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What we do is very simple:

We call it A to B coaching.
We help you or your organization get from A to B.

 



Here's how we do it

We find out what A is for you: where you are now.
We find out what B is for you: where you want to go.
Then we help you figure out the best way to get there.

 

A coach is a vehicle to get you from A to B

What is A for you? Where are you now?
What does B look like? Where do you want to be?
What resources do you need to help get you from A to B?
What are the next steps you can take today that will help move you towards your B?



We do this

  • in one-on-one coaching sessions

  • in leadership development workshops and on-going groups

  • and in organizational development and team building consultations

 

The trick, the art, of coaching

is to find the deep internal motivators that will sustain you in the journey to your B.

Many people have used "should's" to try to motivate themselves or others towards their B. This approach usually leaves people discouraged, stuck, and feeling smaller.

In our style of coaching, we help you find the deep reserves of energy that come alive when you touch on what is most important and of value for your life and your work.

 

Taking the next step is easy!

Call us at 346-9689 for more information

 



 


Group consultation break-out session
(Note the energetic smiles and shining eyes!)
 

KPCC offers professional and executive leadership coaching
as well as clergy coaching for pastoral leaders in congregational settings.



We offer one-on-one coaching
designed to connect your goals to your gifts and passions.
We also offer leadership development groups.

 

KPCC offers organizational development programs,
team building, mission and vision development, and congregational development,
as well as crisis support and positive critical incident management.

 


 

Here is what participants in our coaching, consultation, and training services are saying:

Education for pastoral visitors was very well presented and thought-provoking.
Yes. The presenter taught an introductory course in pastoral visitation/care for the Equipping the Saints program for the Episcopal Diocese of WV. He did a great job of connecting with the group . . . his teaching approach was great and the exercises he used to illustrate concepts were all well done. All around a good learning experience.
Your presentations and the discussions were excellent. As I mentioned I had just come from an Appreciative Inquiry conference on Small Rural Churches in London, Ontario and I was thrilled to spend more time participating in and learning more about AI techniques. I hope ETS continues to use you at our weekends.
Yes, The speaker you provided was most informative and interesting. His genuine caring and respect for the dignity of all persons was clearly evident.
Excellent presentations for Pastoral Care/Visitation from the presenter.
The weekend at "Bishop Hodges" was super! The Presenter presented information that we do not usually get - it was helpful and appreciated. 
The presentations at the Equipping the Saints weekend session were superb. The presenter was very engaging and handled the topic of suicide crisis prevention wonderfully.
Yes, it was very helpful to me especially with the issue we were dealing with in Work Group. It really assisted me in working through my concerns and issues and gave me some peace with the whole situation. Thank you so much for taking your time to be with us. I also thought the various exercises you led us through were very appropriate. Thank you and God bless.
The Appreciative Inquiry process was a dynamic and effective experience in identifying the critical factors of our organization's current state. The consultants enabled us in naming the essential values that define what we are about at our core, where we wish to go from this juncture, and set us on the path towards how best to get there. Thank you for a valuable experience.
Facilitation of a Work Group processing meeting around a very delicate topic. It was very well done. You were able to adapt your course of leadership to the needs that were evident in the group.
Yes, it was very helpful. You clarified issues and helped relieve guilt. It was great.
Our  Board of Ordained Ministry received a consultative service intended to help us process the emotions/relationships/events/Board actions over the past several months and help us build on a strong base to move into the future. The day was indeed helpful to the Board and I appreciated the willingness of the leadership to allow us to deal with past events in an open manner to begin the day.
Thank you very much for generously giving your time and expertise to facilitate our staff’s processing of feelings we are experiencing as a result of the major transitions at our Church. I felt a sense of catharsis personally, and intuitively within the group. This is something I would like to see our staff do more of.

 


 

 



Fees


Our fees are $135 an hour for private supervision and organization consultation.

We offer a special rate of $100 per hour for sponsoring businesses and supporting congregations.

Leadership development groups are $40 per person per 90 minute session for 10 sessions.

For more information, call us at 304-346-9689 or contact us.

