m Meeting of the Minds: New Year, New

Connections
m Friday, January 7th
m Salvation Army HQ, East 22nd St
m Food, fun, share and generate ideas
with other instructors
m Bring lots of business cards & brochures!
m Presented by ILN«looking for steering
committee members, too!
Increasing the
m QUALITY
m DEPTH
(interconnectedness)
m OUTCOMES
of the services offered
by your host site.

Photo: ´Hammerµ by flickr user thefixer

m Capacity building aligns with one of the
Literacy Cooperative·s three priorities:
m ´Enabling and Supporting R
 

      
Service Deliveryµ
Your project should   your host
site·s ability to provide services that:
m Provide a great    for clients
m Are    to each other & other
services in the community
m Deliver the promised  
m PROBLEM SOLVING: Issues will arise
during your service & should be resolved.
m INDEPENDENT PROJECT: Lead a  
with the blessing & involvement of your
host site. Don·t just complete a project.
m FOCUS OF SERVICE: AmeriCorps is for
direct service; this is an opportunity to
connect that service to systematic
improvements
m èITH SKILLS: you will become an expert
on your organization & your topic
m IN TEAMS: of four organized by topic
m SPEND TIME: at least 1-3 hours per week
on average
m SUSTAINABLY: created to continue after
you have left
m USING AI: Appreciative Inquiry is a
method for organizational development
m Activity 1: I need 2 volunteers

m Volunteer one: please site on the table

and make a structure with these blocks.

m Volunteer two: please sit under the table.

ë 
OCTOBER · DISCOVER: Select topic
NOVEMBER · DISCOVER: Interviews
DECEMBER · DREAM & DESIGN
JANUARY · DELIVER: Implement
  
MAY · DISCOVER: Interviews
JUNE · DREAM & DESIGN
JULY · DELIVER: Sustainability
m Timeline depends on your
role & agency
m TèO things interact:
  Activities (painting)
  Talk/stories that inform &
shape activities
m TAKE action at any time.
m Appreciative Inquiry is
managing the talk that
shapes action & can
happen O 
 

  activities.
m Beware the CHUBBY BUNNY!
m Appreciative Inquiry is  a fool proof method
that guarantees the success of your endeavor;
it is merely a method that is appropriate for a
capacity building project.
m Rule of thumb: don·t introduce major changes
in an organization before 6 months. !!!
m Especially as a temporary volunteer, you
should expect some resistance to your
attempts to steer the direction of a program or
organization, even if requested by the agency.
m Appreciative Inquiry forces you to slow down,
listen & validate the experiences of others to
increase ownership and trust
m Volunteer one, what have you created?
m Volunteer two, please come out from
under the table.
m Volunteer two, I would like you to
increase the quality of this structure.
m To start off, volunteer two please ask
volunteer one the following questions:
BRIEFLY (1 min each) answer the following:
m èhat would you describe as a high point
experience for you in creating this
structure?
m èithout being modest, what do you
value most about yourself, your work on
this structure, and your creation?
m èhat are the core elements of this
structure, without which it would cease
to exist?
m Imagine you have awakened from a
long, deep sleep. You wake up to realize
this structure is everything you dreamed
it would be. èhat do you see? How
have things changed?
m Volunteer one, how did you feel when you
were told volunteer two was going to
change your structure?
  How did you feel after answering the questions?
m Volunteer two, what changed in your vision
of the structure after hearing the answers to
these questions?
m ALL: èhat happened during this
exchange? èhat was the purpose of the
questions?
m  
 Please take a seat.
´People cannot live with change if there is
not a changeless core inside them. The
key to the ability to change is a
changeless sense of who you are, what
you are about, and what you value.µ
Stephen Covey
 ð   

Affirmative
ð    Topic ð 
Choice

ð 

Produces longer lasting change because AI:
m Focuses organizations on their most positive
qualities
m Builds on past successes
m Involves all those affected by the change
m Nurtures an appreciative dialogue

@



 

m Several members have no topic or purely
theoretical topics at this point.
m You could connect with one of the Literacy
Cooperative·s current capacity building
projects:
  Literacy Tool Kit: low cost manipulatives to teach
math to adult learners
  Quality Improvement Framework: pilot of
research-based program checklist
m Tracy Morrow available to help you identify
a topic: tmorrow@universitysettlement.net
m Assessments to target student's skills
m Free & fun educational games
m Community resources for... (special
needs, safe places to play, holiday
activities)
m Current music/movies as tutoring aids
m Free training for tutors
ë  
m October-December: Learn about AI,
decide topic & plan inquiry process
m December-January: Meet with member
team, facilitate interviews, research
resources from success stories
m February: Dream & Design summit to
create action plan
m March: Destiny³1st Family Literacy Night
m May: Debrief to Discover successes,
Dream & Design planning committee for
sustainability
m June: Destiny: 2nd Family Literacy Night
m July: Handbook/schedule created
m August: Multimedia presentation of
project & results
m DISCOVERY is also called the Inquiry
Process, which should involve:
  Interviews with representatives of all
stakeholder groups affected by the change
  Collection and analysis of summaries
  Report back to stakeholders with results
m And can optionally involve:
  Visits to see topic in action
  Research into resources & case studies,
especially those drawn from interviews
m Take 3 minutes to brainstorm possible
stakeholder groups affected by your
proposed changes. Examples:
  Clients/students
  Administrators
  Instructors
  Partner organizations
  Community members
  Custodial/housekeeping staff
Red string will connect interviewer &
interviewee
m YOU interview all representatives
m Trained TEAM of interviewers
m ´IMPROBABLE PAIRSµ interview each other:
have people talk who usually wouldn·t³
Student & Administrator, Parent & Tutor,
Instructor & Custodian
m Pairs analyze their own interviews in SMALL
GROUPS of 4 to 10 people
At the end ´bankµ all the red string
m The red string represents a social bond
created through real listening
m Most organizational change happens
through LEVERAGE:
  Stick³policies, penalties, mandates
  Carrot³incentives, resources, funding
m As an AmeriCorps member, you have no
stick! èhat carrots do you have?
  INFLUENCE! Interviews build energy &
investment you need to ´bankµ later
m Individually as available
m Train a small team of people to
individually interview others
m Improbable pair interviews
m Inquiry meeting:
  ´Improbable pairµ interviews with small
group analysis
m During Summit along with Dream &
Design portions (more re: Summit in Dec)
Please get into your teams of 3-4:
m Any questions in your Interview Guide
you could add, delete or edit?
m èhich interview configuration is most
appropriate for your organization or
topic (real or hypothetical)?
m èho should interview whom?
m How will you report back summary &
analysis to the stakeholders?
m Describe who will conduct interviews,
who is being asked to participate, and
why.
m Explain how interview summaries will be
analyzed and reported back.
m Give timeline for the process.
m Please complete & turn in the Member
Training Feedback & info sheet for
National Days of Service.
m This month·s assignment:
  Decide on a topic if you haven·t already.
  Create a final version of your interview guide
(or draft once your topic is decided).
  Include the interview (inquiry) process in your
interview guide.
m Cleveland Housing Network for hosting
today
m Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: a



, 2nd ed., by David Cooperrider,
et al.
m Our generous funders:
  Ohio Community Service Council
  Corporation for National & Community Service
  The Literacy Cooperative of Greater Cleveland
  The Cleveland Foundation
  Key Bank Foundation
  Underwritten by Charter One Foundation