Introducing Appreciative Inquiry into a Community Network Project in Liverpool, England

By Tim Slack and Phil Taylor

Introduction: Awakening and the Start of a Journey

This story begins in 2006, at the start of a client’s journey of discovery and realization. Discovery that a philosophy called Appreciative Inquiry existed and was receiving international recognition. Realization that Appreciative Inquiry not only worked as a methodology in any number of organizational and community settings but that it is a way of life. This case study describes the AI journey from both a client perspective and also how a small AI project was developed and delivered within inner-city Liverpool.

At this time Phil Taylor was an employee of Liverpool City Council and had been for more than thirty years. In that time he had been involved in a range of community consultations, and worked on numerous development and regeneration initiatives. He had also trained extensively as a coach and group facilitator. In 2004 he joined the city council team that was given the task of delivering Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture for 2008.

The Client: Liverpool City Council Culture Company

Liverpool City Council established the Liverpool Culture Company in 2000 to coordinate its bid for European Capital of Culture 2008. In June 2003 the UK government announced that Liverpool had beaten off eleven other contenders for the prestigious title. A restructured Culture Company saw the creation of a range of new teams and functions, one of which was the Creative Communities team, which was where Phil’s role as cultural infrastructure development manager sat.

As the link person for Liverpool Culture Company with the South Suburbs neighborhood of the city, in the summer of 2006 Phil was invited by the area manager to attend an afternoon seminar that had been arranged to explore how community groups in the area might collaborate or merge in the future. There were potential tensions between the groups and the dynamic in the room would be interesting to observe.

Phil remembers the day and the following events clearly: “What I remember most of the session was the impact of the group facilitation and the facilitator. I had been involved in many such seminars before, and had known Tim Slack as regeneration manager in Wirral some years previous, and this seemed a departure for him in that I was more used to seeing Tim in more formal settings such as board room situations and council meetings—and wearing ‘the suit’! He now seemed much more relaxed and was really engaging the group in the approach he had described at the start of the session. I had never seen the temperature in a room change so much in a few hours.

“I was taken by the way the process Tim was employing moved people from the ‘issues’ to talking about things that worked and the possibilities. I recall the phrase ‘more of what works’ being used a few times as well. And, of course, the agreement as the session concluded between the participants to work more closely in future. This left a deep impression on me, and the conversation with Tim after the event made me think about the range of potential situations [in which] I could see this approach working. I was prompted to find out more about Appreciative Inquiry as a result.”

(It is worth adding at this point that the parties in the room have since worked together successfully and a government grant totaling £750,000 has recently been announced.)

The opportunity to explore these possibilities soon emerged. As Phil recalls: “Several weeks later I was at a planning meeting with a community group in the Toxteth area of Liverpool. Toxteth is a part of the city which has historically been the home to an African/Caribbean community since the early 19th Century. The Toxteth neighborhood is one of the most disadvantaged communities within the UK. More recently, the area has become the most culturally and racially mixed area in England.

“My experience working with the group had been that whenever we held these meetings they always seemed to stay focused on the problems: same thing led to the same results—nothing appeared to work.

“This time I decided to try and apply what I had observed at the session Tim had facilitated, and to my surprise it worked and worked well. The group focused on the things that had been a source of pride and their achievements, and they also agreed to host a planning meeting for BME and other community groups in the area to look at the potential for joint working. At this point, I decided that Tim at Appreciating People was needed to take the ideas forward, and Appreciating People were commissioned and the brief defined.”

The Brief

Liverpool Culture Company Creative Communities team commissioned Tim’s company, Appreciating People, to make contact and work with the BME (British Minority Ethnic) groups within the Toxteth neighborhood over a three-month period using Appreciative Inquiry as an approach to foster collaborative working and a shared future by:

• Encouraging groups to share their resources
• Establishing links of communication
• Forming a network for regular meetings and future planning

These project requirements were in response to concerns raised about groups competing for limited resources as well as project and service duplication.

What Happened? Approach and Methodology

The main project emerged through an initial pilot meeting in March 2007 to which representatives of all relevant groups and organizations were invited. An invitation by letter to attend a meeting had been the normal approach to bringing together groups, but the meeting was poorly attended and it was felt that this approach had contributed to low attendance. Appreciating People had been asked to facilitate the pilot event, as the client had experienced elements of the AI approach. The format of this meeting was a half-day session using Appreciative Inquiry techniques to facilitate the following aims:

• Encourage groups to share their resources
• Establish links of communication
• Form a network for regular meetings and future planning

The AI techniques used at this meeting proved to be a powerful tool for identifying the issues and solutions. Groups were surprised to learn that they all, in fact, have the same goals and issues, and a firm footing for co-operation was established. This included the establishment of a network drawn from the groups that attended the meeting.

Following the meeting, agreement was reached between Appreciating People and the client that further work was required—in particular to change the invitation to a meeting approach to a proactive AI-based project that would combine AI interviews and a mini-AI summit. It was also agreed that original project aims would be retained.

