Page 145 - Appreciative Leadership

118 Appreciative Leadership

hundreds or thousands of diverse people in conversations about
the future—their shared future—and get results. Th e Appreciative
Inquiry Summit methodology is a powerful way to lead large-scale
positive change, to rapidly and fully engage people in coauthoring
the future they most desire, and to accelerate innovation through
radical inclusion.
An AI Summit is typically a two- to four-day process that brings
all of an organization’s or community’s stakeholders together to (1)
discover their collective core competencies and strengths; (2) envi-
sion opportunities for positive change; (3) design the desired changes
into the organization’s or community’s systems, structures, strategies,
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and culture; and (4) implement and sustain the changes. AI Sum-
mits have been used by global corporations, nonprofi t organizations,
government agencies, health care institutions, and religious organiza-
tions including Hewlett-Packard, the United Way, the Environmental
Protection Agency, the University of Virginia Health System, and the
Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
By including everyone who has a stake in the future in one
simultaneous conversation, unprecedented collaborative action is
unleashed. In the words of Philip A. Gray, former general manager
and vice president of McDonald’s Central Division, “Th e Appreciative
Inquiry Summit engages the ‘whole system,’ builds relationships, gets
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everybody on the same page, and produces results.” It is a powerful
vehicle for taking inclusion to scale.