Notes to accompany the slides Slide 2: Workshop Objectives
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Build excitement for the AI experience
Be introduced to the terminology, research and theory base of AI
Experience appreciative interviewing and learn interviewing skills
Become familiar with basic elements of the 5-D cycle : Definition, Discovery,
Dream, Design & Destiny
Understand positive topic identification and develop topics for the inquiry
Review preliminary plan and move it forward
Plan communication (video?)
Identify next steps
Slide 3: Define: Decide what to learn about and create the Inquiry Process
Discover: Conduct an inquiry into the topic and assemble the stories and key ideas that
come out of the inquiry.
Dream: Generalize those discoveries into an image of how the organization would
function if what you have discovered were fully alive in the present.
Design: Develop ideas about the organization’s socio-technical architecture when infused
with what has been discovered.
Destiny: Innovate/align the organization’s socio-technical architecture with the Dream
and the Design phases, AND build AI learning competencies into system.
Slide 4: 5 Principles Of Appreciative Inquiry
1. Constructionist: We live in worlds our questions create. Knowledge and org
destiny are interwoven. We see the world we describe.
2. Simultaneity: Change begins at the moment you ask the first question.
3. Poetic Principle: We can inquire into and learn from any topic i.e. moments of
high morale or moments of despair
4. Anticipatory: Deep change occurs first in our images of the future
5. Positive: The more positive the question, the greater and longer-lasting the
change.
Slide 6: Definitions
Appreciate
Recognize the quality, significance or magnitude of
To be fully aware of or sensitive to
To raise in value or price
Inquiry
The process of gathering information for the purpose of learning and changing.
A close examination in a quest for truth.
Slide 7: Task: Paired Interviews
1. Pick someone you would like to get to know, but different from you (age, gender,
occupation)
2. Find a quiet space, first person interviews the other for 25 minutes
- take notes of key words or phrases,
- manage your own time
- have fun
3. Switch roles, interviewer becomes interviewee
4. Spend a few minutes at the end discussing what this was like? What the
best stories were that you heard.
3. Be back by…_
Slide 8: Elements of Good, Appreciative Interviews
1. Prepare for the interview
2. Know the questions
3. Prepare your partner
4. Choose the right environment
5. Take time and build rapport
6. Have a second copy of the guide
7. Give people time
8. Show that you are listening
9. Go back over what you have learned. Ensure accuracy.
10. Summarize what most inspired you.
Slide 9: Paired Interviews
Your task is to conduct an appreciative interview with your partner using the questions
below as your guide. Once you have completed your interview, you will switch roles and
your partner will interview you. Appreciative interviews are different from “fact finding”
interviews you may have experienced in the past! As the interviewer, your role is to listen
deeply and to help your partner tell his or her story fully.
Here are some tips:
• Read the questions aloud to your partner as you go
• Allow your partner some silence to think about the answer if required
• Take some notes, listening for great quotes and stories
• Encourage your partner with questions such as “what do you think was making it
work?” , “how did you feel then?” , “tell me more about the circumstances that
made that possible”
• Let your partner tell his/her own story, please don’t tell yours or offer opinions
about your partner’s experiences
• Manage your time carefully so that each partner has equal time
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Remember that it’s important to try to cover all the questions, but if your partner
doesn’t want to or can’t answer a question, that’s ok, let it go.
The next 60 minutes should be comprised of:
25 minutes per interview
10 minute break
Slide 11: What makes AI Unique?
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It is fully affirmative
It is inquiry based
It is improvisational and flexible
Works in relationships, families, teams,organizations communities, alliances etc
Slide 13: The Functions of Continuity
FOR THE INDIVIDUAL:
• Social Connectedness: gives the feeling of being in relationship to the
organization and the people in it; of having a stake in the “community”that has
been created.
• Moral Guidance: Provides a road map by valuing actions and a way of thinking
that has been valued by the organization in the past.
• Confidence to Act: Provides examples of action that has been successful and
approved of within the community
• Personal welfare: Creates a sense of place and of safety by providing a known and
predictable environment for the people
• Pride, Hope, Joy: Highlights those things that people feel proud about; things that
have been valued and rewarded in the past.
FOR THE ORGANIZATION:
• Strengthens Commitment: Reminds the people f the organization of their
connection to it and their stake in its success in the future.
• Facilitates Sense-Making and Decision-Making: Provides rational for
organizational actions and models for decisions that have been approved and were
successful
• Maintains Mission and Values: continues the dialogue and supports the behaviour
that is articulated in the Mission and Values of the organization.
• Decentralizes Control: Provides each person with a personal stake in the
organization’s future so that ideas and actions flow from each stakeholder.
• Basis for Organizational Learning: Gives a way of studying what has been the
life-giving forces for the organization in its life.
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Supports Long Term Thinking: Builds a basis for creating the future bases on the
successes and achievements that have created the organization so far
Enables Customized change: Provides a story for an organization’s unique history
that enables planned change tailored to that uniqueness
Slide 14: Evidence: Research Across Many Fields
Research on the Influence of Positive Image
There are many scientific experiments, particularly in the fields of health, education and
sports that point to the power of the mind to impact, if not create, the future. (Detailed
information on the following items can be found in the article, “Positive Image; Positive
Action: The Affirmative Basis of Organizing” by David Cooperrider, in the book
Appreciative Management and Leadership, Jossey Bass, 1990.