The interview stage consisted of twenty interviews plus significant time identifying the myriad of groups in the area and obtaining an up-to-date database. Over twenty interviews took place either one-to-one or by phone following, principally, the Discover and Dream elements of the 4-D format. At this stage Appreciating People had not added the fifth D (Define) into the process. Subsequently, in future projects this became the norm at the client project planning process. Groups and organizations interviewed ranged from Somali, Chinese, Gambian, Hindu, Arabic, and afro-Caribbean organizations and small community groups.

The interviews were conducted in person or by phone, the purpose being to gather positive stories from organizations and groups and to stress the importance of attending the summit. Interview experience provided significant new information about the local organizations for the client and a sense of positive energy from the organizations that took part.

All the interviews provided a wide range of powerful stories with constant amazement to being asked questions around the area of “what works.” Some examples include:

The AI Mini Summit

The Ai summit was held at the end of the interview process, and the information gained from the interviews was displayed on flip charts and banners in the meeting space. Emphasis was placed on showing the stories and achievements. Setting out the room with candles and flowers created a relaxed atmosphere. Facilitating the summit, Appreciating People was helped by client staff that had received initial AI training. The day was full of dialogue and energy sharing, contact details, and experience. From the discussions and dialogue, the groups agreed on a provocative proposition and then identified a number of themes to be addressed.

The AI summit positive statement was:

AI summit common themes and areas for sharing skills/resources included:

• Acceptance and celebration of the diversity of arts/culture available in the L8 area
• Development of opportunities for storytelling across the cultures
• Development of newsletters/communication opportunities across the cultures and communities
• Creation of exhibitions to demonstrate cultural diversity
• Opportunities to share and celebrate the different faiths
• Create opportunities for joint funding bids
• Share activities, teachers, spaces, and facilities
• Support the newly established network

As the AI summit process was confined to one day, there had been emphasis on the Discover, Dream, and Design stages from the 4-D process and it was intended that the proposed network take on the Deliver stage.

Outcomes

Three months after the completion of the project, Appreciating People conducted a number of AI interviews to identify whether the project outcomes were being met and the project’s impact.

• The network was in place and operating under its own leadership with no external support. Plans were in place for joint funding of projects, shared events, and combining resources. Network meetings were reported as always being positive.
• Groups and organizations were planning events that included other organizations, which was a change from previous arrangements.
• Plans were in place for a newsletter.
• The client, Liverpool City Council Culture Company, had an update contact database and more information about local groups.
• Participants reported that their individual work approach had changed and they were seeing things through an appreciative eye, and that there organizations had a better understanding of their work and future plans.
• The client is now receiving higher-quality funding applications.
• There was a sense of celebration of what was being achieved.

Postscript: Journey’s End and New Beginnings?

Four months after the end of the project, Tim was invited to attend the Muslim Eid celebration at the end of Ramadan at the Al Ghazali Centre in Toxteth. The centre had taken part in the whole project, and as Tim came through the door, he was greeted by one of the staff with the words “Here comes Mr. Appreciating”!!

Two years after the summit, the groups were still meeting on a regular basis and submitting funding applications to undertake project work. Members of the network had also undertaken AI training.

Phil Taylor not only undertook AI training but has since left the employment of the city council and has become an associate partner with Appreciating People as part of his freelance professional practice. It has certainly been a life-changing experience for him that has helped him in all areas of his life and work.

Another impact of the process has been the project’s effect on individuals. One participant from the Merseyside Caribbean Association, besides undertaking an AI basic course, has also found new confidence to become involved in city-level work and begin to affect change in her organization.

The Big Conversation was one of the highlights of the Capital of Culture year and a defining moment for AI in the region. After the positive impact Tim and AI had made in Toxteth, Appreciating People continued to work with members of the Culture Company team, as a result in part of Phil’s continued involvement and his encouragement of colleagues to learn more and attend a training course.

The creative health and well-being manager, Julie Hanna, delivered a program that sought to evidence the benefits of engaging people in creative activity in health settings and to demonstrate the positive effects of this activity on their health and well-being. While this work is documented globally, there was a feeling that the benefits were not being maximized for a number of reasons, such as lack of a common language.

Julie worked closely with Tim and Appreciating People to create the framework for the Big Conversation, which culminated in a day-long event in December 2008 that saw health and creative professionals come together and develop a shared understanding. The day was a positive, uplifting experience that succeeded where so many other seminars and “think tanks” had failed in bringing people together to develop a strategy and framework for joint working in arts and heath.

Although the Toxteth AI project was a limited piece of work. its effects operated like a pebble in a pond with a growth in interest in Appreciative Inquiry across the public, community, and voluntary sectors in Liverpool.

For further information about Appreciating People and the case studies referred to in this article, go to www.appreciatingpeople.co.uk.