KPCC Executive Director, Sky Kershner, is our lead coach.

 


 

To download a "KPCC Coaching Client Information and Agreement Form," click here.

 


 

Here is what Sky says about his strengths and his style of Coaching:

"I bring to my coaching enthusiasm and optimism. I love the Appreciative Coaching Process and have seen it work in my life and in the lives of others. I have a confidence in my abilities, and in the process, to be of value. I am willing and able to experiment with new ideas and techniques, and my clients benefit because the focus is on helping them reach their goals."

 


We use an approach called based on the model of "Appreciative Inquiry"

 

Definitions of Appreciative Inquiry

 

The following is a collection of definitions of Appreciative Inquiry which have developed over the years. We invite you to quote these definitions or develop your own. Let us know how people respond to these as you share them with clients, students, colleagues, and inquirers.


“Appreciative Inquiry is the cooperative search for the best in people, their organizations, and the world around them. It involves systematic discover of what gives a system ‘life’ when it is most effective and capable in economic, ecological, and human terms. AI involves the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to heighten positive potential. It mobilizes inquiry through crafting an “unconditional positive question’ often involving hundreds or sometimes thousands of people.”

Cooperrider, D.L. & Whitney, D., “Appreciative Inquiry: A positive revolution in change.” In P. Holman & T. Devane (eds.), The Change Handbook, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., pages 245-263.

“The traditional approach to change is to look for the problem, do a diagnosis, and find a solution. The primary focus is on what is wrong or broken; since we look for problems, we find them. By paying attention to problems, we emphasize and amplify them. …Appreciative Inquiry suggests that we look for what works in an organization. The tangible result of the inquiry process is a series of statements that describe where the organization wants to be, based on the high moments of where they have been. Because the statements are grounded in real experience and history, people know how to repeat their success.”

Hammond, Sue. The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry. Thin Book Publishing Company, 1998, pages 6-7.

“Appreciative Inquiry focuses us on the positive aspects of our lives and leverages them to correct the negative. It’s the opposite of ‘problem-solving.”

White, T.H. Working in Interesting Times: Employee morale and business success in the information age. Vital Speeches of the Day, May 15, 1996, Vol XLII, No. 15.

“[Appreciative Inquiry] deliberately seeks to discover people’s exceptionality – their unique gifts, strengths, and qualities. It actively searches and recognizes people for their specialties – their essential contributions and achievements. And it is based on principles of equality of voice – everyone is asked to speak about their vision of the true, the good, and the possible. Appreciative Inquiry builds momentum and success because it believes in people. It really is an invitation to a positive revolution. Its goal is to discover in all human beings the exceptional and the essential. Its goal is to create organizations that are in full voice!”

Cooperrider, D.L. et. al. (Eds) , Lessons from the Field: Applying Appreciative Inquiry, Thin Book Publishing, 2001, page 12.

“AI is an exciting way to embrace organizational change. Its assumption is simple: Every organization has something that works right – things that give it life when it is most alive, effective, successful, and connected in healthy ways to its stakeholders and communities. AI begins by identifying what is positive and connecting to it in ways that heighten energy and vision for change.” “…AI recognizes that every organization is an open system that depends on its human capital to bring its vision and purpose to life.” “… The outcome of an AI initiative is a long-term positive change in the organization.” “… AI is important because it works to bring the whole organization together to build upon its positive core. AI encourages people to work together to promote a better understanding of the human system, the heartbeat of the organization.”

Cooperrider, David L; Whitney, Diana; and Stavros, Jacqueline M., Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: The First in a Series of AI Workbooks for Leaders of Change, Lakeshore Communications, 2003, Pages XVII – XIX

AI involves, in a central way, the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to apprehend, anticipate, and heighten positive potential. It centrally involves the mobilization of inquiry through the crafting of the “unconditional positive question, often involving hundreds or sometimes thousands of people. …AI deliberately, in everything it does, seeks to work from accounts of the “positive change core” – and it assumes that every living system has many untapped and rich and inspiring accounts of the positive. Link the energy of this core directly to any change agenda and changes never thought possible are suddenly and democratically mobilized.” …As people are brought together to listen carefully to the innovations and moments of organizational “life,” sometimes in storytelling modes and sometimes in interpretive and analytic modes, a convergence zone is created where the future begins to be discerned in the form of visible patterns interwoven into the texture of the actual. …Images of the future emerge out of grounded examples from an organization’s positive past. … [This convergence zone facilitates] the collective repatterning of human systems.”

