about one cause and one effect or on systems theories can explain how to create stability, but they have no answer to the mysteries of transformation. • During my working years I have had many connections to the culture sector and especially the cooperation between culture, public institutions and business.

4. Kaj’s coat of arms

5. Complexity theory and processes • The world consists of Complex Responsive Processes in Interactions that leave Physical (in each process and in the environment), Mental, Virtual and Social (in economy and in power distribution) tracks • So we have to create interactions that has the quality and number that leaves the tracks we want to leave

6. The Simple Philosophy What you give attention becomes your reality! Talk about the things you want more of! Not about the things you do not want! It is the same things you look at, but the results are very different

7. Appreciative Focus • Is the cup half empty • Or is the cup half full? Successes! Problems! Frustrated dreams!

8. The complex philosophy

9. The basic competences • Appreciative interviewing • Appreciative storytelling • Appreciative observation • Appreciative feed back and feed forward

10. Appreciative Inquiry Coaching Interviewer Focus Person Challenge Internal dialogue Tell about a challenge you already conquered for 2-3 minutes What was the best in this experience? What made it possible for you to have this experience? What did you or other people do? What was the circumstances and conditions? What could make the solution even better? What was or will be the visible results of the success? What is so important for you that it made you choose this story? Witnesses Note the positive properties the Focusperson demonstrates in the interview and give your feedback after the interview

11. Types of Questions Linear assumptions Strategic questions or statements Exploratory questions Create an effect Get information Circular questions Reflective questions Generative questions Connected to the purpose Complex assumptions

12. Points of view

13. Connecting the pieces

14. Human aspirations • All people want to make a difference for themselves and other people by contributing constructively to the communities of practices they participate in • All people want to have good personal relationships to the people in their communities of practice

15. Ethics in process facilitation • You will be invited to support one person’s or group’s intentions against other people’s intentions • You have to stay out of chosing who you support in public • You have to see everything as a negotiation between multiple good intentions competing in finding a good mutual solution that dissolves the conflict between different intentions

16. Networks of Identity Formation The identity is the stories we have about who we are. We have learnt them through our experiences in our Communities of practise. These stories develop through new experiences. Communities of practise are the networks where we make our experiences. Through life we participate in many different communities of practise. Our experience grow when we participate in more and more communities of practise. Parents Grand parents Siblings Identity Work Friends Leisure activities Educa-tion The stories about who we are – are different from one community of practise to another. These stories often defines the rights and obligations we have and the possibilities and constraints.

17. Defining the Mission of an organization Which Communities of practise are the most important for your organization? Which stories do we need each of these communities to tell about our organization in order have a well functioning organization? When you look across these stories which ideas, concepts, images and metaphors are common to the stories? Put these concepts into the center of the star and formulate your mission statement Clients Suppliers Banks Mission Unions Owners Neigh-bours Society This is a way to understand the ValueCreationNetwork of the organization. And a simple way of creating a Brand or if you use the images and metaphors a Logo.

18. Appreciative Inquiry RAP Nu kan det være nok Ikke mere brok George Bush danser salsa i en gade fyldt med guld Osama danser med i en verden fyldt med fred Pia Gårdskjær favner sin indre muslim Mens Per Stig Møller spillet fint på violin

19. The Language as a Creative Force The Past What are your best experience with ….? What made it possible for you to have those experiences? What is life giving for you? The Future What do you dream was possible too? If your wildest dreams came true – how would the perfect future look like? Which bold steps do you need to take to make it come true? Generative metaphores ”I have a dream!” ”Put a man on the moon!” ”Imagine Colombia”

20. Central elements (questions) in a structured interaction How do we organize the participants, the sequence and the physical space? Which interactions do we need to go through to achieve the wanted results? Which results do we want to achieve?

