Abstract
The Flourishing Leadership Institute (FLI) partners with organizations to explore a simple proposition. How can the power of questions be used to tap the collective intelligence of the whole system using co-creation to promote alignment with the purpose of the organization? This proposition is best served using Appreciative Inquiry. Appreciative Inquiry is best described as the philosophy of searching for the best of what Levers for powerful change.
How 3 Levers and 6 Accelerators Create a Purpose-Driven Organization
Lever #1: Well-Designed Questions
Peter Senge’s 2 pioneering research and work on learning organizations and the importance of systems thinking reveals that 1 of the 5 critical factors in becoming a learning organization is the ability for members to evolve their own mental models. 3 What does this mean in practical terms? Senge suggests that it is the individual’s ability move their thinking and conversations away from a fixed belief system to more openness to alternative perspectives. More simply put, it is the ability to balance “inquiry and advocacy.”
Losada and Frederickson 4 confirmed this by studying teams that perform across various levels. They found that a leading indicator of high-performing teams is the balance between inquiry and advocacy. In other words, it’s crucial to train whole systems to be OK with the tension between new perspectives and uniquely held beliefs and opinions. The work of the FLI in the field has shown this tension to be true time and again. Organizations, teams, and groups who are authentically curious consistently perform at high levels.
Accelerator 1: Focus on Strength Not Deficit
A case in point was a large, industry leading automotive company who asked whether we could help fix the way they work together. Facing tremendous pressure, highly complex challenges, and mounting internal stress, they sensed that a new “conversational operating system” was needed. The first thing we pointed out was that in order to work together, our purpose for working together needs to be affirmatively framed. We needed to start with a task and a definition that would pull us to an outstanding future rather than pulling us into a downward spiraling conversation about what is wrong, not working, or missing.
The engineers came back to us with a whole new frame. Instead of asking, “How do we fix a less than optimal working culture?”, they shifted the question to, “How do we elevate our conversational operating system to engage our shared intelligence for the highest good?” This new high-purpose frame provided not only a task that inspires but also space for brilliance to emerge.
Figure 2 shows the difference between allowing a conversation to focus on a “deficit gap” versus an “abundance gap.” In the end, when organizations focus on asking strength-based questions, they begin to accelerate the impact of powerful questions. Focusing on the frames.
Accelerator 2: Using the 3 Circles of Curiosity
As FLI Senior Strategist Jackie Stavros reveals in her bestselling book Conversations Worth Having: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement, 5 “our organizational lives and the lives of others flourish or flounder one conversations at a time” (p. 3). And of course, the fastest way to shift our conversations is through the questions we ask, both individually and systemically. Knowing this, we owe it to each other to become precision engineers of questions that lead to “life-giving” conversations that impact an environment to work for all.
FLI Senior Strategist Mo McKenna created the AIR framework (see Figure 3), as a simple yet powerful reminder that all conversations, and preceding questions, can be compartmentalized into 3 circles: appreciate and learn from the past, imagine an ideal future, and reflect and take action in the present. The AIR framework.
A: Appreciate and Learn From the Past and Present
There are 2 primary methods to appreciate and learn from the past and present. The first is exploring moments of excellence, and the second is exploring continuity questions.
Moments of Excellence Questions are questions that invite us to explore moments when we were are at our best, either in general or in relation to the meeting, event, or task at hand. Some examples are as follows:
When is a story, a real example, of a time where we thrived? What was happening? What did you, others, and/or the organization contribute to this moment?
What is an example that embodies when we have been at our best?
When was a time when we excelled, as it relates to ______________?
Continuity Questions are questions that invite us to uncover and clarify the strengths, values, or qualities of a system that we value the most. These questions are a way of honoring the strengths that, no matter how we change or evolve organizationally, we will nurture, protect, and build upon as we create a new future. Some examples are as follows:
What are all the qualities of our organization/team/community, processes, systems, products, and so on or general ways of operating that have contributed to our success in the past?
No matter how we change or evolve, what qualities do we want to honor, preserve, or protect, no matter where we go in the future?
