APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY AND CULTURE CHANGE AT GTE
“Launching a Positive Revolution”
DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANIZATION:
By mid-year 1995, GTE had undergone a major
reorganization,
process
reengineering
and
significant
downsizing.
The
second
telecommunications deregulation act was working
its way through Congress and all employees,
regardless of position, were feeling the effects of
massive change with no end in sight.
After merging with Bell Atlantic, GTE became
Verizon. Verizon is the largest telephone company
in the United States serving both commercial and
retail customers.
FOCUS OF THE INQUIRY:
The “seeds of positive change” were sewn during
the summer of 1995 when the senior executives of
GTE Telops gathered for their annual conference
and invited David Cooperrider to present a session
on Appreciative Inquiry. As visionaries, the senior
executives at GTE Telops were aware that a fully
engaged workforce would be critical to remain
competitive in the new telecommunications field.
In 1996, the senior leadership team became
alarmed when the results of the annual Employee
Opinion Survey were released. While management
scores went up, front line, hourly employees’ scores
were up in only two categories and flat or down in
seven of the nine categories. Acknowledging that
over 90% of GTE’s customers are served by hourly
employees the Telops senior team knew something
needed to be done to positively engage these
employees so they began to explore using
Appreciative Inquiry.
ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTIVES:
Working with David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney
as external consultants, GTE’s goal was to
introduce Appreciative Inquiry to the entire
organization with the initial phase beginning with
the engagement of front line employees. The key
question, “How can we engage the positive
potential of all 64,000 employees toward the
transformation of the company?” led to the focus of
changes needed at the front line so employees can
enthusiastically and effectively serve customers.
GTE wanted to discover innovative ways to share
strategic information, facilitate active front line
involvement, demonstrate leadership commitment
and reward achievement.
WHAT WAS DONE:
GTE’s “Positive Revolution” was based on four
principles:
An unquestionable commitment to front line
employees
GTE’s first principle was to demonstrate confidence
that their front line employees would “do the right
thing.” Working together and allowing the front line
partners to lead the initiative, this group began the
positive revolution at GTE.
A willingness to invite and innovate new forms
of cooperation
Employees from public affairs, human resources,
organizational
development
and
senior
management all worked together to ensure quality
and sustainability.
A
“storytelling”
narrative
model
of
organizational culture
GTE Telops President, Tom White, embraced the
power of stories when he said, “Culture is the
stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and then
we forget they were stories.” GTE’s dedication to
the principle of “storytelling” was reflected in the
“success stories” column in the company
newspaper and as a theme at the annual
President’s Leadership Awards Ceremony.
A commitment to Appreciative Inquiry as an
organizational change process
Appreciative Inquiry was embraced by GTE as a
core methodology for change in all company
initiatives. For example, one strategy for creating a
more customer-focused culture was left wide
opened and enthusiastically embraced when a
network of “change agents” received Appreciative
Inquiry training and then were sent out into the
company as ambassadors to find ways to make a
difference for customers within the organization.
Currently there are several hundred AI-trained
“positive change agents” within the GTE/Verizon
Family.
David Cooperrider, Diana Whitney, Maureen
Garrison and Jean Moore began what later became
known as the “Zealot Initiative” by developing a twoday Appreciative Inquiry training program for front
line employees.
The program’s core was to
recognize and invite frontline employee’s selfsovereignty and create a “Zealots Program.” Tom
White started this vision when he said, “I want every
employee to be a ‘Zealot’ for this company – an
enthusiast whose cause is the satisfaction of our
customers. I am the number one GTE Zealot and I
want a whole company full of Zealots.”
Zealot’s Program (now called the Positive
Change Network)
Following the first principle, this initiative began by
providing initial Appreciative Inquiry training and
then inviting the full engagement of each participant
by encouraging them to explore the ways they
could make a difference at GTE. After some initial
resistance for not having formal guidelines, these
employees embraced their visions and accepted
the responsibility to explore applications and
practices within their own areas.
The “possibilities” began to flow and the employees
discovered their organization was at its best when
self-sovereign front line employees felt like they
were being heard and when they felt comfortable
sharing information and best practices with one
another and management.
They engaged in
conversations about customer satisfaction when it
is at its very best and how they can create open
dialog when there is the need to explore raising the
customer satisfaction level.
Following the Zealot theme, the groups explored
such questions as “What is a Zealot? How can we
best grow Zealots throughout the company? What
communication vehicles will help Zealots stay
connected? What do Zealots need to thrive at
GTE? and What do Zealots do?” They created the
Zealot Oath:
GTE Employee Zealots Always Act With:
Zeal
Enthusiasm
Attitude (We’re Can Do)
Leadership
Openness
Trust
Senior managers joined the Zealots during a
luncheon and experienced the “power of the
positive” through various Zealot presentations and
especially when one employee asked Tom White
and the other senior managers if they were ready
for the positive revolution that had just been born.
Zealots created an intranet address, wrote articles
for the company newspaper, provided computers to
“field Zealots” so they could stay connected, and
used conference calls on a regular basis to gather
input for executive decision making.
Over 800 employees attended the Zealot’s
Appreciative Inquiry training in the first year alone
and the ripples from those initial trainings continued
with hundreds more learning as front line facilitators
and others learning at annual Leadership Retreats.
OUTCOMES OF THE INITIATIVE:
Two years after the initial inquiry, GTE went through
another major reorganization. Front line employees
continued their appreciative inquiry focus and
business units used Appreciative Inquiry to
reconfigure and meet the needs of the competitive
marketplace.
