Page 79 - Appreciative Leadership

52 Appreciative Leadership

get an opportunity for reflection and renewal that can help them

confidently commit to the team’s next endeavor.
By engaging with one another through inquiry, team members
create a foundation of trust, respect, and confi dence. They develop the

relational capacity and resiliency to face the future—uncertain though
it may be. Take, for example, the team formed to guide a manufac-
turing company’s migration from one information system to another.
Recognizing the magnitude and importance of the task, many of the
team members came to it with anxiety. Few believed that they were
the right people for the job. Th eir first meeting began with inquiry.

In pairs, people explored times when they had heard about or par-
ticipated in a significant change initiative that had gone exceptionally

well. They inquired into one another’s unique strengths, skills, and
talents—the things that each of them brought to the team, in service

of positive change. And finally, they gathered one another’s hopes
and dreams for the organization—all the ways in which this initiative
would pave the way for a positive future.

Had we made “before” and “after” videos of their interviews, they

would have looked like two different teams. The inquiry not only pro-
vided information for them to know what to do; it also gave them
confidence and assurance that they were the right ones to do it. Th e

plans they formed following this inquiry were grounded in experi-

ence, wisdom, and inspiration. The ultimate result was an on-time,
underbudget system implementation.

Building Bridges with Inquiry

Whatever the divide in your organization or community, it can be

bridged with inquiry. When people from different departments, func-
tions, levels, ages, genders, and/or cultures interview each other, rela-
tionships are formed and collaboration unfolds naturally. Inquiry is
a silo buster. It gives people who need to (but don’t) work together
a way to come together and learn about and from each other. In so
doing, they see the potential benefits of collaboration and realize there

is more to gain than to lose.