In March, 2005, twenty Directors of the Wisconsin State Horse Council came together as a team at Upham Woods Environmental Center in Wisconsin Dells to spend two intensive days creating the prototype for the WSHC Strategic Plan.
Guided by Kathleen Haas (Community, Natural Resource and Economic Development Educator for UW-Extension Columbia County) and Peggy Nelson (PL Nelson Associates, LLC), the team began an appreciateive journey using "Appreciative Inquiry" (AI) to facilitate the plan creation.
AI is a process used "to appreciate means to value-to understand those things of value worth valuing. To inquire means to study, to ask questions, to search. AI is, therefore, a collaborative search to identify and understand the organization's strengths, potentials, greatest opportunities, and people's hopes for the future".
The AI process incorporates specific rules for communicaiton including:
- Respect self and others
- Create space for everyone to participate
- One person talks at a time
- Listen, ask, and be curious
- Agree to disagree. Use dialog, not debate.
- All ideas have validity.
While a number of the team members had been through a guided planning process before this, the majority felt the AI approach provided a positive framework that enabled the goup to create positive, attainable goals for the future without losing the core strengths of the organization.
As a part of the process, the WSHC Survey results were reviewed and the information was incorporated into the goals for the future. Thank you to all who participated in the survey!
The next steps in the planning process have already begun with the sharing of information from the survey and the Retreat with all Directors who were not able to attend the March Retreat.