Some executives used the
Appreciative Inquiry method to select new team
members and to quickly determine the collective
vision of their new team.
Appreciative inquiry has been woven into programs
throughout the company including frontline
employee training, management and leadership
training, the union management partnership
initiative, an organizational improvement process
for call centers, the Positive Change Network and a
diversity initiative.
Union Management Partnership:
The Communication Workers of America (CWA)
and the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers (IBEW) curiously watched the culture
change occurring at GTE. Later when they were
exploring a Union Management Partnership, it
became obvious that both the union and
management needed to be included to create a
vision for an effective partnership.
The question was poised, “How, if at all, might
Appreciative Inquiry be used to support a newly
conceptualized partnership?” Members from GTE
and both unions recognized the deficit in past
practices and said, “We are committed to being a
company that values its unions; and unions that
support their businesses and we need all the help
we can get.” David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney
were asked to create a two day meeting to
introduce Appreciative Inquiry to the 200 union and
management leaders from across the company and
country. Three months later two hundred and
twenty people (120 union leaders and 100 company
managers) came together to experience the power
of Appreciative Inquiry.
After doing paired
interviews and small group work the twenty groups
had the option of voting yes to continue building
their partnership efforts using the foundation of
Appreciative Inquiry or no to try another method.
All tables voted yes for Appreciative Inquiry.
A Partnership Summit was designed for 250 people
as the first introduction of the Partnership Council
and its purpose and principles. Together, as a
team, the unions’ training and development staff,
the company’s labor relations staff, public affairs
staff, organization effectiveness staff, Federal
Conciliation and Mediation consultants and the
Appreciative Inquiry consultants provided common
language and guided the organizing process for the
meeting.
Local Partnership Councils formed and now,
whenever possible, local decisions are made
through that partnership. Addressing issues such
as overtime, the company’s use of contractors, and
workforce retention in call centers have all been
successfully addressed through the Partnership
Councils. Another benefit from the Partnership
Council is all employees have access to a four hour
program on “Appreciative Inquiry and the New
Partnership.” Appreciative Issues Resolution has
replaced
conflict
resolution
and
contract
negotiations continue to go smoother thanks to the
Union Management Partnership Initiative.
ASTD Culture Change Award:
In 1997 GTE was awarded the ASTD (American
Society for Training and Development) Culture
Change Award to recognize their efforts with
effective pre-assessments, strategic partnerships to
develop the practice and broad-based integration of
the practice in the daily life of the organization, and
business-linked results.
WHAT WAS LEARNED:
1. Power of Liberation:
Throughout the company employees created
interview protocols and discovered how they might
be able to make “their” company better. One
customer service representative created an
appreciative inquiry interview guide and, by herself,
interviewed over 200 customers to discover what
they valued about GTE service. Another group
created an interview guide about the image of
quality service.
Additionally, Zealots were invited to participate in a
simultaneous inquiry throughout GTE with interview
topics being:
Quality, Teaming, Ownership,
Inspirational Leadership and Fun at Work. Over
400 interviews took place with best practices and
positive stories being shared with all employees on
the Zealots intranet site and through company
meetings.
Teams reviewed Appreciative Inquiry overviews
and participated in teamwork inquiries lifting up the
values of winning teamwork.
Appreciative Inquiry is a change process that
liberates the energy, enthusiasm and commitment
of people at all levels in an organization. Inviting
people to share stories when they are at “their best”
releases a higher energy level and encourages
them to move their work environment toward a
more positive direction. When people are treated
as if they “do make a difference, they go out and
make a difference.”
2. The Power of the Positive Question:
When people are given the opportunity to explore
an organization’s “positive core” – those life giving
forces - the dialog that emerges is one of
possibilities. The power of the positive question
brings people, learning, and the organization to life.
3. The Power of Discourse Centered Change
Working from a storytelling or narrative approach to
change takes the focus off people and puts it onto
the stories and discourse. The way people engage
in conversations with each other becomes central
and the stories told about the organization become
the focus for inquiry and change. People recognize
the power of communication and how, positive or
negative, these dialogs can influence each other,
customers and GTE overall.
4. The Power of Focus on the Organization
When people are asked to bring their best forward
for the benefit of the organization, they do so with
enthusiasm and pride. Co-creating the future of
“their company” brings forth a spirit of cooperation,
contribution, enthusiasm and high energy. People
become excited when they can use their gifts and
talents to bring to life that collective vision for the
future.
NEXT STEPS:
Geri England shared that Verizon is continuing to
use the power of Appreciative Inquiry through
Appreciative questions and by using Appreciative
Interviews to help develop and launch teams.
Currently the Quality Process Team is finishing with
a round of Appreciative Interviews.
AI trainings are offered continuously for new
employees and Verizon has even developed an
internal course called, “The Appreciative Approach
To Issues and Challenges.”
At any given time various departments are using
Appreciative Inquiry as a tool in their work and in
strengthening their relationships.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
“In the long run, what is more likely to be useful:
Demoralizing a successful workforce by
concentrating on their failures or helping them over
their last few hurdles by building a bridge with their
successes?” Tom White, President of GTE
“Perhaps it’s obvious, but the process of doing the
interviews is as important as the data collected.”
David Cooperrider
“Appreciative Inquiry gets much better results than
seeking out and solving problems. We concentrate
enormous resources on correcting problems… [but]
when used continually over a long time, this
approach leads to a negative culture, a descent into
a paralyzing sense of hopelessness. Don’t get me
wrong. I’m not advocating mindless happy talk.
Appreciative Inquiry is a complex science designed
to make things better. We can’t ignore problems—
we just need to approach them from the other side.”