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Finding our Inspiration’s Positive Core

ODNE 2017 Conference

David Shaked, Sarah Bond & Tammy Noel,

Who needs inspiration and why now?

• A backdrop of VUCA worldwide at many levels – impacting us, our organisations and systems in ever

so complex and unexpected ways

• Many are looking for a saviour(s) for inspiration– Are the answer within us rather than outside?

• Inspiration is a great catalyst for change and development

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What are we going to do next?

Get some fresh Inspiration

Experience ItLearn a little about strengths-based change

A LITTLE ABOUTSTRENGTHS-BASED CHANGE & APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY

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Leading Approaches to Strength-based Change

Solution Focused coaching

Positive Deviance

Appreciative Inquiry

All underpinned by theory and research:Positive Psychology, Neuroscience, complexity, Positive Organisational Scholarship (POS) and dialogic OD

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Why take a strengths-based approach?

Reality

Past successes

Possibilities

Resources Positive deviances

Strengths

ideas

Hopes & Aspirations

Desired results

Things we can do

Knowledge we have

Existing solutions to Amplify

Gaps

What’sMissing

Defects

Waste

Weaknesses

Threats

Performanceissues

Problems Complaints

What can’t be done

Challenges to Mitigate

Barriers to overcome

Grasping Our reality helps us make better decisions…Right?

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The Basic Idea: The more we shift our focus to…

• What has worked well

• What helped us/the situation be at its best (or not as bad...)

• How have we overcome similar problems in the past

• What we already know

• Where/when does a ‘problem’ not occur (or less frequent)

• Where are the ‘positive deviants’

• What resourcesare available to move forward

• What vision do we want to move towards

• What can we do right away to move forward

We release creativity, resourcefulness, confidence , engagement & a clearer way forward!

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Appreciative:

In every situation something works– Learn from exceptional examples and build on them

What we focus on, we get more of– Energy flows where our attention goes

The language we use shapes our view of the world– Is the glass half full or half empty?

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Inquiry:

People, Organisations & Systems move in the direction of

the questions they ask

the stories they tell

the images of the future they create

Change begins with the first questions

So we choose them carefully

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What is AI?

It can underpin everything you already do and help you do it even better.

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Key Concepts of Appreciative Inquiry

What we ask determines what we “find”

What we find determines how we talk

How we talk determines how we “see” our future

How we “see” our future determines what we achieve

One AI Process – The 5D Model

Define

What do we want to work on?

Deliver/Destiny

Build the desired future!

Design

How will we get there?Dream

How good can it get?

Discover

What’s good about it?

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• Culture change and transformation

• Strategic planning / visioning

• Leadership development

• Organisation or community development

• Mentoring or coaching

• Performance management + evaluation

• Business process improvement – Lean / Six Sigma

• Continuous learning/improvement

• Stakeholders engagement

• Project/Programme/Change ‘Management’

• Customer service / client satisfaction

• And more…

What can you do with Appreciative Inquiry?

Shall we give it a go?

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About discovery

• Step 1

Gathering data: Inquiring into our best stories & hopes.

• Step 2

Searching for the ‘positive core’: the essence of success

Conversation Guidelines

• Pair up with someone you would like to get to know better

• In Pairs. One person to be an interviewer and the other the interviewee

• Interview each other for 14¾ minutes. Follow the questions on the screen. switch roles when you’re done or when the bell rings

• Feel free to expand and explore. Encourage your partner to tell the story as if they are re-living it. Think about it as writing a biography, not conducting a job interview!

• Listen... Resist ‘jumping in’

• capture notes and memorable quotes.

• Try to get the ’juice’ of the story!

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1. Recall a recent experience in your own context when you or your client were able to find fresh inspiration, resilience, and a sense of direction to move forward. It may have happened as a result of a successful experience or one that was less so.....- What was the situation?- What did you & others do that helped?- What elements or aspects of that experience would you like to have more of in the future?

2. Suppose that from what you’ve heard here already and adding everything you will discover by the end of the day tomorrow, fresh inspiration and a new sense of direction will somehow emerge for you… How would you know? What would be different for you? What else might be different? Who might notice the difference in you?

AI Interview – Inspiration and new Directions

Identifying key ingredients of success

1. Form groups of 6 – 3 Interview pairs

2. Interviewers share highlights of the stories they heard

3. In your group - identify themes from the stories

4. Any illuminating differences?

5. Capture your record of the themes on your A3 paper. Add meaningful symbolsor metaphors

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The essence of AI: The search for what gives life – the positive core

• When do you feel most alive?

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What is the ‘Positive Core’?

•The collection of strengths, values, hopes & aspirations, visions, achievements, and best practices that makes up the best of people, their organisations and specific situations.

•It is what ‘gives life’ to people, teams, organisations and situations enabling them to move forward despite the challenges around them

•It is often a hidden and underutilized core of strengths and qualities.