Using Sparkling Moments exercise

[Pat Walker]

Hi Everyone
I'm faciliating a leadership programme for NHS clinical leaders and am planning to introduce SF at the Change Management workshop. I want to get across the importance of acknowledging endings i.e., not throwing the baby out with the bath water, but recognising and keeping what is already going well in the old system before introducing any new system.

I was thinking about adapting the Sparkling Moments exercise from 57 SF Activities book for a workshop exercise. However, I'm having difficulty thinking of an alternative to asking about a Sparkling moment. I'm thinking along the lines of 'what is one sparkling moment you want to keep from the old system?' How come this was sparkling enough to want to keep it etc? However, I'm unsure how to carry this forward with the partner to identify strengths though.

I have just joined this group and look forward to 'meeting' new people in the world of SF and learning and sharing from you. Any thoughts, alternative approaches would be mos welcomed.

Best wishes
Pat

[Andy Smith]

Hi Pat,

As soon as I read your first paragraph I thought "Appreciative Inquiry" - an approach that is very compatible with SF and shares a lot of assumptions, but explicitly foregrounds recognising, keeping and building on what is good in the old system before thinking about what to change.

I haven't seen the 'Sparkling Moments' exercise, but I think customising the generic Appreciative Interview format from AI would do what you want. There's a quick introduction to appreciative interviews on our AI blog.

Exploring what is already working, what people are proud of, and what has been achieved makes it easier for people to envision the future. It's a lot easier to imagine what the desired future should be like when that future is grounded in solid reference experiences of success.

Best wishes,
Andy

[Pat Walker]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your reply. In the end I used a combination of Ai with SF questionning. Working in pairs, I put the participants into 4 groups where they asked their partner what was going well for them at work for them as individuals, their teams, their patients and the organisation.


This worked really well, built energy within the groups, generated a lot of discussion and changed the whole atmosphere of the session. I will repeat this again but will allow much more time for discussion at the end.

This is a Trust that has gone through a lot of organisational change in the last 18months with the ward leaders not used to positive talk or appreciative feedback so I think this approach was quite a cultural shock for them!

Best wishes, Pat.