A Preparation Workshop to Develop the Customized, Interview Protocol and Decide on an Inquiry Process

In actual client work both (1) the development of a customized protocol and (2) decisions about how to create the inquiry process are often done during a one- to three-day “preparation workshop.” This workshop typically takes place after the client system has decided that AI is the right approach for them. The attendees at this workshop are, ideally, a microcosm of the larger organization—reflecting as many of the different voices and constituencies that make up the organization as possible, including but not overemphasizing senior management. This group, often called the “core team,” will have been identified and selected as part of the concluding work of the first core AI process of “Define.” Whether this “core team” reports to and is supported by some senior steering group is a function of what was determined in the Define process when the question was asked: “What are the essential elements and conditions that need to be present for this change process to succeed?” Although AI is an energizing and exciting process, in larger organizations we have found it helpful to have some formal linkage between the “core team “and the existing senior management group, if only to ensure that the core team has the resources and support needed from the rest of the organization when necessary.

Typical goals of the preparation workshop are:

• To clarify the difference between the Al approach and the traditional change processes that focus on individual skill building and/or deficit-based problem solving;
• To help participants create their own AI interview guideline (customized protocol) for gathering information;
• To develop a plan (inquiry process) for collecting information from the interviews and for working with it after it has been collected, including:
  • Who should be interviewed and how?
  • Who should conduct the interviews and what training, if any, is needed?
  • Who should be involved with the information after the interviews?
  • Who should be involved in developing the image of the preferred future?
  • Who should be involved in creating the “design” of the new organization?

Because the work that is done in this preparation workshop sets the foundation for the rest of the change process, selection of members of the core group is a critical task.

The rest of this chapter provides detail about each of these steps as well as notes, sample designs, handouts, and typical task sheets.

Step 1: Select a Core Group and Possibly a Steering Team

With the contact person from the organization, decide whether a formal steering team, composed of the internal and external consultants, along with a few other critical people with influence and/or control of resources is helpful or whether an informal working group is enough. Then select a core group to attend the preparation workshop. This core group is typically a small group and may or may not include all the members of the steering team or informal working group. The core group is selected whenever possible from representatives of each part of the organization and each staff level. Ask them to attend a meeting that will be the beginning of the Appreciative Inquiry process. The meeting can be done in one day; however, if you are working with multiple languages or a complex system, two to three days is much better.

At the beginning of an Appreciative Inquiry process with an organization, it is very important to talk about the inclusive and democratic nature of the work. Encourage the client to involve, as quickly as possible, people from all parts of the organization. The more diversity you have in the core group, which is your planning team, the more you will be working in the spirit and philosophy of AI.

The task of selecting members of the “core group” usually falls to someone in the organization. When possible, work with that person and explain the importance of multiple perspectives and voices. A “diagonal” slice of the organization works well.

The “core group” is the group that creates a Customized Interview Guide and plans the inquiry. It is helpful to have a core group of a few people who will work with you throughout the process to link you to the organization and to co-create the steps in AI. Planning groups can be as small as three or four and as large as twenty or thirty, although in the latter case it is wise to have a core team or three or four who are primary contacts.

Step 2: Orient Participants to the Goals of the Workshop and to Their Role in Meeting the Goals

Begin the preparation workshop by explaining the purpose of the workshop, the agenda, the way you want to work together, and with an introductory exercise. Discuss any logistical issues like location of Rest Rooms, information about the site, etc. Allow time for questions and answers. Using information from the sheet titled “Topic Choice: A Fateful Act” from Chapter 6 explain to the group the importance of the work they will be doing in this step of an Appreciative Inquiry.

Actual Goals and Agenda for a Two-Day Preparation Workshop

This example is drawn from our work with a transnational pharmaceutical company that had asked us to “evaluate” the impact of a major training program that had been conducted by their internal HR/OD division. In attendance at this workshop were members of the staff (both internal OD staff and scientists) who had designed the program.

The five goals of this two-day preparation workshop were:

The design of the preparation workshop is shown in Table 5.1.

Introductions for a Mini-AI Interview

• Choose a partner you don’t know or that you want to know better. Ask the following questions of each other. You will have five minutes each for the interview.
  • Tell me a story about a time in your life when you have felt particularly joyful, creative, successful—a real high point. Make yourself the hero/heroine of the story. Give me the details about what happened, who was there, what you did, etc.
  • Without being humble, tell me what it is that you value most about yourself.
• After everyone has finished this mini interview, introduce your partner to the group by sharing a high point in his or her life and one thing that he or she values about him- or herself that you learned from your interview.

