CAPACITY BUILDING:

DREAM & DESIGN

PRESENTED BY MEAGEN HOWE
FAMILY CONNECTIONS AT
TAYLOR ACADEMY

3 December 2010
Interview Check In
 Who has started DISCOVERY interviews?
 Anything you learned that you HAVE to share?
 Any questions about interview guides or process?
AI 4D CYCLE

Discovery
“What gives life?”
(the best of what is)

Affirmativ Dream
Deliver
“What might be?”
“What will be?” e Topic (imagine the
(how to empower) Choice future)

Design
“How can it be?”
(constructing the ideal)
DREAM & DESIGN
 Two separate processes, but should happen at the
same time or very close together.
 DREAM: Recognizes a shared vision and
unleashes energy to direct change
 DESIGN: Creates guiding statements, benchmarks
and/or prototypes to make the dream reality
 Both require attendance and participation by
stakeholders affected by the change in a large
group setting
The AI Summit
 Large group meeting with all stakeholders represented
and participating, from 20-2000 individuals.
 Can include the entire process from Discovery to
Destiny, or break into smaller sections.
 Can be one meeting or broken into multiple days
close together (but must include same participants).
 Self Managed: Small groups have defined roles for
discussion leader, recorder, timekeeper, and reporter.
 Well managed process: very intentional and specific
about activities, roles, and time limits.
Sample DREAM Question 1
 It is August 2011 and you have just awakened from a
long sleep. Your capacity building project is helping
your host site provide services that are higher quality,
interconnected, and/or outcomes oriented. Everything
is as you hoped and wished it would be. What is
happening? How is the organization different? How is
the host site making these changes sustainable?

 Discuss in pairs for 5 minutes

Sample DREAM Question 2
 Imagine that it is (1-10 years in future) August 2011
and your host site has won an award for highest
annual increase in community impact thanks to your
capacity building project. What is said about your
organization as the award is dedicated? What are
clients saying? What are employees saying? What are
volunteers saying? What did it take to win the award?

 Practice revising to be applicable to 2 projects

DREAM Process
1. Report back from interview process
2. Energizing activity (yoga, game, illuminating
lecture, ice breakers)
3. Focal dream question to stimulate creativity
4. Small group dream dialogue (up to 1 hour)
resulting in a collective creative depiction
5. Each group reports back to large group (<5 min
each) about creative depiction
6. Identify common themes & threads across groups
Interview Results Example: Growth Planning
Meeting

 Sample document “Growth Planning Meeting” was

held in June 2009 to continue GED program
growth without educational consulting services.
 Read Interview Results out loud

 Can create video, quotable quotes, visual

representations, etc.
Activity Example: Training Topics
 5 min Self Manage: Groups of 4-6
 5 min Common Themes
 5 min Creative Portrayal: Type of person
 10 min Report Back
Training Topic Ideas
 Different types of service
 Dealing with different types of learning styles (visual, audio, etc)
 Learn about what other AmeriCorps groups are doing
 How to create lesson plans
 How to develop (and get approval) for independent project ideas (to work on during free time)
 Techniques for literacy with kids
 Volunteer coordinator discussion – how to deal with volunteers (unruly or nice)
 Developing professional relationships with tutors & setting boundaries
 Information about education & expectations at different levels (kindergarten through GED)
 How to build more child literacy
 How to relate to adolescents
 Creating fundamental approaches to education
 Education and the learning disabled
 Taxes & financial literacy
 Academic success vs. culture
 Teaching techniques for children
Why do we DREAM?
 Share positive stories to create energy & dialogue
 Participants collectively identify common themes

 Successful change requires:

 CONTINUITY—Connection to past (stories)
 NOVELTY—New connections & thinking (ideal)
 TRANSITION—Seeing how we can get there together
(leads to design)
Any questions about DREAM?
DESIGN Process
1. Select design elements—What area of the
organization will this project focus on?
2. Identify internal & external relationships—Who
reports to whom, who talks to whom, what processes
& policies are involved?
3. Identify themes & engage in dialogue—Build on
themes from DREAM
4. Write provocative propositions or create prototypes—
Design a statements or sample of what the dream will
look like in reality.
Design Elements
 On which area of the organization will we focus our
actions? (tons of possibilities!)
 Design elements can be pre-selected, or can be decided
based on the ideas that are generated from the dreams.
 In the case of our projects, must be related to the scope
of your service description, for example:
 Curriculum
 Recruiting volunteers/students
 Technology
 Student communities/experience
Internal & External Relationships
 Optional for the purposes of the Summit activities.
 Map out relationships either before or during the
DESIGN process to be clear who is involved, who
is affected, and who reports to whom
 Important for knowing how to follow through with
actions when you decide “Who should do what by
when?” in DESTINY
Design Activity: Training Topics
 Back to the small group!
 Write aspiration statements (5 min)
 Report back to create master list (5 min)

 We will vote via email: check your inbox!

Design Prototypes
 If you are creating something concrete (like a
curriculum or a spaceship) instead of writing
provocative propositions or aspiration statements,
you can create DESIGNS of what your product or
process would look like. This could mean:
 Benchmarks for 1 month, 3 month, 6 month progress
 Agenda for Family Literacy Night
 Skills as standards for curriculum
 Activities for student communities
Any Questions About Design?
Many thanks to…
 Family Connections for hosting today.
 Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: For Leaders of
Change, 2nd ed., by David Cooperrider, et al.
 Our generous funders:
 Ohio Community Service Council
 Corporation for National & Community Service
 The Literacy Cooperative of Greater Cleveland
 The Cleveland Foundation
 Key Bank Foundation
 Underwritten by Charter One Foundation