Appreciative inquiry

Appreciative Inquiry is a strategy for intentional change that identifies the best of ‘what is’ to pursue dreams and possibilities of ‘what could be’; a cooperative search for strengths, passions and life-giving forces that are found within every system that hold potential for inspired, positive change. (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987)


http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/

Assumptions

• In every community something works
• What we focus on becomes our reality
• Reality is created in the moment – there is more than one reality
• The act of asking questions influences the community in some way
• People have more confidence and comfort to journey to the future when they carry forward parts of the past
• If we carry forward parts of the past, they should be what is best
• It is important to value differences
• The language we use creates our reality

 

Problem solving	Appreciative inquiry
“Felt Need” Identification of the Problem	Appreciating and valuing the best of “what is”
Analysis of causes	Envisioning “what might be”
Analysis of possible solutions	Dialoguing “What should be” Innovating “What will be
Basic Assumption: An organization is a problem to be solved.	Basic Assumption: An organization is a mystery to be embraced.

 

 

General Flow of an Appreciative Inquiry process:

 

Appreciative inquiry can be done as a longer structured process going through phases of
o DISCOVER: identifying organisational processes that work well.
o DREAM: envisioning processes that would work well in the future.
o DESIGN: Planning and prioritising those processes.
o DELIVER: implementing the proposed design.

The basic idea is to build organizations around what works, rather than trying to fix what doesn't.

At the center is a positive topic choice – how we ask even the first question contains the seeds of change we are looking to enact.

Appreciative Inquiry can also be used as a way of opening a meeting or conversation by identifying what already works. What do you value most about your self/work/organization?

What is Appreciative Inquiry Good For?
Appreciative Inquiry is useful when a different perspective is needed, or when we wish to begin a new process with a fresh, positive vantage point. It can help move a group that is stuck in “what is” toward “what could be”. Appreciative Inquiry can be used with individuals, partners, small groups, or large organizations.

Materials Needed:
Varies depending on how the methodology is used.

Resources:
Cooperrider, David and Srivastva (2000)
Appreciative Inquiry: Rethinking Human Organization Toward a Positive Theory of Change

http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/

 

Circle

The Circle, or council, is an ancient form of meeting that has gathered human beings into respectful conversations for thousands of years. In some areas of the world this tradition remains intact, but in some societies it has been nearly forgotten. PeerSpirit circling is a modern methodology that calls on this tradition and helps people gather in conversations that fulfil their potential for dialogue, replenishment, and wisdom-based change.

www.peerspirit.com


Principles of Circle:
o Rotate leadership
o Take responsibility
o Have a higher purpose that you gather around


Practices of Circle:
o Speak with Intention: Noting what has relevance to the conversation in the moment
o Listen with Attention: Respectful of the learning process of all members of the group
o Tend to the Well-being of the Group: Remaining aware of the impact of our contributions


Four Agreements of Circle:
o Listen without judgment (slow down and listen)
o Whatever is said in circle stays in circle
o Offer what you can and ask for what you need
o Silence is also part of the conversation

General Flow of the Circle
o Intention
o Welcome/Start-point
o Center and Check-In/Greeting
o Agreements
o Three Principles and Three Practices
o Guardian of the Process
o Check-Out and Farewell
o Tend to the Well-being of the Group: Remaining aware of the impact of our contributions

Intention shapes the circle and determines who will come, how long the circle will meet, and what kinds of outcomes are to be expected. Additionally, the center of a circle usually holds objects that represent the intention of the circle.

 

Check-in usually starts with a volunteer and proceeds around the circle. If an individual is not ready to speak, the turn is passed and another opportunity is offered after others have spoken.
To aid self-governance and bring the circle back to intention, having a circle member volunteer to be the role of guardian is helpful.  This group member watches and safeguards the group’s energy and observes the groups process. 

Closing the circle by checking out provides a formal end to the meeting, a chance for members to reflect on what has transpired. 
(The above was adapted from a handout which was generously provided by Peer Spirit to the Art of Hosting)

What is Circle Good For? 
One of the beautiful things about circle is its adaptability to a variety of groups, issues, and timeframes.  Circle can be the process used for the duration of a gathering, particularly if the group is relatively small and time for deep reflection is a primary aim.  Circle can also be used as a methodology of “checking in” and “checking out” or a way of making decisions together.  Be creative with circle and be ready for the deep wisdom it can unearth!

