Leading Change through Appreciative Inquiry

The role of the leader is to make sure organizations change as needed to respond to threats, opportunities, or shifts in the organization's environment. Leading change is an intentional process of determining the current state of the organization, followed by the shaping of a preferred future state, which results in an action plan, and then the implementation of change.

John Kotter developed a model that helps leaders guide their organizations through change:

1. Light a fire for Change
2. Get the right people on board
3. Paint a compelling picture
4. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
5. Get rid of obstacles and empower people to act
6. Achieve and celebrate wins
7. Keep it moving
8. Find ways to make changes stick

Lighting a fire for change happens when people believe that the change is really needed. There needs to be a sense of urgency generated in such a way that people's emotions are impacted. It is much more important for the people to feel the need for the change rather than see facts and figures. The evaluation of the current state in an appreciative way during the AI Discover stage builds of a foundation of celebration of success. This generates enthusiasm and confidence to make changes that align with the question of what the organization wants more of? This strong shared foundation creates the fire and energy to think about the future state, called Dream in the AI 4-D process. This establishes the best of what exists and begins to gather momentum for change.

During the Discover change it very important to identify the people that will help shape and drive the change. Change is complex and no one person can implement a meaningful change alone. For successful change there is a need to build a diverse and strong team of people with a shared committment to the success of the organization to generate the the possibility of change. One of the best practices is to start by selecting three core leaders - the first as the visionary leader for the change; second the logistics and project management leader; and the inviter/relationships leader who will provide the communications.  Next find three more people that share the idea of the change and complement the three leaders bringing the team to six total. The final step to complete the change team is to review the team and add six more people that complement and fill gaps in power bases and skills not present in the original six.

Leaders start to create a vision of what could be and develop a compelling picture of the possibilities of change. This Dream process step of AI is characterized by open ended questions and a focus on abundance and possibilities rather than scarcity and barriers. Often the team will record their ideas and dreams in pictures and images to paint the compelling picture of the preferred future state. The use of positive and expansive language forms the change that will be raalyed around and moved forward. Finally the team asks what would the organization look like five years from now if the dream / preferred future state was fully implemented.

How to make the dream real? The question that transitions the AI process from Dream to Design. During this transition, the leaders tell the message of the change no just once rather over and over again. This combats the reality that change throws people into confusion, uncertainty, and stress which is not a state conducive to hearing clearly and processing information effectively. While it is important to communicate the change verbally it is far more important to demonstrate the change in actions by the leadership.

The design stage of the AI 4D process is one of the most difficult for most organizations to implement. Characterized by the answers to the question: how do we make the dream real? Leaders focus the team through providing resources, knowledge, methods, and discretion to create an implementation plan. Success during this period is characterized by examining methods, policies, procedures that impact or hinder progress on implementing the plan. This process involves getting rid of obstacles and empowering people to act. This design formulates the plans to achieve success.

The implementation of the plans in AI is called destiny. This stage involves the timetable and activities being implemented in the change. Telling stories of success about achieving those wins celebrate progress and builds support for the change. Build the momentum through those celebrations of the cheivement of key milestone events which keep the change moving forward. Finally as the changes are implemented find ways to make them part of the every day life of the organization.