Hunter Douglas
Window Fashions Division: Focus 2000

Focus of the Appreciative Inquiry: Mobilize Employees, Customers, Suppliers and the Community to create a Shared Vision of the Future

Client Organization
Hunter Douglas Window Fashions Division in Broomfield, CO is the nation's leading manufacturer of high-fashion, energy efficient window coverings. Years' worth of explosive growth led the leadership to launch a culture change initiative to engage and develop the company's fast-growing workforce, and to transport knowledge and innovation across the organization. Over a five year period of inquiry and change, "Focus 2000" transformed the company's culture, strategies, and business processes.

Client Objectives

• Engage all stakeholders in creating a shared vision for the organization's future

• Foster cooperation, trust, and mutual support across silos and hierarchical boundaries

• Build current and future leadership

• Enhance creativity and commitment

What was done
The process began with a year-long inquiry to generate "a vision for Hunter Douglas in the new millennium." This inquiry - which engaged all employees, as well as a representative group of customers, suppliers, and community members - resulted in immediate positive changes that benefited both the workforce and the organization itself. Then over the next four years, additional AI training and inquiry focused on transforming the company's strategic planning and business processes.

Outcomes
Within a year, production and productivity had both improved, particularly in the departments or teams that had most fully embraced the AI philosophy and practice. Operations improvement suggestions increased 100 percent throughout the division - which in turn positively impacted both quality and internal customer service. Employee satisfaction scores, particularly related to communication, improved by 10%. Retention increased by 7% and continued to increase over the coming three years, despite almost nonexistent unemployment in the local job market.

In the same period of time, voluntary participation in professional development activities increased by 100%, with a particularly significant increase among hourly and production employees. Similarly, on-site research by a Masters Candidate from Pepperdine University tracked the following improvements, as a result of the Appreciative Inquiry initiative:

• Employees' understanding of organizational goals

• Employees' understanding of how their work fits with the organization's goals

• Employees' commitment to the organization's goals

• Employees' sense of ownership for their work

• Employees' motivation to be productive, innovative, and creative

Four years into the initiative, the division president estimated a 15-20% improvement in the bottom line as a result of ongoing work with Appreciative Inquiry. He concluded that the savings had flowed from the increased speed with which ongoing, everyday changes could be made: a powerful positive effect of increased employee understanding of and support for the business of the business.

For further information, contact Amanda Trosten-Bloom, Corporation for Positive Change, 303-279-2240, amanda@positivechange.org.

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