Table 5.1. Design for Two-Day Preparation Workshop

Step 3: Quickly Get Participants into an Experience of Al

Introduce the generic interview (that is, the four generic questions) by giving a simple explanation of Al as a different approach to understanding organizations (five minutes). These four questions form a useful preliminary protocol which exemplifies the spirit of Al, while also being easily modified to fit whatever topic the organization has chosen to focus on. For example, in the four-hour workshop presented in Chapter 4, the questions were modified for an academic setting. The people involved in that workshop, having interviewed each other using these questions, went on to work with the data from their own responses to (1) design an overall inquiry architecture which engaged, students, parents, school faculty and staff, school board members, and senior administration within this school system and (2) to develop not one but three customized interview protocols—one for faculty and staff, one for students, and one for other key stakeholders such as parents, senior administration, and school board members. Assign the interview task and review the tips on how to do an Appreciative Interview.

The Four Generic Questions

The development of the customized interview protocol is frequently done by having core team members in the preparation workshop interview each other using a slightly modified version of the Four Generic Questions shown below:

Step 4: Debrief the Mini-Al Experience

After the paired generic interviews are completed, bring the group together and conduct a short discussion about how it felt to do this process. Make your own comments about what you noticed—the high energy level, the buzz of excitement in the room, the way people were interacting with each other. Give the group a presentation on “What Is Appreciative Inquiry” using the material from Chapter 4 (although you can skip the mini inquiry experience described in Chapter 4). Answer any questions the group has.

Hints on Debriefing the Paired Generic Interview Experience

Ask the group to brainstorm “What was that experience like for you?” It’s very important to keep the group focused on debriefing the “process” of the experience rather than getting into the “content” of the questions or the responses. They will have plenty of time to do that later. It’s also useful to write the short one- to three-word brainstorm responses on a flip chart. This honors all the responses—even those that are not overly positive. Don’t worry if you get a few responses that say the interview was difficult, etc. Remember that this sort of interviewing is counter-cultural for most people and generates a level of closeness between interviewer and interviewee that is not comfortable for some people.

Be patient and highlight the affirmative responses while acknowledging this is a different sort of interview process and they will have a chance to modify it later.

Step 5: Share Highlights of the Interviews and Select Topics for Further Inquiry

Have the groups share the highlights from the stories they heard and select topics. After compiling a list of the major topics in the stories, the group decides on three to five topics that they want to know more about. (If the group is eight or fewer, you can work in one group.) Break larger groups into small groups of two to four interview partners (six to eight people) and have each group do the task.

In a small group, these decisions can be made through dialogue and consensus building. If there are several small groups doing the same task, you can have each group’s work posted on a wall and create a “scatter gram.” To do this, you will need either stickers such as dots or colored markers. Ask the participants to study all of the lists, decide on their three most important topics, and put a sticker or a mark on each of those three. This will give you a visual image of which topics are most important. Then the group can discuss and decide upon the final three to five topics from those that have the most marks.

Sample Topics from a Variety of Organizations

From an African NGO

• Spiritual Values
• Commitment to Grassroots
• Development of Human Potential
• Teamwork

From a Financial Institution

• Being the Best
• Shared Ownership
• Cooperation Across Boundaries
• Integrity in Customer Service
• Empowering People

From a Health Delivery Organization

• Winning Organization
• Excellent Service and Quality
• Sense of Ownership

Step 6: Create Questions to Be Added to the Four Generic Questions

Using the selected topics that the group wants to know more about, write interview questions about those topics. Use those questions, plus questions from the Generic Interview Sheet to construct an interview guide for your organization.

Following are some examples of “half-full” questions.

Leadership. People in this organization have described leadership as the act of facilitating people to come together to accomplish the things they want to do. By assuming leadership, a person or organization helps the people focus and realize their desires and goals that reflect their highest values for achieving the common good. We like the following quotations:

Describe a time or occasion when you experienced this kind of leadership. Tell us a story about it. Be very descriptive. What happened? Who was involved?

Shared Vision and Ownership. Based on actual experiences in this company, members of our core group have concluded that organizations work best when everyone thinks, acts, and feels like an owner of the business. That sense of ownership is highest when there is a shared vision for where the business is heading in the future, when people are involved in major decisions that are relevant to them and their work, when appropriate information about the business is shared openly, when people know the whole picture in terms of other’s tasks or jobs, and when people feel they are at the center of things rather than on the outside.