A summary of the findings described in the Cooperrider article follows:
Placebo (Pharmaceutical development): Healing occurring based on the belief that it
will occur. In past studies, 30-60% of subjects responded positively to placebo. Affect is
even stronger in "double blind" experiments when neither patient nor Doctor know which
dose is the placebo.
Pygmalion (Education): (carved marble that come to life with a wish ) When teachers
are told that certain children (randomly selected) are gifted, the children begin to have
superior performance due to differences in the teacher's behavior as influenced by
expectations. Tracking of the students: these effects become nearly permanent (negative
expectations too). In studies, successful managers were often ones who had a strong
mentor in their first boss, someone whose image of them was positive and supportive.
Imbalanced inner dialogue (Medicine): We all have an "inner newsreel" going
continuously, projecting ahead of ourselves both optimistic and fearful images.
Unhealthy people have 1:1 ratio of good:bad images. Healthy people have 2:1 ratio of
good:bad images (research on recovery from heart surgery).
Rise and fall of culture (Sociaology): Guidance for the future only exists in the internal
dialogue of the people. One can predict the rise and fall of a culture by the internal
dialogue of the culture itself. For example, a visible reflection of hopeless and helpless
internal dialogue can be seen in the Romanian children left on the street. - a symbol of
that society's perception of the future.
Meta-cognition: Understanding how our knowing and thinking affects our performance.
Selective self-monitoring (Sports): Eliminate "failures." Focusing on successes rather
than mistakes results in substantially enhanced learning. The mind cannot negate negative
images.
Slide 15: The Positive Core
 Wealth of knowledge, wisdom and wonder waiting to be discovered …
 Source of often untapped positive potential for organizing and change.
ELEVATES: positive emotions of hope, inspiration, confidence, joy; raises intelligence;
expands the language of life (internal dialogue); increases in appreciative interchange and
mutually elevating relationships; high creativity, better decision making, increased
collective capacity.
UNDOES NEGATIVE IMPACTS: letting go, makes irrelevant, finishes the residual of
negative past.
PROVIDES PROTECTION IN FUTURE: Increases health-ability; resilience;
accumulation of power; like an increase in immune system functioning.
Slide 24: Characteristics of Great AI Questions
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Are stated in the affirmative
Help forge a personal connection between the interviewer and interviewee
Build on the assumption that “the glass is half full” (rather than half empty)
Give a broad definition to the topic. They give room to “swim around”
Are presented as an invitation to tell stories rather than abstract opinions or
theories.
Value “what is”. They spark the appreciative imagination by helping the person
locate experiences in the past or present that are worth valuing
Convey unconditional positive regard
Evoke essential values, aspirations and inspirations
Draw on people’s life and work experience
Suggest action
Slide 25: Anatomy of a Customized Interview Guide
Creating the customized interview guide (protocol) is an exciting task - What we ask
determines what we “find.” What we find determines how we talk. How we talk
determines how we imagine together. How we imagine together determines what we
achieve:
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Knowledge and organizational destiny are intertwined – words create worlds
Inquiry and Change are simultaneous moments
Organizations are more like great poetry than machines – they are an endless
source of inspiration, and we can ask about any aspect of organizational life
Our images of the future influence how we are in the present
Just like negative energy, positive affect is also contagious. - the more positive the
question the, the deeper the change
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In addition to using the principles above as guidelines for our questions, we have found it
useful to think about the concepts of continuity, novelty and transition as a framework for
our interview guides. Below is a proposed three part framework. Like everything else in
AI, situational customization is key.
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A. Stage Setting and Continuity
1.Best experience with (insert overall inquiry focus)
2. What do you value most about:
• Your organization?
• Yourself?
• Your work?
3. What is the core life-giving factor for this organization?
B. Topic Focused Questions (Continuity and Novelty)
Formulate 2-3 questions based on your topics identified from the generic interviews with
lead-ins that assume that the subject matter in question already exists
Consider the following three-part format for the topic questions: (see example on next
page)
Positive Preface - Start with a positive preface introducing your TOPIC then a 2part question (high point and future)
Part one – a high point discovery question
Part two – an image of desired future question
C. Concluding Questions (Novelty and Transition)
What three wishes do you have for (insert overall inquiry focus)
Looking toward the future, what are we being called to become?
What one small thing might we do which could have a big impact in moving us forward?
Slide 26: Topic Questions with Preface and Two-Part Question
Example #1
Topic: Infectious Energy
Positive preface: Organizations work best when they are vibrant, alive and fun. You
know, when the “joint is jumping!” You can sense that the spirit of the organization is
vital and healthy and that people feel pride in their work. Everyone builds on each
other’s successes, a positive can do attitude is infectious and the glow of success is
shared. What’s more, this positive energy is appreciated and celebrated so it deepens and
lasts.
