Sue Annis Hammond and Cathy Royal, Editors, Lessons from the Field: Applying Appreciative Inquiry, Revised Edition. Thin Book Publishing, 2001.
Referenced in: Strategies for Church Renewal – Whole Systems, Large Groups
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This book discusses Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a Whole Systems approach to organizational renewal that has been useful in many churches. When church leaders introduce new methods to key decision makers, a common question is, “Do you know of places this has been tried, and how did it work?” For AI, the extended case study in Branson’s Memories, Hopes, and Conversations, and the numerous anecdotes in Mead and Alban’s Creating The Future Together, are helpful. This book also delivers an extensive collection of essays and case studies of AI applications. As described by the publisher, “The authors generously share rich details of how they approached situations with Appreciative Inquiry and how it worked. Sections include case studies, community application cases, application of theory, theory and resource.” Of special value for church leaders is Greg Banaga, “A Spiritual Path to Organizational Renewal: The Christian Spiritual Dimension to AI” (pp. 260-271), which may provide theological seeds to conceive AI in a congregational context. Consult the Resource Guide for additional works on AI and other Whole Systems approaches.
From the Publisher
Appreciative Inquiry begins an adventure. The urge and call to adventure has been sounded by many people and organizations, and it will take many more to fully explore the vast vistas that are now appearing on the horizon. But even in the first steps, what is being sensed is decisive new direction in our language and theories of organzation transformation – an invitation as some have declared to a “positive revolution in change.” More than just a “fieldbook,” this volume is aiming at something higher. Its meta-message is about building learning community, and the need to dramatically reduce the time lag between innovations in the field and our free and open sharing with each other as creators, colleagues, co-theorists and co-conspirators.
About the Authors
Sue Annis Hammond is a Change Management Consultant with a unique combination of extensive consulting and entrepreneurial experience. She has more than 20 years of consulting experience, including 10 years of internal work at Meredith Corporation and Principal Financial Group, 12 years of external consulting, and six years as an entrepreneur.
Sue is a nationally recognized expert in Appreciative Inquiry, a process that changes the focus from finding out what is going wrong to discovering and expanding best practices in organizations. Her first book The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry is a national bestseller, with sales in excess of 125,000 copies. Sue started Thin Book Publishing in response to the book’s success and customer requests for more “thin books”. The company is devoted to publishing “just in time” cutting-edge knowledge for organizational clients. Thin Book Publishing currently has four books in print, two of which have been honored with industry awards. Her latest book is co-authored with Andrea B. Mayfield and is called, The Thin Book of Naming Elephants: How to Surface Undiscussables for Greater Organizational Success.
Sue completed a Masters of Organizational Development at Bowling Green Graduate School of Business, where she was the 1991 Minninger Foundation Fellow. She also holds a B.A. and a M.A. in English from SUNY Fredonia, and currently lives in Bend, Oregon.
***For additional information on this resource, including reviews, click the bookstore links. Check the reference at page top or the links below for resource guides on related topics.***
See Resources on Over 100 Areas of Ministry Leadership: