Appreciative Interview

Instructions: Thank you for taking your time to be interviewed today. We are going to engage in this interview using what are called Appreciative Questions. The appreciative questions are designed to focus on the positive - to bring out positive stories and positive emotions. I encourage you to focus mainly on the positive as you share your story. If you can't think of a response for a particular question, we can skip it and move on to the next question. The questions are not meant to be rigid instructions; they are meant to generate meaningful stories.

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What Mission Trip(s) have you been on?
Discovery Phase
The discovery phase identifies and appreciates the best of “what already is” at Mission Possible. These questions hope to evoke thoughtful reflection on the “best of the past”and to consider the underlying factors, forces and conditions that helped make the best happen.
1) What would you describe as being a peak experience or high point in your involvement with Mission Possible? What were you working on? What happened?
2) What made this experience exciting and energizing?
3) What do you value most about your experience with Mission Possible?
4) What special talents or skills did you bring to this experience? Without being humble, what made you so effective and valuable to Mission Possible?
Dream Phase
The dream phase expands people’s sense of “what might be.” We now invite you to use your knowledge and excitement about the personal experiences unearthed from the Discovery questions to imagine what could be an ideal future. In the dream phase, we imagine new dimensions, outcomes, and results.
5) Imagine it is 2020 and the vision of Mission Possible has been fully realized. Mission Possible is looked at as a model for servanthood, charity, and effective advocacy of the poorest of the poor. Other 501c3 non-profit organizations have reached out to Mission Possible to learn best practices in the successful completion of mission projects.
5-a) What 3 changes were made to Mission Possible that were necessary to achieve these great heights?
5-b) What role could you have played in making this accomplishment possible?
Design Phase
The design phase begins the transformation from these stories, dreams, ideas, and feelings to actions and changes. Here, we want you to consider the ideas and images from the Discovery and Dream stages and think of actionables to help Mission Impossible realize new heights of engagement.
6) What 2 elements of Mission Possible should stay the same and what 2 elements should change that would result in a higher engagement of the people who have been involved with the mission?
7) Continue to reflect on ways that would improve participant engagement in Mission Possible. What would absolutely need to happen that could guarantee your future involvement with Mission Possible?
Destiny Phase
The Destiny Phase is to ensure that our shared dreams can be realized through a “blueprint” or desired actions/outcomes. To do this, we will move our conversation to specific action planning, scenario building, and role allocation
8) What small changes could happen right now that would result in your greater involvment with Mission Possible?
8-a) Who will provide leadership in these changes?
9) What specific ways would you like to contribute to realizing the goal of higher engagement?
10) What is the first thing that is needed to make this happen?
11) Is there anything else that you would like to add to this interview?

Appreciative Interview

Appreciative Interview

Discovery Phase

Dream Phase

Design Phase

Destiny Phase

Thank you so much for your participation!