“Our ability to achieve the results we truly desire is eroded by our feelings that:

• Our beliefs are the truth.
• The truth is obvious.
• Our beliefs are based on real data.
• The data we select are the real data.

[The] ‘ladder of inference’ [is] a common mental pathway of increasing abstraction, often leading to misguided beliefs.”

–Rick Ross, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (242, 243)

What are you inferring about your staff, colleagues, or clients?

Stuck on coming up with ideas? Take time out to do a warm-up brainstorm. Pick a simple “everyday use” item, like the Paper Clip. Brainstorm 50 uses of it. If you get to 50, brainstorm more. Hit a wall of silence? Perfect. Keep going. Your brain has dumped the most obvious ideas first. Relax. You’ll be surprised by the way you can get your brain to think creatively about something routine, mundane or simple. After the warm-up, engage in your next brainstorm. Suspend your certainty about the outcome of the brainstormed ideas. Allow the brain to do its thing. Be open to all of the possibilities.

What are you stuck on right now?

How do you do The Five Whys?

In pairs or small groups take a concept or issue and ask why five times.

Here’s an example borrowed from iSixSigma.com:

The Washington Monument was disintegrating.

1. Why is it disintegrating? Use of harsh chemicals
2. Why use harsh chemicals? To clean pigeon poop
3. Why are there so many pigeons? They eat spiders and there are a lot of spiders at monument
4. Why so many spiders? They eat gnats and lots of gnats at monument
5. Why so many gnats? They are attracted to the light at dusk.

Proposed Solution: Turn on the lights at a later time.

You may arrive at a idea to test or you may find another area of discovery. Nevertheless the Five Whys is a low-tech, quick process that you can employ anytime.

When will you use the Five Whys?

]]> http://colemansmithllc.com/2008/10/10/the-five-whys/feed/ 0 Coleman-Smith 5-whys1 http://colemansmithllc.com/2008/09/16/appreciative-inquiry/ http://colemansmithllc.com/2008/09/16/appreciative-inquiry/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:35:39 +0000 Coleman-Smith LLC http://colemansmith.wordpress.com/?p=21 ]]> We recently  conducted a three-hour workshop at a client’s staff retreat using Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a process developed by David Cooperrider in the 80s at Case Western Reserve.  This process invites individuals and groups to inquire about the positive, best practices in their organization or system. AI compels group members to appreciate the wholeness of an organization and coaxes them away from problem solving. No problem solving?

Understand that wherever we place our energies, our actions follow. So, if we focus on problem solving, then we will most likely find more problems or amplify what’s broken. Why solely focus on what’s broken when clearly in every system something works? AI helps us ask the critical affirming questions that by answering leverages the stellar aspects of ourselves and our system to create change we seek.

Quick review of the process

We used AI to help a newly formed department identify a set of working agreements. The department members interviewed each other about  a few things related to teamwork like a time when they were proud to be part of a team, what they valued about being part of the new team, and a time when they saw the work they’d done transform a member or client.

A couple of folks felt a little weird talking about themselves at length. However, both the interviewer and interviewee gained a deeper understanding of their collective work and humanity.

We gathered the learning from the interviews in group reflection. Each learning was captured on flip charts. The team used the learning to develop positive, affirmative statements (in the present tense) about the way in which the team will work together. This part of the process started the development of the team’s working agreements.

E.g., Group Learning from the AI Interviews

What made the process work was acknowledging and tapping into the power of conversation. As we collectively developed the agreements, the team members had to get clear about what they were agreeing to do. We used consensus to confirm each agreement. We settled on developing six. The workshop participants ended the session feeling refreshed and better connected to their teammates.

After the workshop, the department members immediately used the statements to rework their vision and mission. As a side note, another appropriate next step for this team is to turn their agreements into measurable practices. How do they know their set of agreements have helped them be successful in addressing their members’ needs?

E.g., Developing the Working Agreements

Learn more about AI

To learn more about the theory of Appreciative Inquiry click here. Thumb through parts of the thin companion guide by Sue Annis Hammond. The guide helps you practically frame the AI conversations.

How you can benefit from AI

How might  your organization might benefit from Appreciative Inquiry? If you’ve used the process, share your tips and experiences. Drop us a line in the comment section below.