This week you will participate in the Learning Activity 2.1 listed below as part of your ongoing development in Strategic Leadership.<\/p>\n
Following the reading\/instruction\/direction contained in each Learning Activity adds to your proficiency in Strategic Leadership and skill development for adding to your knowledge base, completion of assignments and development of PressBooks materials throughout this course. This is the same requirement for each Learning Activity throughout the coursework.<\/p>\n
Upon completion of Learning Activity 2.1 learners will be able to:<\/p>\n
This week you will participate in the learning activities (2.1, 2.2) listed below as part of your ongoing development in Strategic Leadership.<\/p>\n
Following the reading\/instruction\/direction contained in each Learning Activity adds to your proficiency in Strategic Leadership and skill development for adding to your knowledge base, completion of assignments and development of PressBooks materials throughout this course. This is the same requirement for each Learning Activity throughout the coursework.<\/p>\n
When it comes to Appreciative Inquiry, we change the conversation from the problems and solutions to the problems, to what we do well and what we can do better.<\/p>\n
In many ways, AI equates to seeking wisdom in all we do. Proceeding forward in the organization to develop the best possible outcomes and future focus available. The Bible suggests seeking wisdom, as associated with our discussion of AI, is like looking for silver and searching for it like hidden treasure. (Proverbs 2: 4) AI is a treasure for our working and organizational environments that has gone largely untapped or undiscovered in many of the environments we work within. Finding the treasure, applying the principles of AI, leads us to seeing things clearer and more in line with how God sees things. Not the failings of man, but the great potential of man as they align themselves with the future God plans for them and fulfill their potential by exploring the things they appreciate versus the problems they face.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the scripture notes we find what we seek (Proverbs 8: 17) In the context, the search is for God, with a promise of finding Him as we seek. From the principle viewpoint, when we seek something, we will find it. The focus however, requires us to know what we are looking for. Generally, people look for the problems they want to fix. If they seek them they will find them; and often do. From an AI perspective, we aim to seek out the things we do well and are successful with. Seeking our success and how we can do the things we do well better, is a search worth engaging and following through with for the benefit of the people we work with and the organization we serve.<\/p>\n
Too many organizations fail to look beyond the problems and look to what they do well. In a world of fixers, every problem needs an answer. The better focus however, is to celebrate what we do well. To use discretion in our focus and guard what’s important. Proverbs 2: 11, 12 tells us:<\/p>\n
\n Discretion will protect you,<\/p>\n
and understanding will guard you.<\/p>\n
Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In todays fast paced environment where many pressures face workers and organizations alike, AI is Leadership requirement.<\/p>\n
Shifting Gears<\/h5>\n
Quick question? How would you rate the culture of your organization?<\/p>\n
It’s an important question as you assess the culture you exist in. What are the values, beliefs, traditions and symbols representative of your culture? When you see changes in the organization, do the values, beliefs, traditions and symbols break down or strengthen? Most can’t identify the change without picking out the problems first.<\/p>\n
From a biblical perspective, church culture follows a set of values related to servanthood. (Matthew 18:4; 20:16ff; 23:11\u201312; Mark 10:43\u201344; Luke 22:26\u201327) Jesus taught it as the hallmark for leading in the generation he lived in, and the truth is still relevant today. If you want to be great; serve!<\/p>\n
The things we identify as important in our cultures (national, organizational, regional, local, personal) define us as we aim to create change and move things forward to the betterment of all concerned. I am unaware of anyone in any culture saying they wanted to act contrary to the values they espoused. They wanted to act outside of their beliefs or denounce their traditions wholesale. They wanted to expunge the symbols representative of their culture. Even the extremists around the world see themselves supporting their values, beliefs, traditions and symbols. Making them central to their activities and actions.<\/p>\n
On the contrary. I see people wanting to change their cultural values, beliefs, traditions and symbols; updating them to represent a more modern interpretation of what they once represented. But leave it all behind; no!<\/p>\n
This is where AI comes in. It helps us look at our cultural practice, foundational values, relationships, organizational direction, systemic practices, performance, the things we excel at, our positive partnerships, community and ethics to ask the questions:<\/p>\n
\n
- Tell me about the best times that you have had with your organization.<\/li>\n
- What are your best memories about our cultural practice?<\/li>\n
- How did we represent what we believe best to you?<\/li>\n
- What are the most memorable traditions we practice you believe we could practice better<\/li>\n
- Where do see us excelling the most? etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In the AI decision making system we consider how a systemic focus makes a difference. How we can help make organizational complexities easier to understand. What can we do well?<\/p>\n
Our complex environments challenge us every day. In the AI decision making system we consider how a systemic focus makes a difference. How we can help make organizational complexities easier to understand. What we can do well. But we must commit to the benefit of an AI approach to our organizations; systemically, strategically and wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n
Learning Activity for Appreciative Inquiry (AI)<\/h5>\n
For this Learning Activity, you will conduct an AI interview with your team (2-3 people), following the instructions outlined below.<\/p>\n
\n
- Gather together as a team (via Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, FaceTime, etc.) and ask each other the following questions.<\/li>\n
- Record your answers to one another to compare and discuss your answers afterwards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Suggested questions for interviews_(adapted from OESC Trustee Professional Development Program)_:<\/p>\n
\n
- What motivated you to enter your present career?
\na. What do you value most about being involved in your present career pursuits and the larger mission this represents?<\/li>\n- Think back to your most significant leadership experience you have had in your career.
\na. A time when you felt really alive, engaged, and proud of yourself and your performance? Describe the experience.
\nb. What strengths surrounded you?
\nc. What values were at play?
\nd. How has this experience influenced you in your role today?<\/li>\n- Think back to a successful project or activity that was particularly satisfying in terms of teamwork or a collective achievement. A moment or period where you felt you made a real difference because of the collaboration among the group.
\na. Describe that time.
\nb. What are the one or two reasons you felt engaged?
\nc. What contributed to this being a peak experience?
\nd. What made the team effective?
\ne.\u00a0 What do you think was your own most valuable contribution to the team?
\nf.\u00a0 What does your present employer do to promote these types of experiences?<\/li>\n- If you could make three wishes you, the people you work with and your present employer to evolve to their full potential as a team, what would those wishes be?<\/li>\n
- What single small change can you make to have the biggest impact in improving your work environment right now?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Whole Group Sharing and Storytelling<\/strong><\/p>\n
After your group\u2019s interviews are complete, share your responses with one another and make meaning out of what you’ve learned.<\/p>\n
Follow up questions for discussion:<\/p>\n
\n
- What did you find most surprising in your interviews?<\/li>\n
- What are your team\u2019s greatest strengths (as gleaned from your interviews with one another)?<\/li>\n
- What are some of the key factors for a successful team you possess together? (List as many as you discover)<\/li>\n
- What values do you have in common? (List at least three, but no more than 5)<\/li>\n
- What are the group\u2019s aspirations for this team as a result of what you’ve learned about each other through the interview process?<\/li>\n
- how will you incorporate what you’ve learned from this exercise into the team practices required to publish the Open Source Strategic Leadership Book required in completing this course?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n