Cooperrider, David L, et. Al, Appreciative Inquiry: Rethinking Human Organization Toward a Positive Theory of Change, Stipes Publishing, 2000.

 

 


 

Clergy Coaching and Church Consultation
Appreciative Inquiry in Action 

Clergy Coaching for Growth and Excellence Using Appreciative Inquiry

  • Enhances pastoral leadership 
  • Builds upon the strengths of pastors striving for excellence
  • Focuses on discovering and strengthening a pastor’s best abilities
  • Defines and designs a more positive ministry
  • Promotes healthy growth in pastors experiencing personal and professional challenges
 

Clergy Coaching Opportunities 
  • Attaining\maintaining excellence in preaching and pastoral leadership 
  • Finding success in the first years of ministry 
  • Transitional leadership: changing pastorates  
  • Managing personal stress 
  • Increasing one's capacity for joy in ministry 
  • Moving into retirement 
  • Rising to the challenges of aging 
     

Church Consultation for Healing and Growth 

Appreciative consultation offers a holistic approach to developing healthy, vital, and engaged congregations by: 

  • Moving beyond deficit-based concerns, negative blaming and shaming
  • Facilitating positive change within congregations
  • Learning from a community’s best accomplishments and most precious values
  • Focusing on the best of what is, what might be, what should be, and what can be
 
 

This strength-based model generates commitment to a common future based on shared core values.  
The process involves:  

  • Positive framing: learning what is most important to the pastor(s) and congregation  
  • Identifying sources of vitality: gathering stories about life giving experiences that resonate in the heart and soul 
  • Discovering themes: finding and honoring similarities and differences  
  • Visioning the future: using spiritual gifts of memory, hope, inspiration, and joy create shared images of a preferred future 
  • Creating the future: agreeing upon innovative ways to realize church potentials 
     

Church Consultation Opportunities 

  • Planning to strengthen or expand ministries 
  • Formulating change plans and action processes 
  • Opening the pathways to progress 
  • Transitional congregations: grieving and anticipation

Many congregations can benefit from periodic revitalization and renewal. Appreciative Inquiry consultation is a way for congregations to identify inner resources to maintain and promote the vitality of church life.  AI can help congregations revisit their commitments to church life, recognize and honor their accomplishments, and renew their continued involvement. 
 

COACHING FOR EXCELLENCE IN MINISTRY

“I have known the joys and stresses of pastoral ministry. I relate to fellow ministers as professional colleagues. We explore together to find their next best steps in ministry.” 
 

LIVING INTO YOUR POSSIBILITIES 
 
 
COACHING FOR EXCELLENCE IN MINISTRY 

  
KPCC's coaching applies “Appreciative Inquiry” to help pastors turn their talents and strengths into a base for continued growth and development. The positive orientation of AI encourages finding and nurturing unrealized pastoral hopes and dreams. Clergy coaching is a step on the path to becoming all that you can be.

 

 


 

Clergy Coaching and Church Consultation

An Exegetical Model: Using Appreciative Inquiry Approach 
 

Appreciative inquiry enhances God’s call to pastors and congregations by focusing on innate leadership styles and God-given gifts and graces. Appreciative inquiry is a consultative models that facilities positive change. Based on: 
 

Discovery---understanding what pastors and congregations believe about themselves 
 

Curiosity—about the values and experience that bring life and satisfaction, i.e.; stories about life giving forces 
 

These stories about values, beliefs, and experience become themes to build upon because they resonate in the heart and soul 
 

Create shared images for a preferred future using spiritual gifts of hope, inspiration, and joy to imagine a preferred future 
 

Find innovative ways to create that future 
 

This process moves beyond negative blaming and shaming by focusing on the best of what is, what might be, what should be, and what can be 
 

