© 2005 the mitre corporation. all rights reserved the art of the question …. nurturing change...

© 2005 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved

The Art of the Question

…. nurturing change from within

Dean Bonney, Johanna Vodicka, Ellen Ward

16 August 2005


Appreciative Inquiry

Dean Bonney

3


Why This Topic?

Modernizing an enterprise involves more than just

fixing infrastructure, technology, and processes

Organizational issues are complicated, complex,

and embedded in the culture

Enterprise transformation cannot be imposed;

to take root, it must come from within the

organization

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Inquiry that originates from a base of trust, which acknowledges and respects

the positive images an organization holds of itself, can induce the ‘tipping point’.

This is the point from which an organization will begin

to transform itself.

-- Dean Bonney

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What is Appreciative Inquiry (AI)?

An approach to questioning

A skill which, practiced correctly, can produce a powerful catalytic effect on leadership and organization

An open style of engaging that can produce a true and trusted view of a system or an environment

A tool for extending our capacity to transform organizations through the use of unconditional methods in the unbounded domain of an Enterprise environment

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What makes AI Different?

Program Domain (Conditional)

Identify problem

Conduct root cause analysis

Brainstorm solutions & analyze

Develop action plans

Enterprise Domain (Unconditional)

Appreciate ‘what is’

Imagine ‘what might be’

Determine ‘what should be’

Create ‘what will be’

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Shifting From Conditional to Unconditional

source: "The Power of Appreciative Inquiry"

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Why is AI Important?

source: "Systems Engineering in the Information Age: The Challenge of Mega-Systems"

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“The ultimate paradox of Appreciative Inquiry

is that it does not aim to change anything.

It aims to uncover and bring forth existing

strengths, hopes, and dreams; to identify and

amplify the positive core of the organization.

In so doing, it transforms organizations.”

-- Diana Whitney


Interview & Inquiry Styles

Ellen Ward

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Heliotropic Hypothesis

Organizations evolve towards the most positive images

they hold of themselves.

Where do positive images come from?

History

Culture

Language

Based on images, organizations will grow in the direction

of what they measure

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Questioning Skills

Listening Skills

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The key to a good interview

1. Preparation

2. Preparation

3. Preparation

Based on…

Knowing your interviewee Knowing your objectives

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Determine your objectives What do I want (or need) to accomplish?

– Relationship building– Fact-finding– Testing assumptions or hypotheses– Validating – Assessing intangibles– Level-setting

What can I find out before the interview?– Time is money– Important people are busy people

What are my priorities (vs. my interviewee’s?)– The 2-minute rule– What’s essential, what’s optional

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Interviewing Styles

Who’s the client? (Who’s the subject or prospect?)

What do I know already (or, what can I find out) about their style?

Know your subject’s ‘type’

–Analytic

–Pragmatic

–Visionary

–Relationship

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Analytic

Pragmatic Visionary

Relationship• detailed data

• process-driven analysis

• methodical

Decision-making styles

• benefits

• results

• capabilities

•cost/value trade-off

• future scenarios

• ‘big picture’ possibilities

• time vs. cost vs. investment

• personal rapport

• comfort

• understanding of needs

• alliances

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Small things make a huge difference

Phrasing

Tone

Style

Prefatory & positioning remarks


Questioning Skills

Johanna Vodicka

19


“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it,

I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to

ask, for once I know the proper question,

I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”

-- Albert Einstein

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The Architecture of Powerful Questions

Construction

Assumptions

Scope

Construction: Closed vs. open-ended?

Scope: How large an area to cover?

Assumptions: What are the underlying beliefs or views?

Source: “The Art of Powerful Questions”

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Construction: Closed vs. Open-ended Questions

Less Powerful

More Powerful

WhyHow,What

Who, When, Where

Which, Yes/No Questions

EITHER

open our minds

OR

Narrow the possibilities

Caution: Unless a ‘why’ question is carefully crafted, it can easily evoke a defensive response. e.g., Why did you do it that way?


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Scope: How large an area to cover?

Match the scope to meet your needs

Tailor and clarify the scope as precisely as possible

Keep within the realistic boundaries & needs of the situation

Keep within the scope of people’s capacity to take effective action

Construction

Assumptions

Scope


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Assumptions: What beliefs underlie the question? What beliefs does the group have?

Examples

How should we create a bilingual educational system in California?

How might we eliminate the border between the U.S. and Mexico?

Contrast

What did we do wrong and who is responsible?

What can we learn from what happened and what possibilities do we now see?

Construction

Assumptions

Scope


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Craft your Questions to:

√ Rivet attention

√ Create possibilities

√ Frame solutions

√ Invite deeper reflection

√ Invoke positive feelings

√ Focus on the future

√ Identify, define and clarify root cause


Wrap-Up

Dean Bonney

26


The Five Principles of Appreciative Inquiry

1. The way we know is fateful.

2. Change begins the moment you ask the question.

3. Organizations are an open book.

4. Deep change equals change in active images of the future.

5. The more positive the question, the greater and longer-lasting the

change.

source: "The Power of Appreciative Inquiry"

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What to Take Away?

‘Problem solving’ alone is not a sufficient methodology to inspire, mobilize, and sustain organizational change

Organizations are defined by the positive images they hold of themselves

Organizational transformation is not a problem to be solved; it is a possibility to be realized

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For Further Information

The Appreciative Inquiry Commons

www.ai.cwru.edu

…contains white papers, briefings, case studies, and great links.

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References

Whitney, D., Trosten-Bloom, A., and Cooperrider, D., The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2003).

Vogt, E., Brown, J., and Isaacs, D., The Art of Powerful Questions (Pegasus Communications, Inc., 2003).

Stevens, R., Systems Engineering in the Information Age: The Challenge of Mega-Systems, Presentation to MITRE JHU ESE Course (MITRE Corporation, June 2005).

© 2005 the mitre corporation. all rights reserved the art of the question …. nurturing change...

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