Designing Our Future:

Introducing Appreciative

Strategic Planning

Lew BelfontHead of Customer Service

and Professional Development

Howard County Library System

lew.belfont@hclibrary.org

Introduction

Transforming Libraries: The Timeliness of Appreciative Strategic Planning

Appreciative Inquiry: Process, Principles and the Power of Positive Imagery

Appreciative Strategic Planning: Appreciating, Envisioning, Dialoguing and Innovating

Transformation

Strategic Planning

A strategic plan is the result of a“disciplined effort to produce fundamentaldecisions and actions that shape andguide what an organization (or otherentity) is, what it does and why it does it.”

Advantages

➢Understand and assess changes in operating environment/marketplace.

➢Reformulate vision and mission.

➢New and revised services.

➢Strengthen capacity.

Who Are We?

What Do We Do?

What's Our Business?

Why Is It Important?

Who should answer?

Appreciative Inquiry

Inclusive & participatory strategic planning process.

Stakeholders become strategic thinkers.

Advantages:− Create shared sense of identity and

purpose.

− Effective strategies.

− Ownership.

Definitions

“... in every organization something works and change can be managed through the identification of what works, and the analysis of how to do more of what works.”

“Appreciative inquiry is a collaborative and highly participative system-wide approach to seeking, identifying and enhancing the 'life -giving' forces that are present when a system is performing optimally in human, economic and organizational terms.”

Good to Exemplary Customer Service

Always exceeding customers' service expectations.

Discover Life-Giving Forces

Share stories of peak or exceptional service:

Think about a time when your service to a customer was exceptional. This could be a time when you delighted a customer and made their day better, established a strong personal connection, or helped someone transform information into knowledge.

Positive Questions

➢What did you do that allowed this moment of exceptional customer service to take place?

➢What was the customer's reaction?

➢How did the interaction make you feel?

Discover

Identify and understand the life-giving properties in moments of exceptional customer service.

Identify and understand the conditions that allow the life-giving properties to flourish.

Life-giving Forces/Positive Core/Strengths

Knowledge, expertise

Traditions, practices, procedures

Values, beliefs, assumptions, imagination, paradigm

Relationships

Aspirations

Dream

Create a vision of how the library would look, be, feel and function when those exceptional moments and life-giving properties become the norm rather than the exception.

Dream

Exceptional Customer Service

Our goal is for every patron to say ―We Make Their Day. Patrons know we trust them. We design positive experiences for them; we create a welcoming environment; we work for their successes; we develop personal relationships with them; and we put our-selves in their shoes to fully understand the best ways to provide exceptional service. We also empower our patrons to be self-sufficient and develop the skills to successfully use the Library.

Transforming Lives, Strengthening Communities

Somerset County Library System Strategic Plan

Design

How do we bring this vision to life?

➢ Identify high impact design elements.

➢ Formulate strategies to bring the positive core to life in all processes, systems and collaborations.

Destiny

Collaborating to implement the design and exceed customers' expectations.

Five Principles of AI

➢ Constructionism

➢ Simultaneity

➢ Poetic

➢ Anticipatory

➢ Positive

Constructionism

“What we believe is true about ourselveswill affect the way we act and the way we

approach the future.”

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results

Interpretation

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results

Simultaneity

➢Inquiry and change are simultaneous.

➢Seeds of change implicit in the first question we ask.

➢Questions set the stage for discoveries.

Poetic

➢We can explore any topic.

➢Past, present, and future are endless sources of learning, inspiration, interpretation.

Positive

Momentum for change requires hope and inspiration – positive emotions and social bonding.

Deficit Based Thinking

Asset Based Thinking

Positive

Anticipatory

Positive images of the future lead to positive actions and outcomes.

Exceptional Customer Service

Our goal is for every patron to say ―We Make Their Day. Patrons know we trust them. We design positive experiences for them;

Transforming Lives, Strengthening Communities

Somerset County Library System Strategic Plan

Appreciative Strategic Planning

Preparation

➢ Sponsors

➢ Learning AI

➢ Strategic Planning Team− Purpose− Qualifications

➢ Process Design− Scalable

Discovery I

Everyone has contributed to the library's success. Take a minute to reflect on your recent and past accomplishments.