Clergy Coaching Opportunities 
 

Coaching new pastors in their first years of ministry 
Transitional leadership: changing pastorates 
Coaching healthy pastors in churches on life support 
Coaching pastors with unhealthy behaviors 
Coaching pastors with diminished capacity for joy in their work, i.e., burnout 
Coaching retiring clergy 
 

Church Consultation Opportunities 
 

Transitional congregations: grieving and anticipation 
Consulting with congregations hurt by unhealthy pastors 
Consulting with congregations exhibiting unhealthy behaviors 

 


 

Definitions of Appreciative Inquiry

The following is a collection of definitions of Appreciative Inquiry which have developed over the years. We invite you to quote these definitions or develop your own. Let us know how people respond to these as you share them with clients, students, colleagues, and inquirers.


“Appreciative Inquiry is the cooperative search for the best in people, their organizations, and the world around them. It involves systematic discover of what gives a system ‘life’ when it is most effective and capable in economic, ecological, and human terms. AI involves the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to heighten positive potential. It mobilizes inquiry through crafting an “unconditional positive question’ often involving hundreds or sometimes thousands of people.”

Cooperrider, D.L. & Whitney, D., “Appreciative Inquiry: A positive revolution in change.” In P. Holman & T. Devane (eds.), The Change Handbook, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., pages 245-263.

“The traditional approach to change is to look for the problem, do a diagnosis, and find a solution. The primary focus is on what is wrong or broken; since we look for problems, we find them. By paying attention to problems, we emphasize and amplify them. …Appreciative Inquiry suggests that we look for what works in an organization. The tangible result of the inquiry process is a series of statements that describe where the organization wants to be, based on the high moments of where they have been. Because the statements are grounded in real experience and history, people know how to repeat their success.”

Hammond, Sue. The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry. Thin Book Publishing Company, 1998, pages 6-7.

“Appreciative Inquiry focuses us on the positive aspects of our lives and leverages them to correct the negative. It’s the opposite of ‘problem-solving.”

White, T.H. Working in Interesting Times: Employee morale and business success in the information age. Vital Speeches of the Day, May 15, 1996, Vol XLII, No. 15.

“Appreciative Inquiry [is] a theory and practice for approaching change from a holistic framework. Based on the belief that human systems are made and imagined by those who live and work within them, AI leads systems to move toward the generative and creative images that reside in their most positive core – their values, visions, achievements, and best practices.” “AI is both a world view and a practical process. In theory, AI is a perspective, a set of principles and beliefs about how human systems function, a departure from the past metaphor of human systems as machines. Appreciative Inquiry has an attendant set of core processes, practices, and even ‘models’ that have emerged. In practice, AI can be used to co-create the transformative processes and practices appropriate to the culture of a particular organization.” “Grounded in the theory of ‘social constructionism,’ AI recognizes that human systems are constructions of the imagination and are, therefore, capable of change at the speed of imagination. Once organization members shift their perspective, they can begin to invent their most desired future.”

Watkins, J.M. & Bernard J. Mohr. Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination, Jossey-Bass, 2001, pages xxxi - xxxii

“[Appreciative Inquiry] deliberately seeks to discover people’s exceptionality – their unique gifts, strengths, and qualities. It actively searches and recognizes people for their specialties – their essential contributions and achievements. And it is based on principles of equality of voice – everyone is asked to speak about their vision of the true, the good, and the possible. Appreciative Inquiry builds momentum and success because it believes in people. It really is an invitation to a positive revolution. Its goal is to discover in all human beings the exceptional and the essential. Its goal is to create organizations that are in full voice!”

Cooperrider, D.L. et. al. (Eds) , Lessons from the Field: Applying Appreciative Inquiry, Thin Book Publishing, 2001, page 12.

“Appreciative Inquiry is a form of organizational study that selectively seeks to highlight what are referred to as “life-giving forces” (LGF’s) of the organization’s existence. These are “ – the unique structure and processes of (an) organization that makes its very existence possible. LGF’s may be ideas, beliefs, or values around which the organizing activity takes place.”