Tell me a story about a time when you felt most involved in the “big picture” of the organization, a time when you felt most like a partner or even owner of the business. What can we all learn from this experience?

Think about the future, what could this organization do more of to create a shared vision of the future and a heightened sense of ownership at all levels?

Step 7: Develop the Inquiry Process

Create a stakeholder scan—a list of individuals or groups you know to have a stake in the outcomes of the change process. Decide whether you want to have core group members conduct multiple interviews or whether you want to bring large groups of people together in an AI Summit meeting—or some combination of both. Create a plan for how the data will be synthesized and who will be involved in the development of the image of the preferred future and the “design” phase of the AI process.

Successful data collection/narrative exploration requires the identification of key stakeholders in your organization—those who have a vested interest in or strong impact on the organization’s growth and future and who can supply you with valuable insights into your selected topic area(s). After identifying the stakeholders, you will need to make arrangements for preparing your interview questionnaire, collecting the data, recording the information, and collating or distributing the data. The data you collect at this stage will serve as the basis for the next stage—creating the organizational dream.

Task: Once the group has finished writing their Interview Guide, have them brainstorm all of the possible people who could be interviewed. It is fun to make a large chart of this and to write names in different areas or colors according to their connection to the organization. Once they have all possible names, you will need to help them decide how many interviews they can reasonably do and to identify those people on their list that are the most important to be interviewed. Remember that the same guidelines apply to those interviewed as to the team itself—maximum diversity!

Task: Create an assignment sheet that lists:

Task: Finally, create a report sheet for the interviewers to fill out after each interview. An example of such a sheet follows. However, there are many ways to organize the information from the interviews and it is important that the members of the organization be clear on what they want to capture and how.

Creating a “Report” of the Interview Data

There are many ways to use the information from the interviews at this point. The important thing is to make it available to the whole community, especially to that part of the community that will be working on the Dream and Design phases. Of course, it is always preferable to have as much of the organization as possible involved at every phase. Work with the people who are available, and always build into any planning some ideas for ways to gain consensual validation from the whole organization.

If you create a summary sheet for each interview (see the example above), it is possible to compile all of that information by category. Another possibility is to create a “story” book that captures the most compelling stories and quotes. Another way is to have continuing dialogue in many different places with a wide cross-section of the organization.

The important thing at this point is to understand that the information gathered and compiled is the raw material for the dreams for the organization, those visions that people in the organization create based on the best of what is as told in the stories (continuity) to inspire the articulation of the best of what will be (novelty). The Design and Delivery stages create the transition processes that create the desired future.

The final work of this second core process is the generation of an agreement on the process (plan) for the inquiry. The core team, during the preparation workshop, typically does this work once the rationale for the use of stories is understood and the customized protocol has been developed. In the event that the core team reports to a guidance group, it is obviously advisable to have ongoing connections between the core team and that group as the core team works out its plan to move the AI process forward. These connections might be as formal as having one or more members of the guidance group be a part of the core team’s deliberations during the preparation workshop or the connections might be as informal as having core team members “buddy up” over lunches or coffee with their counterparts on the guidance team.

The role of the consultant here is to co-create with the client system in a manner that continues to ensure that the change process is “owned” by members of the client system and not the consultant. This may mean helping the client system (in this case the core team and others) explore the various choices and scenarios for each of the five questions relating to the development of an Inquiry Architecture. It may also require the consultant/AI practitioner to help client system members apply the five core principles of AI to their discussion of the inquiry process. For example, the traditional guideline for determining how many people to interview revolves around the concept of “representative sampling,” getting the minimal number of people identified from whom you could create a so-called “accurate picture of the situation.” Our five AI principles, however, suggest an interviewing strategy that is as inclusive as possible, a strategy that recognizes that by engaging as many people as possible we are creating a highly unusual but positive form of energy, a form of critical mass moving in the direction of the inquiry questions.

For example, the Constructionist Principle reminds us that it is through dialogue that we learn about and make sense of our world. The Principle of Simultaneity reminds us that through our act of asking questions we shift the focus of the dialogues. The Anticipatory Principle reminds us that we are drawn toward the images we create in our dialogues—particularly when they are attractive images of the future. We also know from the Poetic Principle that when people are involved in story telling, they will be involved not only at the level of their heads but also at the level of their hearts. In addition, we know from the Positive Principle that as people start to talk about life-giving forces during the interviews, the positive affect created will be highly contagious.