Discovery Systems

More about the Allison Group's methods

Appreciative Inquiry

Recent research into the behavior of people and social systems documents the fact the interventions which focus on individual and group strengths and what is going well can dramatically improve results.

Appreciative Inquiry was first developed at the Case Weatherhead School of Management Appreciative Inquiry by Dr. David L. Cooperrider and Dr. Ronald Fry.

Appreciative Inquiry programs are improving results in many sectors.

For example, since 2004, Appreciative Inquiry has been used as one of the primary  methods for annual Leaders Summits at the United Nations. Attending these summits are CEOs from companies like BP, Daimler-Chrysler, Goldman Sachs, Hewlett Packard, Starbucks, and Volvo as well as civil society and UN leaders.

The Insights Learning & Development and
the Discovery Profile Report

The Allison Group is one of the few companies to incorporate the Discovery System in its human potential and organizational development programs.

Highly validated and reliable, the Insights Discovery™ Instrument was created in the United Kingdom to help organizations increase their productivity, communications, and relationships.

Over 1 million people have used this instrument in 25 languages around the world.

The Allison Group chose the Discovery Instrument
because, in addition to its statistical validity, it is practical, easy to use, and improves our clients' productivity immediately. And the changes stick.

Based in Dundee, Scotland, Insights Learning & Development, Ltd., founded in 1988 by father and son
team Andi and Andy Lothian, enjoys a presence in over
30 countries and boasts a suite of materials available in
over 25 languages.  Insights has established itself as a leader in the field of people and organizational development.  Their offering includes personality profiles, competency diagnostics, e-learning programs and facilitator-led learning.

To see a sample of Discovery profiles, click here.

INSIGHTS, INSIGHTS DISCOVERY and INSIGHTS WHEEL are Registered Trade Marks
© Andrew Lothian 1992-2005, Insights, Dundee, Scotland. All rights reserved.

Systems Thinking

All human organizations are systems.

A system becomes something more that the individual parts of the system are able to generate on their own.

Systems thinking helps us to look at relationships and patterns of behavior.

It directs our attention to seeing and understanding the results of our activities (feedback).

The Allison Group integrates systems thinking into all out program design to help clients set up positive feedback loops which reinforce effective performance.

Among the many important contributors to the development of systems thinking are Yaneer Bar-Yam (Making Things Work: Solving Complex Problems in a Complex World, 2005 and Dynamics of Complex Systems, 1997), Ervin Laszlo (Systems Thinking 1972, and Peter Senger (The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, 1990).