When we reflect on our “moments of excellence,” what qualities do we see that we consistently brought to these moments?
I: Imagine an Ideal Future
Future Image Questions invite us to see or imagine a future we most desire. These questions allow individuals and organizations to dream about what is possible when they are connected the core purpose of the organization. Some examples are as follows:
It is 5 years from today and we have just awoken from a long sleep. As you look around, you see the organization/community that you have always wished and dreamed for. What is happening? How is the group different? What have we accomplished that gives you the greatest sense of pride, meaning, and fulfillment?
Imagine 5 years from today, our organization has won an award for _________. What is being said about us? What are our customers, key partners, employees, and others saying about us?
R: Reflect and Take Action in the Present
These types of questions are action-oriented in nature and require the individual/organization to link together the reflection and aspirations with the reality of how it is going to happen. In this phase, the individual/organization is keenly aware of the need create a link between purpose and the best ideal future self. The implications of these types of questions are inviting commitment, ownership, and action. Some examples are as follows:
What actions can I take that magnify my strengths, align with my deepest values, and move me towards my highest hopes and aspirations?
What steps can I take, both large and small, to move toward the ideal future I imagine?
What Lever #1 Really Means
If asking powerful questions results in powerful answers, then being flippant about the types of questions you ask will have a direct and immediate impact on the answers you receive. Using the accelerators of strength-based questions and the AIR framework will ensure that the potential of well-designed questions is maximized across the organization, driving employees to become more aligned with the organization’s purpose.
Lever #2: Conversational Choreography
Although the choice and design of questions is the critical first step, understanding what it means to choreograph the ensuing conversation is equally important. When done right, conversational choreography is the critical lever that allows the questions to appropriately serve as catalysts for a co-created identity that taps collective intelligence, resulting in shared ownership of strategic initiatives.
At FLI, choreographed group conversations are essential for accelerating the psychological safety of the group. How does this occur? The answer is shockingly simple but takes a little planning and discipline to execute. Through every conversation we facilitate, we maintain a conscious awareness of how we are inviting “connection and inclusion” from one conversation to the next.
Accelerator #1: Geometry of Safety
To start, when a critical question is presented, group members get a chance to reflect in writing, even if briefly. Sometimes it’s a minute to prepare their best story of success, and other times it’s just 10 seconds to find one word to symbolize an idea for the future. It is common to hear a “sigh of appreciation” from a significant portion of any group whenever we point out that we are creating space to reflect in writing.
Next, we will move into conversations in pairs. In some conversations, it will be as short as taking a moment to connect around the question. In other settings, we allow for deep dive paired interviews that can last up to half an hour. Next, we will move into small group conversations and eventually invite individuals to share in front of the whole group.
This upward and outward cascading of connection and conversation has a very natural feel for groups. Although the task and outputs delivered from the small groups can vary, the benefits of creating this safe rhythm of scaling up the conversation are visible every time.
Second, we ensure we are diversifying and mixing who is connecting with whom in order to enable inclusion. Inclusion is often avoided for natural but unfortunate reasons—we stick with people like us (or who we like), we silo ourselves in our department, or even worse, it may be “us against them,” even though we are on the same team.
Accelerator #2: Power of Diversity
The connection and inclusion that comes from a carefully choreographed conversation honors the inherent desire for any group to experience the power of wholeness. Our belief is that every person walks into a room, group, or organization and wonders the same thing—can I be myself and still fit in here? What we’ve found is that designing group conversations to honor as many diverse connections as possible can accelerate this feeling of belonging. In James Surowiecki’s pioneering research on The Wisdom of Crowds, 6 he notes that crowds are not smarter than individuals, as much as diverse crowds are smarter than individuals. The same findings are true when looking at the work of Arie De Gues in his book The Living Company. 7 De Guess details the findings from a study that Royal Dutch Shell commissioned, searching for patterns of companies that have lived for 100 years or more. The essence of 1 of the 4 traits, tolerance for new ideas, is compared to the nature, where flourishing happens in proportion to the diversity in the ecosystem.
