Appreciative Inquiry Workshop PG and Pepperdine University Jan

Appreciative Inquiry Workshop P&G and Pepperdine University Jan 2020

Introductions • • Name Where are you from? Role / Team What are you excited for?

Workshop Agenda Learn about Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Experience AI in Action Discuss Next Steps

UNDERSTANDING AI

What is Appreciative Inquiry? Both a philosophy and practical method to search for the best in people, their organizations and the world around them. Involves discovering what gives life to an organization or a community when it is most effective and most capable. Asks: When you’re at your best, what would that look like?

WHY DOES AI WORK?

No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew. ~ Einstein

Organizations and individuals grow in the direction of what they study and how they think.

HOW DOES AI WORK?

Using AI Philosophy & Process It is a lens that we see through and apply to a change process or model

The “ 5 -D Cycle” DEFINE DISCOVER What do we want to learn about? Creating Focus What gives life? Appreciating the Best of What Is DREAM What is our “dream” state? DESIGN What is our path to get there? DELIVER What’s Next? Envisioning Results Co-constructing the Future Moving Toward the Ideal

DEFINE: Focusing on the Potential in Front of Us Our vision is to have an exceptional experience to make new company family members fall in love and stay in love with the company from their 1 st day.

DISCOVERY

• Appreciative Inquiry begins with a conversation DISCOVERY: Uncovering Meaning & Purpose Through Storytelling • We share stories about those things within the organization that we value – things we want to expand extend in the future • Then we’ll find themes together

Activity: Inquire Into Our Stories • Get into pairs with someone you’d like to know better • Read page 8 in your workbook • Interview each other using questions on page 9 for 40 min. Go through 1 interview at a time. Take your time. • 20 min A —> B • 20 min B —> A • Take your time and look for richness and detail in the stories • Jot down what excites or interests you…Stay curious

Activity: Identifying Themes • Groups come together • Define Roles • Timekeeper • Recorder • Reporter • Use a flip chart pad and markers to record themes

Activity: Identifying Themes (cont. ) • Introduce your partners to the rest of the group share highlights • Summarize themes on Flip Chart Paper • Choose top 3 - 5 themes and record them on a new sheet

Activity: Dot Voting • Each person gets 3 Sticky Dots • Each person can put 1 dot per topic • Vote for themes that resonate most

DREAM

Create Shared Images of a Preferred Future Building on themes that emerged, create both a visual image and a written statement describing our ideal state.

Activity: Creating Shared Images • Discuss what you visualized • Select themes that resonate with your group • Develop a creative image that represents these themes

Activity: Going Beyond What We Think is Possible Possibility Statements are. . . • Exciting • Provocative – they stretch and challenge • Desired – they represent our highest hopes • Describe what is wanted in positive terms • Are written in the present tense, as if they are already happening

Example Possibility Statement Our Company is the #1 transportation provider in the world due to our unsurpassed throughput service. Team sell is contagious. Each employee is a stakeholder engaged in celebrating the success of the company. Customers are honored to have our employees handle their business. All customer contact work groups are key components in our success. They are recognized as the best trained, most highly motivated sales force in the universe.

NEXT STEPS

• Identify specific, doable action steps to take individually or in groups DESIGN: Innovate Ways to Create Our Preferred Future • They move you toward your preferred future • The steps may be small and incremental, building on each other or linking to larger initiatives

What action are you willing to take to make this possibility statement come true?

• What are the tactics needed? DELIVERY: Committing to Action and Moving Forward • When will it happen? • What steps will we take (conference call, meetings, etc. )? • How will we approach it? (eg. Innovation teams)

The best way to predict the future is to create it! Peter Drucker