Materials Needed:
o    Chairs/cushions arranged into a circle – folks should be able to view each other without impediments (i.e. tables or desks)
o    Object for the Center – this can be flowers, a bowl, basket, or even a poster stating the intention or purpose of the gathering
o    Talking piece
o    Chime, bell, or other gentle noisemaker
o    Materials for harvesting conversation

Resources: 
Baldwin, Christina 
- Calling the Circle – The First and Future Culture
- Storycatcher – Making sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story
www.peerspirit.com
 

Open Space

The goal of an Open Space Technology meeting is to create time and space for people to engage deeply and creatively around issues of concern to them. The agenda is set by people with the power and desire to see it through, and typically, Open Space meetings result in transformative experiences for the individuals and groups involved. It is a simple and powerful way to catalyze effective working conversations and truly inviting organizations – to thrive in times of swirling change.

Principles of Open Space:
o Whoever comes are the right people
o Whenever it starts is the right time
o Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
o When its over its over

Law of Two Feet

(PASSION & RESPONSIBILTY)

If you find yourself in a situation where you are not contributing or learning, move somewhere where you can.

The four principles and the law work to create a powerful event motivated by the passion and bounded by the responsibility of the participants.

Roles in Open Space:
o Host
o Participant
o Bumble bee
o Butterfly

General Flow of an Open Space Meeting:

 

The group convenes in a circle and is welcomed by the sponsor.

The facilitator provides an overview of the process and explains how it works. The facilitator invites people with issues of concern to come into the circle, write the issue on a piece of paper and announce it to the group.

These people are "conveners." The convener places their paper on the wall and chooses a time and a place to meet. This process continues until there are no more agenda items.

The group then breaks up and heads to the agenda wall, by now covered with a variety of sessions. Participants take note of the time and place for sessions they want to be involved in.

Dialogue sessions convene for the balance of the meeting. Recorders determined by each group capture the important points and post the reports on the news wall. All of these reports will be harvested in some way and returned to the larger group.

Following a closing or a break, the group might move into convergence, a process that takes the issues that have been discussed and attaches action plans to them to "get them out of the room."

The group then finishes the meeting with a closing circle where people are invited to share comments, insights, and commitments arising from the process.

What is Open Space Good For?
Open Space Technology is useful in almost any context, including strategic direction setting, envisioning the future, conflict resolution, morale building, consultation with stakeholders, community planning, collaboration and deep learning about issues and perspectives.

Open Space Technology is an excellent meeting format for any situation in which there is:
• A real issue of concern
• Diversity of players
• Complexity of elements
• Presence of passion (including conflict)
• A need for a quick decision

Open space can be used in groups of 10 to 1 000 – and probably larger. It’s important to give enough time and space for several sessions to occur. The outcomes can be dramatic when a group is uses its passion and responsibility – and is given the time – to make something happen.

Materials Needed:
o Circle of chairs for participants
o Letters or numbers around the room to indicate meeting locations
o A blank wall that will become the agenda
o A news wall for recording and posting the results of the dialogue sessions
o Breakout spaces for meetings
o Paper on which to write session topics/questions
o Markers/Pencils/Pens
o Posters of the Principles, Law of Two Feet, and Roles (optional)
o Materials for harvest

Resources:
Owen, Harrison
Open Space Technology – A Users Guide
Expanding our now - The Story of Open Space Technology
The Spirit of Leadership - Liberating the Leader in Each of Us
www.openspaceworld.org

Corrigan, Chris
The Tao of Holding Space
Open Space Technology – A User’s Non-Guide (with Michael Herman)
www.chriscorrigan.com

The World Café

The World Café is a method for creating a living network of collaborative dialogue around questions that matter in real life situations. It is a provocative metaphor...as we create our lives, our organizations, and our communities, we are, in effect, moving among ‘table conversations’ at the World Café. (From The World Café Resource Guide)

Operating principles of World Cafe:
o Create hospitable space
o Explore questions that matter
o Encourage each person’s contribution
o Connect diverse people and ideas
o Listen together for patterns, insights and deeper questions
o Make collective knowledge visible


Assumptions of World Cafe:
o The knowledge and wisdom we need is present and accessible.
o Collective insight evolves from honoring unique contributions; connecting ideas; listening into the middle; noticing deeper themes and questions.
o The intelligence emerges as the system connects to itself in diverse and creative ways.

