2.2 Re-immersion
As discussed in Session 4, our appreciative approach means that we won’t have established fixed outcomes as part of planning that we can now measure and judge ourselves against. Instead, we need to start from the stories about what has actually occurred, including those aspects that have become important along the way.
In Section 2.1, you focused on your experiences either as an individual or as a group. But, just as you did in Session 2, you also need to continue to immerse yourself in your (new/different/developed) practices and how others are involved or experiencing these practices. In Session 2, you explored the idea of paying attention to others’ stories, noticing small details and finding opportunities that are emerging. This attentiveness requires us to carry on collating evidence, appreciating what is beginning to take shape. As with the previous activity, you may find it helpful to embed the following activity at regular intervals throughout your inquiry.
Activity 4 Appreciating what is forming
Organise a time where you immerse yourself in your inquiry journal. Take time reading and viewing its contents.
Either individually or as a group, spend time discussing the following questions. Ask one person in the group to concept map/draw or sticky note the conversations to capture key contributions and ideas.
- What’s taking shape?
- What are you hearing underneath the variety of opinions being expressed?
- What’s emerging here for you?
- What new connections are you making?
- What had real meaning for you from what you’ve heard?
- What surprised you? What challenged you?
- What’s missing from this picture so far? What is it we’re not seeing?
- What do we need more clarity about?
- What’s been your/our major learning, insight or discovery so far?
- What’s the next level of thinking we need to do?
- If there was one thing that hasn’t yet been said in order to reach a deeper level of understanding/clarity, what would that be?
(Adapted from Brown and Isaacs, 2005)
Once you have discussed the questions, consider the question, ‘Is this the dream?’ Has your collective dream changed? Or has it developed further? Make a note of emerging opportunities to extend and develop your inquiry in new directions as a result of your inquiries so far.
Comment
Do you find it tricky to do some of these activities at particular times of the day, or after particular tasks at work? Noticing when you are receptive and ready to engage in thinking about what is emerging, exciting you and intriguing you is a good way to plan when you might set aside time for inquiry activities. It isn’t always easy to do this, but there may be particular moments in our schedules or when we are in particular moods, where we know that appreciating, dreaming and evaluating is more challenging. The next section will consider other conditions which influence our inquiring.
As well as re-immersing as your inquiries dynamically shift, you also need to be responsive to the changing conditions in which your inquiries are taking place, as will be explored next.