Tony Clarke HDE FDE and Dip Bus Man (Honours Award) – Appreciative Inquiry & Teambuilding Practitioner

Founder and team leader, Tony started in the education sector and now runs DV with a team of dedicated teambuilding facilitators on principles we live and teach.   His passion is T.E.A.M. and his heart is attuned to find strengths and assist teams to transition finding a new level of growth, commitment, purpose, and focus. He lives out his motto “EXUDARE” – exuding energy and enthusiasm while leading a band of champions, ready for action every day!   Tony Clarke was a delegate at the World Appreciative Inquiry Conference 2015 at University of Jnb with Dr. David Cooperrider.  He will be a delegate at theWorld Appreciative Inquiry Conference 2019 to be held in Nice in March 2019.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) was pioneered in the 1980s by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva, two professors at Case Western Reserve University. AI consultants are using an appreciative approach to bring about collaborative and strengths-based change in thousands of profit and nonprofit organizations and communities in over 100 countries.

Appreciative Inquiry is a way of being - both a worldview and a process for facilitating positive change in human systems, e.g., organizations, groups, and communities. Its assumption is simple: Every human system has something that works right – things that give it life when it is vital and successful. AI begins by identifying this positive core and connecting to it in ways the heighten energy, sharpen vision, and inspire action for change. Bernard J. Mohr says, “Problems get replaced with innovation as conversations shift toward uncovering the organization’s positive core.”

Appreciative Inquiry begins by grounding ourselves and our organizations in the Core Principles of AI. The five original principles are: Constructionist, Simultaneity, Anticipatory, Poetic, and Positive.

The Constructionist Principle: Words Create Worlds

Reality, as we know it, is a subjective vs. objective state and is socially created through language and conversations.

The Simultaneity Principle: Inquiry Creates Change

Inquiry is an intervention. The moment we ask questions, we begin to create change. “Questions we ask are fateful.”

The Poetic Principle: We Can Choose What We Study

Teams and organizations, like open books, are endless sources of study and learning. What we choose to study makes a difference. It describes – even creates – the world as we know it.

The Anticipatory Principle: Image Inspires Action

Human systems move in the direction of their images of the future. The more positive and hopeful the image of the future, the more positive the present-day action.

The Positive Principle: Positive Questions Lead to Positive Change

Momentum for [small or] large-scale change requires large amounts of positive affect and social bonding. This momentum is best generated through positive questions that amplify the positive core.

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY - is a very valuable exercise designed to harness the positivity in a team - a team positivity booster – consisting of 4 main stages referred to as the 4 D cycle: Discover – Dream – Design & Deliver.

This is a meaningful process that requires a high level of team interaction that involves:

• DISCOVERY - Assessing our positive baseline situation by discovering the positive core of the team and looking at what makes you unique. Discoving the gold – seeking best practices that are buried in conflict or overlooked. 

• DREAMING - It is followed by daring to dream of & design a better future built on the strengths of what was discovered in the positive core. Taking your organisation to new heights … a dream for hope & a future. 

• DESIGNING - Formulating a plan in order to attain the dream. Seeking positve growth with clearly defined goals and an action plan to make the dream a reality. Looking at an informed T.I.A – Turn it Around strategy 

• DELIVERING - It culminates in Deliverables that are negotiated and kept alive by a selection of champions of the cause that are held accountable. Leaders will be able to use the outcomes they design to initiate and sustain change initiatives and record vital successes.

WORLD APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY CONFERENCE: 6-10 July 2015, Johannesburg, South Africa

Delegates from across the world converged to answer the burning question: “How can we collaborate to elevate, magnify and refract our best strengths to create a flourishing and prosperous world for all?”

DYNAMICVISION Teambuilding is implementing change in South Africa using this approach - the best way to succeed at anything is to know and amplify strengths. By identifying and improving upon the things that work in a system or organisation, we can sharpen focus, stimulate innovative thinking and introduce simple, acceptable ideas to initiate change, improve productivity & increase energy. As is stated by Ken Gergen - “The growth and application of Appreciative Inquiry... has been nothing short of phenomenal. It is arguably the most powerful process of positive organizational change ever devised.”

 “Problems” become challenges and challenges find solutions as conversations focus more time and energy focusing on the solutions and answers than they do on looking at problems and allocating blame. We ask questions with a positive bent. What is right about this? (Not what is wrong?) How do we identify the strengths in our people and our systems, and how can we improve upon those strengths in order to excel?

How can we intensify and leverage existing strengths to create intentional transformation? How can we break down barriers and connect all individuals to magnify our strengths? How can we learn to SOAR.

Appreciative Inquiry drives the elevation, alignment, magnification, and reflection of strengths into the world.

http://www.centerforappreciativeinquiry.net/more-on-ai/what-is-appreciative-inquiry-ai/ The success of this format is well documented – See http://www.davidcooperrider.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AI-Business-Success-Stories-Finalx.pdf