General Flow of a World Café:
==> Seat 4-5 people at café-style tables or in conversation clusters.
==> Set up progressive rounds of conversation, usually of 20-30 minutes each – have some good questions!
==> Ask one person to stay at the table as a “host” and invite the other table members to move to other tables as ambassadors of ideas and insights
==> Ask the table host to share key insights, questions, and ideas briefly to new table members, then let folks move through the rounds of questions.

==> After you’ve moved through the rounds, allow some time for a whole-group harvest of the conversations.


What is World Café Good For?
A World Café is a great way of fostering interaction and dialogue with both large and small groups. It is particularly effective in surfacing the collective wisdom of large groups of diverse people. The café format is very flexible and adapts to many different purposes – information sharing, relationship building, deep reflection exploration and action planning.

When planning a café, make sure to leave ample time for both moving through the rounds of questions (likely to take longer than you think!) and some type of whole-group harvest.

Materials Needed:
o Small tables (36-42”), preferably round
o Chairs for participants and presenters
o Tablecloths
o Flip chart paper or paper placemats for covering the tables
o Markers
o Flip chart or large butcher paper for harvesting collective knowledge or insights
o Posters/Table Tents of Café Etiquette
o Materials for harvest

(The above info adapted from Café to Go at www.theworldcafe.com)

Resources:
Brown, Juanita with David Isaacs & The World Café Community
The World Café – Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter
www.theworldcafe.com

Consensus Decision Making

Consensus can be a very powerful model of participatory decision making when it is considered to be a “win-win” process and held as integral to the purpose of the group. Although it is sometimes abandoned as being overly complex and time consuming, consensus decision making, in itself, opens the process to careful consideration, listening, and negotiation. In this context, decisions must be fully understood and agreed to by all members of the group, and the group holds the process of making a decision which is in the best interests of everyone.

 

What Happens When You Don’t Agree on a Decision-Making Process?

 

Sometimes a group will move forward on their path and begin making decisions before agreeing on how such decisions will be made. This may work –or appear to work – at the outset of a process, but some difficulties can occur.

 

 

Sam Kaner, Facilitators Guide to Participatory Decision-Making 

 

Divergence and Convergence

The 'breath' of divergence and convergence, of breathing in and breathing out is at the heart of our process design. Every process goes to a few or more of these ‘breathng’ phases.

 

 

Divergent Thinking	Convergent thinking
Generating alternatives	Evaluating alternatives
Free-to-all open conversation	Summarising key points
Gathering diverse points of view	Sorting ideas into categories
Unpacking the logic of a problem	Making decisions
Loosening predetermination	Arriving at general conclusions

 

 

Essentials of Meaningful Conversation: Seven little helpers

 

What are some of the ways that we can encourage and support each other to be fully present in the conversation?

What are some of the characteristics of good questions that we can ask of each other, that best serves our inquiry?

What are some of the structures and methods that enable us to participate in meaningful conversations?

What are some of the most helpful things we can harvest from our conversations?

How do we wish to make our decisions so that they create clarity and wise actions?

See also Hosting in a hurry (p.23).

Questions

Asking the right question

Asking the right question is the most effective way of opening up a conversation and keeping it engaging. A high-quality question focuses on what is meaningful for the participants, triggers our curiosity and invites us to explore further.

While answers tend to bring us to closure, questions open up to exploration.

When inviting people into a conversation that matters, it is helpful to have an overall question, one that itself embodies the purpose of the meeting. This is the key question or the “calling question” for the conversation or meeting. The calling question is best formulated together with key stakeholders.