21. Progression in processes Progression Tid

22. Projects and processes Design process Unknown set of solutions Known set of solutions Unknown set of rights and obligations Development projects Technical projects Negotiation of how to go on in a meaningful way Operationsl Doing the assigned tasks Empowerment Known set of rights and obligations Negotiation projects

23. Focus on interactions • Friends • In the workplace • Outside the workplace • Family • In the workplace • Outside the workplace • Private economy • Life changes • Death among close relations • Marriage • Divorce • New living place • New work • Disease • Tasks • Physical environment • Virtual environment • Customers • Colleagues • Same profession • Other professions • Management • Closest manager • Higher up • Partners of cooperation • Internal • External

24. Dialoguing Conditions Collective Individual

25. When you discuss in order to reach agreement The result often is that the disagreement becomes visible And you end up with with a community based on consensus based on the lowest common denominator When you invite to diversity in telling points of views and intentions The results often is that a community base on much more than the lowest common denominator become visible And you end up with a community based on shared knowledge, tolerance towards diversity and knowledge of the resources of the community Discussion and Dialogue

26. Scientific proofs • Placebo-effect: If you believe in it yourself it works better than if you don’t • Pygmalion or Rosenthal-effect: If you have mutual positive expectations things work better than if you don’t • Mental training: By training to change your mental patterns to patterns where you are in control of your own situation you can influence your immune system to become better at coping with diseases • The Balance between positive/negative dialogue: An overweight of positive inner dialogue influences your performance for the better • A culture influenced by a positive image of the future thrives and a culture influenced by a negative image of the future declines

27. The Methods • Originally Appreciative Inquiry was a research method, where the researcher should make her own research design and the specific questions that should be asked • Therefore practitioners combined the philosopy with know methods and ideas: TQM, The Learning Organization, Therapy, Systemic thinking • Today the 4D-model is the best know, but not necessarily the most effective in specific applications

28. The Secret of Change Competitiveness Resource utilization Employee Satisfaction Customer Satisfaction

29. What is it process leaders offer to their clients? • I/we can help you to find a better set of solutions to the challenges you are facing now and in the future based on your knowledge of your organisation/community! • And I/we can give you inspiration from the best practices in the world! • You just have to help me define the challenges you are facing and invest the time and ressources that is necessary or possible to find the set of solutions!

30. Affirmative topic choice • Identify the part of the network that should be invited • Identify the pat of the network you can invite • Find a title that has these qualities: • It is oriented to the future • It is including all the parts in the network that should have been invited • It should be a creating a new community of practise • It should be formulated positively inviting to better future options for everyone

31. Development Processes that Create New Realities

32. Peter Senge’s 5 Disciplines Personal mastery is to have the ambition of becoming as competent as possible Mental models are the ideas we live by and we need to know them and know what they do to us Shared visions are based on the interweaving of the individual visions in the personal mastery Team Learning is to have a dialogue that makes it possible to share visions and mental models in order to coordinate visions and mental models Mental models Systems Thinking Mental models Shared visions Collective worldview Team Learning Personal mastery Individual worldview Systems thinking is to know the whole so well thatyou know how to play your role to make the whole work

33. Generative Planning Promoting forces Bold steps Opposing forces Vision/Preferred future Golden steps

34. Appreciative Force Field Analysis

35. Storyline process documentation

36. The Process Design • What would you like to be able to do when we finish? • Which improvements do you need in your relationships to each other and other people? • Which communication situation can you systematically use to change your language and relations? • How can we design a series of interactions that can create these improved Results and Relationships that will make it possible for us to use our Resources in the best possible way?

37. Individual mental training Visualizing as a method of training Coal-Diamond strategy (see the KaosPilot book) Competence development takes place through improvements in the connections between braincells Collective mental training Communication and physical visualizing as a method of training Provocative propositions Competence development takes place through improvements in the connections between human beings, mainly through communication The Mental Training

38. The Summit • Appreciative Inquiry Summit is a large-group intervention, where you invite everyone who has to implement the solutions after doing your strategic planning • It is recommended to use 3-5 days on the process – it is the TRAINING in applying Appreciative Inquiry that creates the Results and Relationships that makes it possible to utilize all Resources in the best possible way • The Results are fantastic if you dare implement Appreciative Inquiry in all communication situations, where it is possible to train it

39. The Life Style • By training Appreciative Inquiry your view of the world will change • You become good at using a constructive language instead of a destructive (Results and Relations) • You become good at inviting people to be empowered (joint responsibility) • You become good at creating a spirit of cooperation • You become good at engaging everyone • You become good at communicating clearly