Appreciative Inquiry with a Search Committee

By Liz Workman

Selecting leaders can frequently include judgment about their immediate predecessors. We see this phenomenon when electing a new president, hiring a new CEO, choosing a new PTA president or finding a new minister. Often the selection process is cast in terms of “What we don’t want more of.”

What does Appreciative Inquiry (AI) look like when viewed through a theological leadership lens … a lens that asks, “Where is God (or Yahweh or Allah or Buddha or Your Higher Power) in all of this?” How can AI assist in defining and locating a leader?

Leadership positions in religious organizations are often filled in a systematic and prescribed manner. Finding a new priest for an Episcopal church is one of those … and the application of AI principles can have a significant influence on the process … and the outcome.

In 2006, the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Andrew’s, an eight-hundred-member, downtown church in Jackson, Mississippi, began searching for a new dean (priest in charge). Appreciative Inquiry was an integral part of the process as I worked with its search committee. The twelve-person committee was a carefully selected cross-section of the parish and included an attorney, a clinical psychologist, a youth camp director, a journalist, a physician, an educator, and several businesspeople and retirees.

I asked committee members to focus on the positive aspects as they began imagining their yet-to-be-defined new leader. Operating from that position generated enthusiasm within the committee itself. It helped create a strong sense of mission and a stronger sense of community within this group that was surprising and unexpected by its members.

Early in the process to find a new priest, Episcopal search committees typically consult Church Development Office profiles, a national database of individual Episcopal clergy profiles resulting from detailed questionnaires, noting strengths and specific interests of each priest submitting profile information. Committees use this to help identify priests who may be interested in seeking this position or who may have qualifications resembling the stated needs and desires of the parish. St. Andrew’s committee was encouraged to filter this information through the positive lens of AI and concentrate on the positive things St. Andrew’s was looking for in a new dean.

Working with search committees in a number of churches, I’ve seen that the use of this approach to the database is more successful than discarding potential leaders based on what is “wrong” with them. If such a mindset can be addressed and eliminated, the committee will look at the positive. The search takes on a different and more productive direction. Committees begin to form a clearer picture of the desired leader, whether a candidate resulted from the national database or from names submitted by parish members.

AI also came into play as St. Andrew’s committee formulated specific questions for all the finalists. The questions addressed topics about which the candidates were pleased or topics that had enriched or encouraged them. Such questions elicit answers significantly different from inquiries such as “What were some of the most difficult times you had?” If such questions are needed, they should be followed with “and what were the things you valued from the learning you received from this difficult time?”

The leadership search process in a religious institution can be deliberate and thorough and sometime lengthy, a challenge for those used to making quick decisions. AI does not lengthen the process. It enriches the process and, more importantly, it enriches the outcome.

At St. Andrew’s, the inclusion of the Appreciate Inquiry philosophy in the selection of a new leader helped create energy and strengthen the relationship among the committee members. It led to a unanimous choice from among a number of highly qualified candidates. And it resulted in a smooth and successful transition to its new leader.