The conversation may include other questions than the calling question. The questions you choose or that people discover during conversation are critical to its success. A hosted conversation could explore one question or a series of related questions.

Some guidelines for choosing questions

• A well-crafted question attracts energy and focuses attention on what matters. Experienced hosts recommend asking open-ended questions, not ones that have a simple yes/no answer.

• Good questions invite inquiry and curiosity. They do not need to promote action or problem solving immediately.

• You´ll know a good question when it continues to surface good ideas and possibilities.

• Check possible questions with key people who will take part in a conversation. Does it hold their attention and energy?

 

What makes a Powerful Question?

Hundreds of people around the world were asked - Several common themes emerged

A powerful question…

o Is simple and clear

o Is thought provoking

o Generates energy

o Focuses inquiry

o Challenges assumptions

o Opens new possibilities

o Evokes more questions

 

The Art of Harvesting

What if we were planning not a meeting but a harvest? In taking such an approach, we must become clear about why we are initiating any process. The Art of Hosting and the Art of Harvesting dance together as two halves of the same thing.

Harvesting is more than just taking notes. To get a sense of the complexity of this art, let's begin by picturing a field in which someone has planted wheat. How can that field of wheat be harvested?

 

We first imagine the harvest from that field as a farmer using equipment to cut down the wheat, thresh it, and separate the seeds from the stalks. The farmer might store the grain, further refine it, sell it quickly or wait for the price to increase.

Now imagine a geologist, a biologist and a painter harvesting from the same field. The geologist picks through the rocks and soil gathering data about the land itself. The biologist might collect insects and worms, bits of plants and organic matter. The painter sees the patterns in the landscape and chooses a palette and a perspective for work of art.

 

They all harvest differently from the field. The results of their work go to different places and are put to different uses. But they all have a few things in common; they have a purpose for being in the field and a set of questions about that purpose, they have a pre-determined place to use the results of the harvest, and they have specific tools to use in doing their work.

 

Despite the field being the same, the tools and results are specific to the need, purpose and inquiry.

 

There are eight stages of harvesting, elucidated in the companion book to this one. Briefly they are:

 

Stage 1: Sensing the need
Sensing the need may at first be intuitive or very basic – like sensing hunger, but once the sensed need becomes conscious one can act on it.

We sense that we are hungry and from there we plant a garden, knowing that the work of planting and harvesting lies before us but that the end result meets the need for sustenance.

 

The need is not complicated; it is real and clear and it speaks deeply and inspires invitation and action. Everything begins from this need, and the way we hold it and invite others into it informs the harvest that we take at the end of the day.

 

Stage 2: Preparing the field
In some cases the caller creates the readiness of the field by creating awareness around the need. Others with a similar need will recognize the call.

In preparing the field – sending out the call, giving the context, inviting etc.– we set the tone of the whole process – the seriousness and quality will determine the quality of what we reap. The work of readying a field for planting can take a whole year during which we condition the soil, clear the rocks and prepare things. What we are doing here is actually harvesting a field so that the seeds can be planted.


In other words: start thinking about the harvest from the very beginning – not as an afterthought.

 

Stage 3: Planning the Harvest
Planning the harvest starts with and accompanies the design process. A clear purpose and some success criteria for the process of the harvest itself will add clarity and direction.

What would be useful and add value - and in which form would it serve best?

Translated into a simple check-list, it becomes:

o What intent are you holding?
o Who is going to benefit?
o How can you add most value to the work at hand – how will the harvest serve best?
o What form or what media will be most effective?
o Who should host or do the harvesting?
o What is the right timing?

 

Stage 4: Planting the seeds
The questions around which we structure the hosting become the seeds for harvesting. All gardeners and farmers know that planting seeds depends on the time and the conditions. You can’t just plant whenever you want to. You plant once the conditions are right to maximize the yield.

In hosting practice, this means being sensitive to timing when asking questions.

In sowing the seeds that will drive the inquiry – identifying and asking the strategic and meaningful questions – you determine the output. So in planning the harvest, ask yourself, “What it is that this process needs to yield? What information, ideas, output or outcome will benefit us here and now, and what might take us to the next level of inquiry?”