What Lever #2 Really Means
The wholeness that comes from conversational choreography starts with ensuring we bring as many diverse voices as possible into our conversations. Every time we look eye to eye with another person, we create micro moments of positive resonance that deliver both immediate and lasting benefits. Maximizing this lever by creating a simple system of reflection (my own thoughts), paired conversations (we are in the same boat), and allowing group shares (we are more alike than different) provides significant psychological safety and further acceleration of a shared purpose.
Lever #3: Aligned Action
The true measure of a conversation is the way in which it shapes, motivates, or enhances critical behaviors in an organization. One conversation might bring a group to agreement on its shared values, whereas another conversation might create healthy creative tension, both resulting in moving the organization toward a greater shared future. Lever #3 focuses on aligning what we have learned from first and second levers and asks “How can we deploy a plan for each opportunity area?”
Aligning the action can be manifested in a number of different ways. One example may be the result of an executive gaining greater clarity on his or her own strengths and implementing them into their role. For example, now she needs to decide how she will redesign the way she invests her time to better leverage her strengths. Individual alignment is one key accelerator to ensure success.
Accelerator #1: Individual Alignment
A well-designed question followed by a carefully choreographed conversation has the power to unlock immediate and deep distinctions. These distinctions often lead to an opportunity to make decisions to take action.
Here are 3 ways that individuals can look for alignment between the actions they choose to take and what matters most to them: Purpose Alignment—Is this action fueled from a place of higher purpose, where my motivations are truly in service of a greater good? The alternative is when we decide to take action driven from a place of lower level of fear-based motivation.
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Values Alignment—Is this action in alignment with the values that I proclaim to be important to me? The alternative is allowing our behaviors to drift further away from our values, losing our most essential form of integrity.
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Strengths Alignment—Is this action allowing for a magnification or expansion of my highest, core strengths? The alternative is to put at risk the achievement of my full potential to create value.
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Aspirational Alignment—Is this action moving me toward the images of the future that give me the greatest energy? The alternative is heading down a path that requires massive energy to redirect from in the future. Results Alignment—Is this action in service of the results or measurable outcomes that matter most for me? The alternative is the illusion of being busy without being effective.
Accelerator #2: Systemic Alignment
Just as individuals should be looking for alignment between their actions and key areas that matter most, teams and organizations need to build the cooperative capacity to make similar decisions at all levels. Here are 5 ways that teams and organizations can look for alignment between the actions they choose to take and what matters most to them: Team/Unit/Division Alignment—Are our teams at all levels coordinating and cooperating so that the success across levels and departments is complementary and compounding? Organizational Values Alignment—Are we finding ways to align individual and team actions with organizational values? Are we bringing organizational values into our day-to-day conversations in a ritualized way? Strategic Opportunity Alignment—Are our actions directly connected to the strategic opportunities that we’ve agreed matter most to the organization? Aspirational Vision or Purpose Alignment—Are our actions in alignment with, and inspired by the highest hopes, aspirations, and reasons for being as an organization? Results Alignment—Are our actions consistent with the patterns of behavior that will contribute to the success of our most important measures, outcomes, and/or results?
What Lever #3 Really Means
Lever #3 calls the individual and the organization to ask critical questions that connect commitment to the greater purpose of the organization for the opportunities that present themselves. Thus, well-designed questions create choreographed conversations, but without a shared commitment to the greater good, neither have the intended impact. However, you cannot have alignment without great questions and psychological safety. Stated another way, each lever is like a puzzle piece. When placed together and supported by the accelerators, a picture of a flourishing organization appears.
Bringing It Together
For many organizations, there is a misalignment between strategy, organizational strengths, and the purpose of the organization. However, taking a whole-system approach to transformation allows organizations to utilize 3 simple levers: well-designed questions, conversational choreography, and aligned actions. These levers are supported by a number of accelerators that, when used create the conditions for a purpose-driven organization, optimize (or leverage) the organization’s strengths so much so that their weaknesses become almost irrelevant. 11 It is no longer enough to tell your employees where you are moving toward as an organization. You now need to ask them to be part of creating that future.