Strategic Planning through Appreciative Inquiry

Consider the following questions: If we were truly at our
best, what would that look like? Think to a time when you felt a sense of
accomplishment in your work; what were the circumstances? As we think about
planning for 2016, what is one thing you would do differently if you knew you
could not fail?

In early January we will embark together on a journey of
positive change that begins with developing our strategic plan.  Each member of UVAFinance will contribute
his or her answers to these and other questions, and in so doing define our desired
future state. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) will be the process we use to guide us
in strategic planning.

AI addresses an organization’s challenges by uncovering and
building on strengths and generating innovation and creativity to confidently
confront the future. AI is a genuine paradigm shift for organizational change,
grounded in behavioral science. Through AI, we will discover the values of our members
and other stakeholders and create an aligned vision and mission based on those
values. We will follow a process of Appreciating, Imagining and Realizing.

We begin with APPRECIATING
our strengths and the circumstances that lead to our highest performance. We
will discover the elements and experiences within our past that represent the
forces that enable us to operate at our very best. Once we have connected to
this positive core, we will move to IMAGINING
and visualizing a shared,
positive vision of the future that compels us to act. We will then move to REALIZING that vision, as we design and
then implement the strategies, processes, management systems, organization
structure, behaviors and culture necessary to support our future organization.

What AI is not: we will not be overlooking problems or areas
where we need to improve. We won’t be pretending that everything is perfect and
everyone happy. We won’t be squelching challenge, conflict or critique.  However, we will be making a choice to
reframe our weaknesses and threats in the context of managing those by
expanding our strengths and opportunities. We will be making a choice confirmed
by modern neuroscience—focusing on our strengths broadens and builds our
capability for individual and organizational high performance.

This has been a quick introduction to Appreciative Inquiry
and a brief overview of how we are going to complete a strategic plan that taps
into the collective wisdom, knowledge and passion of each of us. We will be
learning a lot more over the next few months as we come together. I’m confident
we will find this work energizing, exciting, and meaningful. Teams that have
learn the processes of AI and focus on positive change make life enriching
changes in the ways they work together.

Together, we will develop a plan to guide our future. We
will set a course of action creating new approaches and opportunities for
institutional growth and optimization while leveraging the uniqueness of our
culture. When this process is completed, we will each see our ourselves, our
roles, and our purpose in serving others that connects the mission of UVAFinance
to the University’s Cornerstone Plan.