The process itself is an on-going one. With each part of the process, you harvest something. Some of it you need to use right away, to help lead you into the next process. Some of the harvest you will need later.

So part of planning the harvest is also knowing for whom, when and how you need to use it. Another part of the planning is asking yourself in which format the harvest will serve you best.

Stage 5: Tending the crop
Protect the integrity of the crop. Nurture the crop as it grows, weed it and thin it to keep the strong plants growing and get rid of all that will not nourish or serve. This involves a combination of feeding the field and letting it grow. But it also involves just sitting in the field. Holding space for what is emerging and enjoying it.

During the process, enjoy seeing your work unfold in all its complexity. The more you can welcome the growth you are witnessing, the higher the quality of the harvest. Now you are in the pulse of noticing both the quality of the field and the quality of the crops.

This is where we engage in conversation and exploration – where the richness of the harvest is born. The richer the conversation or exchange, the richer the harvest!

 

Stage 6: Picking the fruits
Picking the fruits corresponds to recording or creating a collective memory. The simplest way to harvest is to record what is being said and done, the output of the conversations, etc. This creates a record or collective memory.

Recording can be done in words.
• your notes, which will be subjective
• or transcripts of output from conversations recorded on tapes, etc., which will be objective.

Recording can also be done with pictures / photographs / video / film.
• pictures evoke and recall feelings, atmospheres, situations.
• you can video the conversation - record both verbally and visually

It is helpful to give some thought in the planning phase to how you want to harvest. What kind of records, templates etc. will help you gather the relevant information or knowledge?

 

Stage 7: Preparing and processing the fruits
Creating a memory is the first step. As we pick the fruits or seeds for processing, some will be used right away, some will be used for further processing and some will be used as seed for the next season.

The second step is making collective sense and meaning. This is where we add value and make the data useful. There are many ways of doing this. The general idea is to take loads of bits of information and transform them into “holons” – wholes that are also parts of greater wholes.

Things that can help in this process:.
• Harvest in a systemic way. Ask collectively: What did you notice? What gave sense and meaning to you? Notice the patterns - they indicate what is emerging
• Use metaphors, mental models and stories to make complex issues simple
• Use drawings and graphics to make complex issues manageable and visible

Stage 8: Planning the next harvest - feeding forward
Most harvesting is done to bring closure to a process or bring us to the next level of understanding. More importantly, it helps us to know collectively, to see the same picture and share the same understanding together.

 

A few comments

The above reflections mainly concern collective harvesting.

Individual reflection and harvest will raise the level of the collective harvest.

During learning processes, individual harvesting can be done intentionally, by using a journal as a learning tool.

 

Web-based tools open up a whole world of possibilities that are not dealt with here.

Harvesting the “soft” is much more subtle and subjective than dealing with the “cognitive” or more objective, tangible parts. A qualitative inquiry into what we have noticed, what has shifted or changed in our relationships, in the culture or atmosphere may give us some information about the softer part of the harvest.

For the most effective harvest, these eight steps should be planned beforehand, as part of designing the whole process.

Summary of The Art of Harvesting version 2.6.; written by Monica Nissen and Chris Corrigan with input from the Art of Hosting Community of Practice.

The full article can be downloaded from the Art of Hosting website: www.artofhosting.org

Organizing Patterns

Over the millennia, human beings have developed many different ways of organizing together. One of the questions that the Art of Hosting community is continually asking itself is “What are the organizational concepts that we can develop together that are actually good for us, and are good for this time?”

 

Circle / Council - Nomadic Age		Hierarchy – Agricultural Age
Networks – Information Age		Bureaucracy – Industrial Age

 

Circle
The mother of all our organizational forms – humans started sitting in circle as soon as they invented fires to sit around. We told stories, held elder councils and solved problems in this way. This form is very useful for reflection, storytelling, being together. Purpose is in the centre – it is shared.

