Appreciative Inquiry

A financial services director commissioned with improving performance over three dispersed sites invited Reflexion Consulting to undertake an 'Appreciative Inquiry' into the organisation 'at its best.'  Rather than 'correcting failure' and the depressing, blame-laden side effects, appreciative inquiry learns from high performance; the experience is energizing and releases enthusiasm and optimism.

A small facilitated group learned their way into the process by asking the question, 'What is happening when we are performing well?'  The group then invited colleagues to attend an off-site where they practised the process with other invited guests.  The lessons from this prototype were assessed and small groups then conducted the inquiry across the three locations.  The 'inquirers' then reported back to compile their learning and feed it back into the organisation. 

One small team presented to the board.  The excitement was palpable as the team passionately disclosed their learning and made outlined the improvements they were already seeing.  One exec remarked, 'I just never knew we had people with such potential in our organisation.'