[Ailist] Additional thoughts on AI phases

[Rob Voyle]

Hi Cheri

I think the preferences between Deliver and Destiny here have more to do with 
our own personal preferences related to ideas of being and doing.  For those 
familiar with the MBTI most managers are STs whereas most consultants are NF 
or NT so those preferential differences are likely to be manifest when Managers 
don't get what we are talking about.

In getting people to write provocative propositions I have given up trying to 
focus them into vision statements or mission statements. Some people are 
oriented toward a vision (their being) and others into mission (their doing). 
Making the distinctions didn't seem to help folk.  What helped was having a clear 
understanding of purpose and identity and if the statement confused the 
elements of being and doing but was a powerful reminder to the person/people 
of who they are and what they are doing I rejoiced rather got nit picky on the 
language.  I now call them provocative purpose statements rather than 
provocative propositions because people had similar problems of understanding 
what a proposition was. 

I would see tactics as all the things you describe in culture transformation.  The 
transformation won't occur by accident but by virtue of people deliberately and 
"tactically" changing behavioral haits.  Eventutally this will create new self 
correcting habits or culture. I could even have the tactic of paying more attention 
to my being than my doing, such as asking "How do I want to be in this 
situation.." , although I would say that all being gets expresed in some action or 
doing.  My reading of the GTE story was that they were very tactical in the way 
the went about their culture change.  For example requiring people to give 
several positive stories for every negative. In my teaching on the Appreciative 
Way I provide lots of strategies to create the appreciative culture you talk of but 
they are moment to moment strategies rather than part of the classic 4/5 D 
model.

I think the other problem we encounter in this conversation is that the first 4 Ds
Define, Discover, Dream, Design, are all verbs.  Deliver stays in that pattern but 
Destiny doesn't.  Psychologically people work up through the D's focussing on 
the action and get to the 5th D and say "now what do we do?" and the word 
Destiny just falls into a mental vaccum for many people.

Rob
 

> Rob and All,
> 
> I have the same reaction to Deliver as I do to "tactics"--it seems
> task
> related.  As you say, "now we have a strategic plan and we need
> some
> strategic action".  When using AI 4-D/5-D for strategic planning
> this is
> perfect.
> 
> It is a whole other matter for me if AI is about culture
> transformation and
> Destiny is about creating a new culture together.  This requires
> attention
> to what we are creating, how we speak and relate together.  This
> goes to the
> very core/heart even of who we are and how we understand what it
> means to be
> a participant in the organization.  I understand "destiny" as an
> invitation
> to co-create that destiny, which--for me--is different from working
> together
> to complete tasks and goals.  Both are valid and important . . . all
> depends
> upon the focus.  I think it is much more difficult to wrap around
> Destiny
> and to sustain it.
> 
> Does this make sense?
> 
> Cheri
>  
> Cheri B. Torres
> www.mobileteamchallenge.com
> 
> Mobile Team Challenge
> 3247 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway
> Maryville, TN 37804
> Phone 865-681-0146
> Fax 865-982-7721
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
> [mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Rob
> Voyle
> Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 6:52 PM
> To: ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
> Subject: RE: [Ailist] Additional thoughts on AI phases
> 
> Hi Cheri and Others
> 
> Perhaps it is my pragmatism but I have always found that I resonate
> with the
> 
> word Deliver rather than Destiny, especially when working in
> industrial
> settings, 
> it needs a whole lot less interpreting.  People understand Deliver. 
> We have
> a 
> strategic plan now we need some strategic action, with good feedback
> and
> feed 
> forward.
> 
> I also like Deliver in Church settings because it is so easy for
> theological
> types to 
> go off into their Destiny thinking without grounding it in the
> practicalities of the 
> day to day things they have to do and to pay attention to the
> outcomes of
> their 
> actions.
> Rob 
>   
> Robert J. Voyle, Psy.D.
> Director, Clergy Leadership Institute
> For Coaching and Training in Appreciative Inquiry
> http://www.clergyleadership.com/
> 503-647-2378 or 503-647-2382
> 
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> 


  
Robert J. Voyle, Psy.D.
Director, Clergy Leadership Institute
For Coaching and Training in Appreciative Inquiry
http://www.clergyleadership.com/
503-647-2378 or 503-647-2382