Triangle (hierarchy)
Then we stopped our nomadic wandering and settled in one place, we developed agriculture. Some people had more or better land than others, and we began to develop hierarchies where one person or group of people had power and every body else did not. And now we had belongings that we needed to protect. The triangular form of hierarchy is very useful for action, for getting things done. The boss says “this is what needs to happen”, and the others say “yes, sir!” and do it. Purpose is at the top.

Square (bureaucracy)
The more we got settled, the more we had to sustain. Our systems got very complicated, our population exploded, and the bureaucracy developed. It really is a development of the hierarchy, and becomes very complex, with lots of structures and processes involved. Bureaucracy is fantastic for stability and maintaining the status quo, and for managing complex situations. It typically moves slowly. Purpose in the bureaucracy is also at the top.

 

Networks
A more recent organizational form, networks are collections of individuals, circles or triangles – nodes that are connected together. We rarely find networked collections of bureaucracies, but networks can and often do spring up inside them. Networks are great for relationship and innovation, and for getting things done fast. The connection is guided by individual purpose. The different nodes are connected together because their respective purposes need each other. Once the need is no longer there, the network connection will most often lapse.

 

When a new organizational form emerges, the older ones do not disappear. Each form has both advantages and shortcomings – each is good for different things.

When we want to start an organisation ourselves or organize something in our lives, which one of these organizational forms do we choose? What we have seen in the Art of Hosting community is that we need to build structures that can use any of these forms at the right time. As need arises, how are we able to respond with the most useful organizational form?

When something needs to get done, then triangle is great. When we need to stop and reflect, circle is useful. When we need stability, it is good to have a bureaucracy. When we need to innovate, networks work best. So what is the next level of organizational form that can hold all of these? The Art of Hosting community is observing the emergence of a new pattern…

 

 

Introducing the fifth paradigm

 

At the centre, always, is our purpose. Typically, a core team will gather in a circle around a purpose, which will be based on meeting a need that is felt in our life contexts. As we gather around the core purpose, we begin to form relationships with others in the circle that, as we map the connections, start to show up as a network. But while these relationships can help us all with our individual work, they do not necessarily allow us to manifests our shared purpose in the world, which will typically involve making things happen. The first step might be to develop actions to sustain the core team. So individual members take responsibility for different aspects – like organizing meetings or raising funds - other members step up in a support role and this leads to the formation of triangles. The triangles will be dictated by the central purpose. Hierarchy forms in response to central purpose – not somebody’s ego!

Once the core team is sustainable, the next step is typically to open up the conversation to the wider community that feels the need that informs the purpose at the centre of our circle. A triangle from the core team might then get together to call a larger-scale assembly, which might become a circle of supporters for the larger project. The inner circle is reaching out to the next level, which will in turn reach out to a wider community, creating concentric circles rippling out into our society, each circle connected to the others by triangles animating action informed by the core purpose.


The pattern of core purpose, circles, triangles and networks repeats again and again. Another typical finding is that as the core team goes out into the community and the conversation expands, the core purpose is informed by a broader perspective and is adjusted accordingly, to accommodate the next level of scale and action.

It is important to understand that what we are describing here is not a deliberately designed model, but the description of a pattern that has emerged naturally and spontaneously throughout the global hosting community as we have collectively developed our work of hosting in ever-larger and more complex adaptive systems.

Example of the fifth paradigm: the Food And Society Conference organized by the Kellogg Foundation in the USA.  

 

 

The 5 ‘Breaths’ of Design

Over the years many hosts saw their work with different (larger scale) initiatives as a follow-up of different ‘breaths’, different phases of divergence and convergence. They became know as the Five Breaths. As we learn, in reflection on the work that we do, it is most likely that this pattern will gain more clarity in the months and years to come…

 

First breath: CALL

• Name the issue – calling the core question – birth of the callers.

• We noticed that there is always ‘a caller’, the person who holds deeply a question, a problem, a challenge. Sometimes there are a few callers. They will invite the host(s) to help them.

• Wise Action: Focus the chaos of holding the collective uncertainty and fear. Step into the center of the disturbance

• Don’t: Move too fast

• Question: What is really at stake here? What if some of us worked together to surface the real question and need that matters to the community?

• When the caller has reached the commitment to call the process, we go to the next phase.

