Articulating the Dream of an Organization’s, Future

The first stage of this process, creating the image of the most desired future for the organization, is the time for questions and dialogue about questions, such as the following:

• What is the world calling for our organization to be?
• What are the most enlivening and exciting possibilities for our organization?
• What is the inspiration that is supporting our organization?

Collectively envisioning an organization’s future based on its successful past is to weave the web of meaning that endures—continuity, novelty, and transition. To engage in dreaming and envisioning is to invite organization stakeholders to go beyond what they thought was possible. It is a time for them to push the creative edges of possibility and to wonder about their organization’s greatest potential. This is the time when the organization’s stakeholders engage in possibility conversations about the organization’s position, its potential, its calling, and the unique contribution it can make to global well-being.

For many, this is the first time they have been invited to think great thoughts and create great possibilities for their organization. As the various stories of the organization’s history are shared and illuminated, a new historical narrative emerges, one that engages those involved in re-creating the organization’s positive history which, in turn, gives life to its positive future. Thus, this fourth core process is both practical, in that it is grounded in the organization’s history, and generative, in that it seeks to expand the organization’s potential.

It is this aspect that makes Appreciative Inquiry different from other visioning or planning methodologies. As images of the future emerge out of grounded examples from its positive past, compelling possibilities emerge precisely because they are based on extraordinary moments from the organization’s history. These stories of unique and joyful moments are used like an artist’s paint to create a vibrant image of the future.

In more traditional approaches to futuring, there would be an attempt at this point to reconcile differences or find common ground among the dreams of the future. AI, however, is guided not by the reductionist models of the old paradigm but by the constructionist principle and the heliotropic hypothesis. The constructionist principle holds that it is through our conversations that we create the images and frameworks that will guide the actions that create our future. The image of an organization, held in mind and conversation, both drives and limits its activities. To expand, enhance, or change an organization, its image must be reconstructed through conversations among key stakeholders. The heliotropic hypothesis suggests that people and organizations, like plants, will move in the direction of that which is most life-giving.

This first stage of articulating the dream usually focuses on descriptions of the organization’s culture, how people are relating to each other, and the overall feel of the organization. The “product” of this stage is a set of expressions or visual images (songs, skits, collages, etc.) that describe the larger “vision” for the organization and a written statement, called a “provocative proposition” or, if that term seems too risky, a “possibility statement,” that describes this overall or macro image/vision of the organization.

An example of the image of the macro vision as described in a “provocative proposition” written by an international accounting firm follows:

“Our company is poised for a positive future because partners at all regions share a basic common vision in relation to the firm’s core missions, intent, and direction. It is an exciting, challenging, and meaningful direction that helps give all partners a feeling of significance, purpose, pride, and unity. The firm uses whatever time and resources are needed to bring everyone on board and thus continuously cultivates ‘the thrill of having a one firm feeling,’ of being a valued member of one outstanding national partnership.”

And another example from a large manufacturer of automotive parts states:

“We have created an organization where everyone experiences themselves as owners of the business—where everyone at all levels feels the organization is theirs to improve, change, and help become what it can potentially become. [Our company] recognizes there is a big difference between owners versus hired hands. Ownership at our company happens in three ways: (1) on an economic level it happens when everyone is a shareholder and shares in the profit; (2) on a psychological level it happens because people are authentically involved; and (3) on a business level it happens when the ‘big picture’ purpose is shared by all, and all take part at the strategic level of business planning.”