Srivastva, S., et al. Wonder and Affirmation, (undated from Lessons of the Field: Applying Appreciative Inquiry, page 42.)

“AI is an exciting way to embrace organizational change. Its assumption is simple: Every organization has something that works right – things that give it life when it is most alive, effective, successful, and connected in healthy ways to its stakeholders and communities. AI begins by identifying what is positive and connecting to it in ways that heighten energy and vision for change.” “…AI recognizes that every organization is an open system that depends on its human capital to bring its vision and purpose to life.” “… The outcome of an AI initiative is a long-term positive change in the organization.” “… AI is important because it works to bring the whole organization together to build upon its positive core. AI encourages people to work together to promote a better understanding of the human system, the heartbeat of the organization.”

Cooperrider, David L; Whitney, Diana; and Stavros, Jacqueline M., Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: The First in a Series of AI Workbooks for Leaders of Change, Lakeshore Communications, 2003, Pages XVII – XIX

AI involves, in a central way, the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to apprehend, anticipate, and heighten positive potential. It centrally involves the mobilization of inquiry through the crafting of the “unconditional positive question, often involving hundreds or sometimes thousands of people. …AI deliberately, in everything it does, seeks to work from accounts of the “positive change core” – and it assumes that every living system has many untapped and rich and inspiring accounts of the positive. Link the energy of this core directly to any change agenda and changes never thought possible are suddenly and democratically mobilized.” …As people are brought together to listen carefully to the innovations and moments of organizational “life,” sometimes in storytelling modes and sometimes in interpretive and analytic modes, a convergence zone is created where the future begins to be discerned in the form of visible patterns interwoven into the texture of the actual. …Images of the future emerge out of grounded examples from an organization’s positive past. … [This convergence zone facilitates] the collective repatterning of human systems.”

Cooperrider, David L, et. Al, Appreciative Inquiry: Rethinking Human Organization Toward a Positive Theory of Change, Stipes Publishing, 2000.

“Appreciative Inquiry is a form of action research that attempts to create new theories/ideas/images that aide in the developmental change of a system (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987.) The key data collection innovation of appreciative inquiry is the collection of people’s stories of something at its best…. These stories are collectively discussed in order to create new, generative ideas or images that aid in the developmental change of the collectivity discussing them.”

Bushe, Gervase, “Five Theories of Change Embedded in Appreciative Inquiry,” presented at the 18th Annual World Congress of Organization Development, 1998.

“AI is intentional inquiry and directed conversation and story-telling that leads to a place of possibility. Possibility is fresh, new, and sacred. The story is the genesis of all that is human. Societies are stories, as are companies, schools, cities, families and individuals. There are bricks and mortar and flesh and bones, but all of it comes from a story. Even the flesh and bones of one person comes from a story of two people uniting to form another. I can think of a many moments where groups reached a profound spot with Ai and touched a sense of freedom. Usually one person would say something like, "From what we heard in these stories, we could_..." and there follows a collective deep breath and then silence as people consider the new "we could". Possibility sits in the room as a space of silence and then thought fills the space. Where does the thought that enters at that time, which has a feeling of vitality and newness, come from? It does not come from the person who spoke because that person would not have developed that thought without the conversations that led to synapses firing in a certain way. The thought is not merely a product of the collective because an individual must form the thought. The thought comes out of relationship, conversation, and newly created images. This "thing called Ai" is one of the finest ways to experience the power of language and to hone our skills with words, ideas, and stories. There are times when the possibility is so stunning the group has to sit in silence if just for a couple ticks before saying, "well, yes, maybe, why not, let's do it." There must be a gap that arises in the field of the known to entertain the unbridled possibility of novelty. There is a break in the routine story and supporting conversations so something new can creep in. This is the opening where novelty can arise. With no gap, we only have the billiard ball predictability of continuity. The openness to new ideas is not coerced. People don't have to force each other to listen to other's ideas and possibilities: minds are opened because the nature of the stories are so compelling and energetic.”

Steinbach, John. Contribution to the AI Listserve, July 2005

 

                             
                                    
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Last modified: April 22, 2008  

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