Second breath: CLARIFY

 

• Creating the Ground: Callers and hosts create collective clarity of purpose and principles 1.0.

• Wise Action: Engagement

• Don’t: Make assumptions

• Question: How to get from need to purpose? What is our purpose? How to see and feed the group value?

• This phase goes to the next when the clarity emerges from the core.

Third breath: INVITE

 

• Giving Form and Structure: Design and invitation process

• Wise Action: Check in again and again to see if your design and invitation serve the purpose.

• Don’t: Try to do too much in your design (match it to the purpose).

• Question: How do we create an inspired invitation (process) that moves people to come? How do we let go of our expectations that certain people need to be there?

• This phase goes to the next when the design is made, the invitation process has brought a larger group of stakeholders, organisation has found a good space: time to meet!

Fourth breath: MEET

 

• Meeting – Conversation

• Our role is hosting the group, the purpose, and the questions.

• Don’t: Go alone.

• Question: How can I best serve as the instrument/container to allow the collective wisdom?

• When done the group of stakeholders find collective meaning and start to co-create.

Fifth breath: ACT

 

• Practice: Acting out the decided wise actions. Follow-up—Continued Learning and Leading from the Field

• Wise Action: Always come back to purpose.

• Don’t: Lose sight of the purpose or it won’t be embodied.

• Question: How do we sustain the self-organization?

• Here the seed of community gets born, and the results are a connectedness between the stakeholders and wiser actions.

• From here the next calling question arises…

 

 

The Chaordic Stepping Stones

There are clear strategic steps we take when walking the Chaordic path. These steps allow us to create steps rooted in real need that are sustainable for the community they serve and the people working within them. These steps can be used both as a planning tool and to help understand what you are discovering about an organization, community or initiative.
However, these stones don’t have a consistent starting point. For example, you might find yourself (or those you are working with) beginning with a concept, lacking clarity of need or purpose.  Another way to think of these are as facets, sides to a gem. Each illuminates the gem.
The Chaordic process is in continual motion, each step integrating and including the previous steps. It is not a linear process - it is an iterative process - supported by an ongoing documentation or harvest and feed back loop. Once you have defined the principles you check back if they support the purpose etc. The process allows us to be able to remain in reflection and practice.

Before we described principles as "principles of co-operation" - which is absolutely crucial for creating a container for the core team - but the principles are also a way of describing the "end-product", while you still do not have the fixed solution. Read the story of the VISA card - they did not know that the end product was a VISA card - but they could describe it through principles - "infinitely malleable" etc.  - some of the principles did describe the cooperation between stake-holders as well.

When we talk about people – people tend to refer to the core team - whereas Dee Hock refers to all relevant stakeholders - getting their input before they go and create the concept (for the VISA card).

 

The Chaordic Design Process 

 

The chaordic design process has six dimensions, beginning with purpose and ending with practice. Each of the six dimensions can be thought of as a lens through which participants examine the circumstances giving rise to the need for a new organization or to re-conceive an existing one.

Developing a self-organizing, self-governing organization worthy of the trust of all participants usually requires intensive effort. To maximize their chances of success, most groups have taken a year or more on the process. During that time, a representative group of individuals (sometimes called a drafting team) from all parts of the engaged organization or community meet regularly and work through the chaordic design process.

 

The steps involved in conceiving and creating a more chaordic organization are:

Develop a statement of purpose

The first step is to define, with absolute clarity and deep conviction, the purpose of the community. An effective statement of purpose will be a clear, commonly understood statement of that which identifies and binds the community together as worthy of pursuit. When properly done, it can usually be expressed in a single sentence. Participants will say about the purpose, "If we could achieve that, my life would have meaning."

Define a set of principles

Once the purpose has been clearly stated, the next step is to define, with the same clarity, conviction and common understanding, the principles by which those involved will be guided in pursuit of that purpose. Principles typically have high ethical and moral content, and developing them requires engaging the whole person, not just the intellect. The best will be descriptive, not prescriptive, and each principle will illuminate the others. Taken as a whole, together with the purpose, the principles constitute the body of belief that will bind the community together and against which all decisions and acts will be judged.

