Host an appreciative interview (a heart-to-heart conversation). An Appreciative Interview invites people to speak and listen with care, to appreciate the values and experiences each person brings; and to imagine a better future together.
Appreciative Interviews give people an opportunity to speak from personal experiences and give the gift of listening.
“We imagine a Citizen's Century where human connections are established on a vastly grander scale, as URI encourages. These connections will provide people with the relationship skills, spirit and creativity needed for a ‘change environment’ that the UN is calling for.”
__ Kee Tiow and Libby Traubman, Appreciative Interview Partners, 2015
Directions and Interview Questions:
Welcome the group. Open with a minute of silence or an opening of your choice. Explain the International Day of Peace (IDP), and identify the IDP theme, designated by the UN. In 2024 the theme is: Cultivating a Culture of Peace.
Directions: Give overview directions to participants. If using Zoom, move into break-out rooms in pairs.
- Each pair: choose the first interviewer. The first interviewer asks their interviewee the following questions, one by one, and listens to the responses. After 10 minutes, switch roles. When the second interview is complete, thank your partner, and return to the large group. Give the gift of listening.
- After the interviews are completed, return to the whole group and share highlights from the interviews. What did you learn? What touched you in listening to your partner?
Questions
- Peace Within - I would like to learn a little about you. Please tell me your name and where you are living now. Do you have a practice that helps you find peace within yourself? Without being too humble, what is it about you that contributes to peace?
- Peace with Another - Please share a story of a surprising relationship... someone you did not expect, perhaps a person from a different background or religion. What was rewarding for you about this relationship?
- Imagine Peace - What is a pressing problem that worries you? Imagine people gathering who want to resolve it. Imagine them connecting with each other to get the job done. Please describe your vision of people working together on this problem: Who are the people? What backgrounds do they come from? What skills do they bring? What are they doing? What is happening as a result of their effort?
Appreciative Inquiry is a philosophy and a methodology for positive change. It is founded on the simple assumption that human systems – teams, organizations, and people – move in the direction of what they study, what they focus upon, and what they talk about with regularity.
The essence of Appreciative Inquiry is then the study of what “gives life,” energy and vitality to organizations, teams, and people when they are at their best.