An Appreciative Inquiry Summit is a highly participatory, large-group, process in which many diverse members of a system (tens to hundreds) come together for 3-4 days to Discover, Dream, Design and Deliver on a topic that matters deeply to them.
The AI summit is ideal when there is a need to accelerate change to create a system-wide swell of innovation, enthusiasm and commitment to action, such as…
- Breakthroughs in collaboration across diverse stakeholder groups
- Near and long-term increases in quality and productivity
- Increased workforce/stakeholder engagement for strategic initiatives
- Organizational innovations, prototypes, and plans fueled by inspired ownership and a readiness for action
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The WHOLE SYSTEM participates — a cross-section of as many interested parties as is practical. That means more diversity and less hierarchy than is usual in a working meeting, and a chance for each person to be heard and to learn other ways of looking at the task at hand.
Future scenarios – for an organization, community or issue - are put into HISTORICAL and GLOBAL perspective. That means thinking globally together before acting locally. This enhances shared understanding and greater commitment to act. It also increases the range of potential actions.
People SELF-MANAGE their work, and use DIALOGUE – not “problem-solving” - as the main tool. That means helping each other do the tasks and taking responsibility for our perceptions and actions.
COMMON GROUND and NARRATIVE RICH INTERACTION rather than “conflict management,” or negotiation as the frame of reference. That means honoring our differences rather than having to reconcile them, and searching for meaning, and direction in stories that honor and connect us to our “history as positive possibility”.
APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY (AI) — To appreciate means to value—to understand those things of value worth valuing. To inquire means to study, to ask questions, to search. AI is, therefore, a collaborative search to identify and understand the organization’s strengths, its’ potentials, the greatest opportunities, and people’s hopes for the future.
INSPIRED ACTION ON BEHALF OF THE WHOLE — Because the “whole system” is involved it is easier to make more rapid decisions, and to make commitments to action in a public way—in an open way that everyone can support and help make happen. The movement to action is guided by internal inspiration, shared leadership, and voluntary initiative. People work on what they share a passion about, what they most care about and believe with make the difference.
(207) 874-0118
Contact Bernard Mohr
to learn more about this great offering