 

Identify all participants
With clarity about purpose and principles, the next step is to identify all relevant and affected parties - the participants whose needs, interests and perspectives must be considered in conceiving (or reconceiving) the organization. As drafting team members pursue their work, their perceptions of who constitutes a stakeholder will typically expand. They now have an opportunity to ensure that all concerned individuals and groups are considered when a new organizational concept is sought.

Create a new organizational concept
When all relevant and affected parties have been identified, drafting team members creatively search for and develop a general concept for the organization. In the light of purpose and principles, they seek innovative organizational structures that can be trusted to be just, equitable and effective with respect to all participants, in relation to all practices in which they may engage. They often discover that no existing form of organization can do so and that something new must be conceived.

Write a constitution
Once the organizational concept is clear, the details of organizational structure and functioning are expressed in the form of a written constitution and by-laws. These documents will incorporate, with precision, the substance of the previous steps. They will embody purpose, principles and concept, specify rights, obligations and relationships of all participants, and establish the organization as a legal entity under appropriate jurisdiction.

 

Foster Innovative Practices

With clarity of shared purpose and principles, the right participants, an effective concept and a clear constitution, practices will naturally evolve in highly focused and effective ways. They will harmoniously blend cooperation and competition within a transcendent organization trusted by all. Purpose is then realized far beyond original expectations, in a self-organizing, self-governing system capable of constant learning and evolution.

Drawing the Pieces into a Whole

The process is iterative. Each step sheds new light on all of the preceding steps and highlights where modifications or refinements need to be made. In effect, the process continually folds back on itself, more fully clarifying the previous steps even as each new dimension is explored. Over time, the elements become deeply integrated. None is truly finished until all are finished.

Two risks are frequently encountered - moving onto the next stage too quickly and allowing the striving for perfection to bog down the process. The first risk is common when working on purpose and principles, where agreement on "platitudes" can often be reached even when underlying differences persist. In these situations, finding an easy answer that pleases everyone is not enough; digging deeper to find richer and more meaningful understanding and agreement is essential. This can be taken to an extreme, of course, which leads to the second risk. Perfection is not required and will never be attained. Getting a very good answer that is "good enough" to move on to the next step is the goal. Keep in mind that what is done at each stage will be subsequently refined.

The most difficult parts of the process are releasing preconceived notions about the nature and structure of organizations and understanding their origins in our own minds. We often catalyze this process by asking the question: "If anything imaginable were possible, if there were no constraints whatever, what would be the nature of an ideal institution to accomplish our purpose?"

There is no absolutely right or wrong way to undertake and proceed through the chaordic design process, but we typically observe the following pattern in our work with organizations:
 

•    One or two sessions exploring the core chaordic concepts with a leadership or initiating group. We urge groups and organizations to take time to assess the relevance and "fit" of chaordic concepts and processes for their circumstances. Having key participants consider and endorse a major change initiative is essential if the effort is to have a serious chance of success.

•    One or two sessions determining participants, developing resources and devising a strategy for working through the chaordic design process. One or more months of work are typically required to organize the resources and support that an organizational development effort will need. This includes the development of several dedicated teams with responsibility for project management and staffing, outreach and communications, and organizational concept and design.

 

•    A series of in-depth meetings, each several days in length, to work through each of the six elements. Some elements, such as principles and organizational concept, often take more than a single meeting. It is not uncommon for this series of meeting to take at least a year, sometimes two, especially when dealing with large, complex organizations or industries.

 

•    Ongoing analytic and educational support for process participants. Issues invariably arise that require more detailed research or attention by a special team. Research on industry-specific matters, or mapping potential participants and their current relationships to each other, are examples. Legal analysis is often required.

 

•    Chartering and implementation. Our aim is to create a dynamic, evolving organization. Yet implementation of the new concept can take several month. In the case of existing organizations seeking to transform themselves, a careful strategy for the transition from one structure to another must be created. When a new organization is being formed, it may take some months for individuals and other institutions to elect to join and participate.

 

Resource:

Dee Hock, Birth of the Chaordic Age, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco

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