Imagine two groups talking about their futures.

One group is huddled around some discouraging facts: giving is down, employee morale is low, constituent loyalty is waning. This group is anxious over the question "How do we fix it?"

The second group is gathered around good news: gifts present and resources somehow multiplied. And the group is asking "What's next?"

How do we fix it? What's next? The first is the question of maintenance; the second the question of mission. Unfortunately most mission-minded groups are consumed with fixing things.

That's because corporate cultures and traditional strategic planning begin with the assumption that something is broken. And the tools of diagnosis, analysis and prescription are used to "solve the problem." While problem-solving offers some satisfaction, it's not an approach that generates energy to sustain change and commitment over time.

At Signal Hill we're interested in energy, the passion that sustains the effort. So we follow a soulful approach to strategic planning. We begin with the assumption that something is working. That means a Good Work is underway, that the "God Movement," as Clarence Jordan called it, is on the move. So we ask, "How do we participate in the Good Work already underway?"

Using Appreciative Inquiry, we ask "What's working well?" "When have you felt most alive?" "What does God value about this organization?" Out of their responses to these questions, participants develop "Provocative Propositions," goals for the organization that are not pie-in-the-sky fantasy but are rooted in experience.

The propositions are provocative because they will stretch the organization or take it to a new place. (Recall the mission question "What's next?") But the propositions are also practical. That means the goals are within reach. Moreover, practical means the organization has practiced this before. The goals are within reach because they are rooted in the participants' experience of good work.

To learn more about our Planning and Discernment Processes, contact Daniel Pryfogle at 919-460-7069.

To read Daniel's essay on "Appreciative Inquiry and the Church," click here.