Please tell us about one of your accomplishment that advanced the library's mission.

This could be an instance of exceptional customer service, an engaging program, a strategic community partnership, or a creative application of technology. It is an accomplishment that was appreciated by a customer and made you feel good. This could be something you accomplished alone or as a member of a team.

What did you do? What contributed to your success?

Discovery II

Identify themes:− Fiercely Loyal Customers

− Authentic Values

− Winning Team Work

− Everyone a Leader

− The Power of Us

− Commitment to Excellence

− Community Connections

Discovery III

Conduct interviews to explore each theme.− Develop interview protocol.

− Paired interviews

− Positive Questions

− Capture ideas, opinions and expressions.

− Collect & Interpret answers.

Importance of Interviews

When people are reminded of their capabilities and strengths they are most likely to build upon them:

− Inspiring

− Positive energy

− Deep connections

− Shared experience

− Mind expanding

Anatomy of Positive Question

WINNING TEAMWORK

In today’s complex and ever- changing world, teamwork is an essential ingredient for success. Teamwork, for example, fosters collaboration and innovation across departments that result in an organization successfully meeting its goals. It is teamwork that enables people to manage the daily routine and cope with the stresses and strains of constant change.

Winning teamwork begins when team members feel they are “in it together.” Respect and appreciation of each other grow from this belief.

Questions

1. Describe the best teamwork (HCL or elsewhere) you have ever seen or been part of. In your answer, please identify was it about the team’s activities that caused you to define them as the best?

2. What were the conditions that allowed winning teamwork to emerge and thrive?

3. What can we do to foster a higher level of winning teamwork throughout the library?

QuestionnaireDesign

➢Introduction

➢Instructions

➢Questions

Dream I

Create a dream/vision for each strength:

Exceptional Customer Service

... To foster exceptional service, we are enthusiastic, dedicated and knowledgeable. Our goal is there is no wait for service or for materials. Each customer’s problem becomes our own to solve. Exceptional service requires follow-through. Our success fosters customer loyalty. We create customers for life.

Transforming Lives, Strengthening Communities

Dream II

Draw on dreams to create vision and mission statements.

Vision: Why?

Mission: What?

Design

Customer ConversationsTo ensure that we continue to deliver exceptional service, we

will engage customers in ongoing conversations about their library experiences to fully understand their perceptions, expectations, and experiences. We will use this knowledge to continually strengthen service and ceaselessly co-create library experiences that are truly memorable.

Delivery

Expand the use of Facebook, Twitter and other social networks to encourage customers to share stories about their desires for meaningful experiences, how they use digital technology to create and share knowledge, and their relationship with SCLS.

Information Ecosystem

S O A R

Staff:

1. What are the most significant social, economic and technology trends shaping education? How should we address these trends in our curriculum?

S O A R

2. What should we do continue to meet the educational needs and wants of current customers and to attract new customers?

S O A R

3. What new and additional resources and support - training, technology, staffing and collaboration - will be necessary to ensure our continued success over the next five years?

Community

➢ Focus groups

➢ Survey

➢ Community Leadership Breakfast

Sources

Belfont, Lewis. “Service is Personal: The Howard County Library System Customer Service Program.” Customer Service in Libraries: Best Practices. Ed. Michael Messina and Charles Harmon. Lanham, MD:Scarecrow Press, 2013.

Bryson, John. Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations.3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass, 2004.

Gergen, Kenneth J. and Gergen, Mary. Social Construction: Enter the Dialogue. Chagrin falls, OH: Taos Institute Publication, 2004.

Cooperrider, David and Whitney, Diana. Appreciative Inquiry

Hammon, Sue Annis. The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry

Watkins, Jane Magruder and Mohr, Bernard J. Appreciative inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination

Whitney, Diana, Cooperrider, David, Trosten-Bloom, Amanda, and Kaplan, Brian s.

Questions