3.

2 The Unconditional Positive Question

AI or the practice of appreciative inquiry boils down to two types of questions. So it's the first
question that makes this approach unique. And it's number one for a reason. Before we ask how
do we improve something? That's question number two, what possibilities exist, latent or explicit,
for you fill in the blank, to be more effective or bigger or better in the future? That's the
improvement question before we ask that we ask, what is it that's already made this possible? So
where you see the brackets where it says organizing you can put in customer service. You can put
in highly effective teamwork. You could put in rapid innovation. Any particular thing that you
are looking at optimal margins. You could put in that bracket of organizing. And the first
question always is, what's already made that possible? Where have we done it at our best and
what were the conditions, the success factors, the things that made that possible? And then we
ask the improvement question, how can we make it better? What possibilities, what innovative
ideas and so forth, will help us do it better or more consistently or more effectively in the future?
So when we talk about an inquiry from an appreciative stance, we're talking about these two
types of questions, but always putting the first question first. So all applications of appreciative
inquiries start with a discovery interview or discovery conversation. And I'm going to go through
some generic kinds of questions here as an example. Because the best way to really try on this
approach is to get a taste of it, to experience this discovery conversation using intentionally
affirming or intentionally positive questions. So typically, we would start this discovery or this
start the inquiry by asking various stakeholders to come together pair off. And talk to each other
first just one on one about a high point experience just in general at their work place or maybe in
their whole career or in their professional practice. Simply asking them to locate one of the best
moments ever and tell a quick story about it. And then we probe into that story for underline
success factors. So here's an example that we're actually going to encourage you to use in a
personal learning assignment to try this on, to really get a taste for the appreciative inquiry
approach and what is different about it. So if I were talking with you or interviewing you my
question would be, we want to locate a high point moment in your leadership career or in your
experience of being a leader. A time when you recall collaborating with others to unite under a
common purpose in order to create a better future by achieving a positive impact or improvement
and sustaining that change. So a time when you most felt successful, fulfilled in leading some
group, two or more people to a positive improvement. So I'd like you to share a story about that,
who was involved, what was the context, what happened? Just tell a story about it. And then once
you've told the story, you and I together are going to look for underlying success factors and
usually we look at three levels. First, what was is about you in that story? What did you bring to
the table? A skill, an attitude, an amazing insight, energy. What was it about you that helped
make that story a success? What was it about another or others? What did they bring into the
situation that helped it result in a positive leadership experience for you. And then what about the
surrounding circumstances? Qualities of the system you were in. Conditions, operating
procedures, information, technology, leadership styles, it could be anything. But what about the
surrounding circumstances also helped to make that experience memorable and a positive
experience for you? The second type of question again, this is a best past we're still looking at
what's help make things happen already in the situation. We call this the continuity question. This
is about realizing that we are going to change in the future, we are going to come up with new
ideas, we're going to want to improve. But as we do that we want to carry with us our strengths.
We want to carry along certain things from the past that we don't want to change. And so we call
this generically the continuity question. So again if I was interviewing you, the question would be
something like, when is it that people in your organization or your particular work unit are most
passionate, most engaged, most effective, functioning at their highest level? And just describe,
tell me a few examples or the first example that comes to mind. So again, I'm just asking you to
describe a quick story about moments of high passion, high engagement, energy, effectiveness
and so forth. And then the second question is based on stories like that one and more, because
there certainly would be more. Name two to three things that give life to high engagement
moments or a high engagement work culture in your situation. Those key things that already help
provide for these moments of passion, engagement effectiveness that we want to keep with us, no
matter how we change in the future. And then every opening inquiry, every appreciative inquiry
also includes at least one question about the future. Because of course, we are wanting to create
positive change. We want to develop, improve or innovate something into the future. So we've
asked two questions about the past or we like to say the best of the past. And now we have a
future question, and this is really about helping the other person to dream, to imagine
possibilities. So the question would go something like this, you wake up it's two years from now,
you go to work and as if a miracle has occurred you see that everything that you always wished
could be actually was. That your ideal image of the organization or the team or the department
where you work has come to fruition. Everywhere you look people are engaged, they're
succeeding in their work. They're seeking out you, so that you can exercise your strengths in
bringing out the best in others. The organization is exceeding better than before. What do you see
that's new, that's different, that's changed or that's better? So please just share whatever words or
half baked thoughts or images come up and just verbalize them. And then after that verbalization
and probing to help you just come up with more and more ideas, then the end of this question is
please complete this sentence. In whatever 2 years from now is that date. I am most proud of my
organization's impact and the way we are viewed because. I'm most proud of this place because,
and fill that in. So now we've opened up the inquiry with a conversation in pairs based on best
past stories and then future images. We're going to encourage you to go out and actually do this
with somebody. You can use these three questions almost verbatim. It would take 10 or 15
minutes to interview a partner. All three questions and then they turn around and interview you
all three questions. A high point leadership moment, a continuity question around what helps us
create these moments of engagement, effectiveness, passion, and then your images of the future
two years from now. The importance of the person asking the questions. You want to listen for
strengths, aspirations, opportunities and results, and you listen in a very active way. So as the
person's telling their story you can even interrupt and say, tell me more about that. What do you
mean by effective communication or what do you mean by shared leadership? Be like a childs
with that sort of curiosity and wonder. Don't get trapped in jargon and just assume that we all
know what something means. We often tell people if you're the interviewer mine for the gold in
the other person's story. They may just generally be reflecting on it, if you help them they can get
much more detail, much more memory can come forward, but you need to be the help. You need
to be the one that's probing and asking for more and even offering, well it sounds like it was this.
Is that true? That sort of thing. And then at the end of course, thank the other person, and share
quickly what your impression is, what was in common. You could be talking to somebody who
you don't even work with. You could be talking with a friend who works somewhere else, a
neighbor, but you're going to find some commonalities in your stories. And it's interesting just to
look at that, take a quick look. So between this session and the next, I want to encourage all of
you to try this out. Find somebody that's willing to spend a half hour with you and have this
interview both ways. You ask them and then let them ask you, so you also get to share your
stories and your images of the future. Then we'll come to the next session and talk about why that
type of conversation, why that type of opening inquiry sets the stage for positive change.
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