Part One : Tell me about a time when you experienced positive energy that was
infectious. What was the situation? What created the positive energy? How did it feel to
be a part of it? What did you learn?
Part Two: If positive energy where the flame of the organization, how would you spark
it? How would you fuel it to keep it burning bright?
Example #2
Topic: Magnetic Connections
Positive preface: “In the physical world, all matter is held together by the pull
between opposite electric charges. Successful e-companies are equally magnetic.
People connect in new and innovative ways. Suppliers and customers are pulled
together and become seamless edge-to-edge organizations. Communities of interest
form and are pulled together by shared values and interests. Knowledge networks
form as catalysts for innovation and creativity.”
Part One : Think of a time when you felt “magnetically” connected to your client, your
colleagues, and your community. . . Connected in a way that the force was so strong that
it could not be broken. What was that experience like?
Part Two: As you look into the future, describe how we are connected to our customers
and our colleagues in a way that is so strong that we are seen as inseparable business
partners.
Slide 27: Other Samples of Positive, Affirmative Questions
Vibrant, successful companies:
Vibrant, successful companies attract clients. The work they do adds value to their
clients' businesses. Clients return to these vibrant successful companies often and
recommend them to others. Great people want to work for these companies...because the
culture is alive, exciting and it meets their needs in many different ways.
Think of a time when you've either worked for or been a customer of such an
organization. Tell me a story about that experience. What was it that made that
organization stand out from the rest? How did that organization attract clients? How
would you describe the culture?
Exceptional Arrival Experience:
Our goal is to provide an exceptional travel experience both in the air and on the ground.
The handling of a flight’s arrival and baggage reconciliation is of equal importance to any
other aspect of a passenger’s journey. The arrival experience is the time to leave a
wonderful lasting impression. It also provides the opportunity to recover from any service
shortfall the customer may have encountered. Focusing on Exceptional Arrival
Experience demonstrates commitment to both our customers and to one another.
Describe your most memorable arrival experience, as a customer or, as airline personnel.
What made it memorable for you? How did you feel?
Tell me a story about your most powerful service recovery. Describe the situation.
What was it about you that made it happen?
Who else was involved and why were they significant?
What tools did you use or what did you do that others might be able to do when in a
similar situation?
If you had a magic wand, how would you use it to enhance our overall arrivals
experience for our customers? What ideas do you have to ensure exceptional arrival
experiences for all our customers? And to make the process easier for us, as well!
Discovering Optimal Margins:
With revenues, tonnage, and sales at record levels one of the most important
opportunities we face is to engage everyone in increasing positive margins now and to do
so will call on discovery of new strengths, build on old strengths, and carry us to higher
levels financially.
As you look at Roadway from the perspective of our capabilities, and as you think about
the business context and opportunities, how do you define "optimal margin“ for us?
Define it: what is the positive margin you want and believe we have the capability to
create? Right now? In the moderate time frame? Longer term?
Slide 28: Leadership:
As you reflect on your leadership here at Roadway — times where you have mobilized or
helped develop others — there have been high points and low points, successful
moments, etc. Please describe one situation, or change initiative that you are proud about
— an achievement in which you feel you had impact in realizing better margins. What
happened? What were the challenges" What was it about you or your leadership style?
Lessons learned?
If anything imaginable was possible, if there were no constraints whatever, what would
the nature of an ideal Roadway organization look like if we were to rapidly move into
stage of delivering optimal margins? Describe, as if you had a magic wand, what we
would be doing new, better, or different? Envision it happening? What do you see
happening that is new, different, better?
Slide 29: Appreciative Inquiry Resources
Mohr, B.J. (2001) Appreciative Inquiry: Igniting Transformative Action. Systems
Thinker, vol. 12-1.
Mohr, B.J., Smith, E., & Watkins, J.M. (2000). Appreciative Inquiry and Learning
Assessment: An Embedded Evaluation Process in a Transnational Pharmaceutical
Company. OD Practitioner, 32(1), 36-52
Watkins, J.M. & Cooperrider, D.L. (2000a). Appreciative Inquiry: A Transformative
Paradigm. OD Practitioner, 32(1), 6-12.
Watkins, J.M. & Cooperrider, D.L. (2000b). Organizational Inquiry Model for Global
Social Change Organizations. In D. Cooperrider, P. Sorenson, Jr., D. Whitney, & T.
Yaeger (Eds.), Appreciative Inquiry: Rethinking Human Organization toward a Positive
Theory of Change (pp. 249-263).
Watkins, J.M., & Mohr, B.J., (2001). Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of
Imagination. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.
Whitney, D & Trosten-Bloom, A., (2003), The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A
Practical Guide to Positive Change. Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
Whitney, D., Cooperrider, D., Trosten-Bloom, A. & Kaplin, B., (2002). Encyclopedia of
Positive Questions Vol. 1. Using Appreciative Inquiry to Bring Out the Best in Your
Organization. Lakeshore Communications.
Cooperrider, D. L. & Whitney D. (1999). Appreciative Inquiry. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers Inc.
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