Using Sparkling Moments exercise

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Permalink Reply by Andy Smith on May 13, 2009 at 8:32

Hi Pat,

As soon as I read your first paragraph I thought "Appreciative Inquiry" - an approach that is very compatible with SF and shares a lot of assumptions, but explicitly foregrounds recognising, keeping and building on what is good in the old system before thinking about what to change.

I haven't seen the 'Sparkling Moments' exercise, but I think customising the generic Appreciative Interview format from AI would do what you want. There's a quick introduction to appreciative interviews on our AI blog.

Exploring what is already working, what people are proud of, and what has been achieved makes it easier for people to envision the future. It's a lot easier to imagine what the desired future should be like when that future is grounded in solid reference experiences of success.

Best wishes,
Andy

Permalink Reply by Pat Walker on May 17, 2009 at 16:38

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your reply. In the end I used a combination of Ai with SF questionning. Working in pairs, I put the participants into 4 groups where they asked their partner what was going well for them at work for them as individuals, their teams, their patients and the organisation.


This worked really well, built energy within the groups, generated a lot of discussion and changed the whole atmosphere of the session. I will repeat this again but will allow much more time for discussion at the end.

This is a Trust that has gone through a lot of organisational change in the last 18months with the ward leaders not used to positive talk or appreciative feedback so I think this approach was quite a cultural shock for them!

Best wishes, Pat.