The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change - Softcover

Whitney, Diana; Trosten-Bloom, Amanda

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1576752267 ISBN 13: 9781576752265

Verlag: McGraw-Hill Education Ltd, 2003

Inhaltsangabe

A compelling guide to "Appreciative Inquiry" introduces readers to one of the most popular approaches to organizational change. Original.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Diana Whitney is the president and co-founder of the Corporation for Positive Change - an International center for Appreciative inquiry education and consultation.

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What Is Appreciative Inquiry?
We are no longer surprised when clients ask, “Appreciative what? What do you mean by Appreciative Inquiry?” After all, the words are a somewhat unusual, if not paradoxical, addition to a business vocabulary that revolves around strategy, structure, problems, and profits. After learning more about the power and potential of Appreciative Inquiry, however, our clients declare, “We want to do Appreciative Inquiry, but we will definitely have to call it something different for it to catch on in our organization.”
Appreciative Inquiry is the study of what gives life to human systems when they function at their best. This approach to personal change and organization change is based on the assumption that questions and dialogue about strengths, successes, values, hopes, and dreams are themselves transformational. In short, Appreciative Inquiry suggests that human organizing and change at its best is a relational process of inquiry, grounded in affirmation and appreciation. The following beliefs about human nature and human organizing are the foundation of Appreciative Inquiry:
 People individually and collectively have unique gifts, skills, and contributions to bring to life.
 Organizations are human social systems, sources of unlimited relational capacity, created and lived in language.
 The images we hold of the future are socially created and, once articulated, serve to guide individual and collective actions.
 Through human communication—inquiry and dialogue—people can shift their attention and action away from problem analysis to lift up worthy ideals and productive possibilities for the future.
Words create worlds, and the words Appreciative Inquiry are no exception. Clients have named their Appreciative Inquiry initiatives The Zealots Program, The Power of Two, Value-Inspired People, and in the case of Hunter Douglas, Focus 2000. In each case the company brand has endured—along with the words Appreciative Inquiry. As people understand more about the principles of Appreciative Inquiry and begin to experiment with its practices, they realize how radically positive and subtly different it is from business as usual. To fully describe and understand Appreciative Inquiry, consider the meaning of each of the two words.
Appreciation: Recognition and Value Added
Appreciation has to do with recognition, valuing, and gratitude. The word appreciate is a verb that carries a double meaning, referring to both the act of recognition and the act of enhancing value. Consider these definitions:
1. To recognize the best in people and the world around us.
2. To perceive those things which give life, health, vitality, and excellence to living human systems.
3. To affirm past and present strengths, successes, assets, and potentials.
4. To increase in value, as in “the investment has appreciated in value.”
Indeed, organizations, businesses, and communities can benefit from greater appreciation. Around the globe, people hunger for recognition. They want to work from their strengths on tasks they find valuable. Executives and managers long to lead from their values. They seek ways to integrate their greatest passions into their daily work. And organizations strive regularly to enhance their value to shareholders, employees, and the world. But Appreciative Inquiry is about more than appreciation, recognition, and value enhancement. It is also about inquiry.
Inquiry: Exploration and Discovery
Inquiry refers to the acts of exploration and discovery. The spirit of inquiry is the spirit of learning. It implies a quest for new possibilities, being in a state of unknowing, wonder, and willingness to learn. It implies an openness to change. The verb inquire means:
1. To ask questions.
2. To study.
3. To search, explore, delve into, or investigate.
Inquiry is a learning process for organizations as well as for individuals. Seldom do we search, explore, or study what we already know with certainty. We ask questions about areas unfamiliar to us. The act of inquiry requires sincere curiosity and openness to new possibilities, new directions, and new understanding. We cannot “have all the answers,” “know what is right,” or “be certain” when we engage in inquiry.
To continue to succeed, organizations need more inquiry. They need less command and control by a few and more exploration of possibilities among many. They need less certainty in their usual plans and strategies and a greater capacity to sense and adapt quickly as their world changes. They need leaders who can acknowledge what they don’t know and who will enthusiastically ask provocative and inspiring questions.
For Appreciative Inquiry to be effective, however, not just any questions will do. Questions must be affirmative, focused on topics valuable to the people involved, and directed at topics, concerns, and issues central to the success of the organization. When appreciation sets the direction for inquiry, the power of Appreciative Inquiry is released.
The Catalytic Effect of Appreciative Inquiry
Like the elements hydrogen and oxygen—which combine to make water, the most nurturing substance on earth—appreciation and inquiry combine to produce a vital, powerful, and catalytic effect on leadership and organization change. By tapping into accounts of organizations that are functioning at their best, Appreciative Inquiry unleashes information and commitment that together create energy for positive change.
Hierarchies all too often exclude those people most significantly impacted. Appreciative Inquiry turns those hierarchies into knowledge-rich, relationally inclusive, self-organizing enterprises. This change is powerfully illustrated by British Airways. After September 11, 2002, most airlines needed to cut costs and reduce headcount as demand for air travel declined drastically. British Airways Customer Service in North America was no exception. However, their prior experience using Appreciative Inquiry led them to involve people in determining how best to reduce the workforce. People explored one another’s career hopes and dreams, suggested options, and volunteered for sabbaticals, job sharing, and part-time positions. Appreciative Inquiry created a context for people to be included and heard throughout the difficult and challenging time.
Appreciative Inquiry turns command-and-control cultures into communities of discovery and cooperation. For example, a year into our work with one long-term client, we asked an employee to tell what had happened. This is what he said:
Before Appreciative Inquiry if the R&D group wanted to run a prototype on my machine, they would go to my supervisor, who would review the schedule and tell me when to do it. Now, they come to me directly and together we work out the best time to do it.
This organization moved beyond authoritarian styles of management, liberating people to create together what they knew was best for their customers, the business, and themselves.
When we began working with GTE, an organization that had earlier laid off thousands of employees, morale was at an all-time low. Conversations at all levels in the organization were about “ain’t it awful,” “what’s wrong around here,” and “why it won’t get any better.” We created a process that invited employees to use Appreciative Inquiry to make the organization a better place to work—and they did. Thousands of employees were trained in the Foundations of Appreciative Inquiry, Front-Line Leadership Using Appreciative Inquiry, and Appreciative Union-Management Relations. After their training, front-line employees at GTE self-organized a wide range of initiatives,...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: McGraw-Hill Education Ltd
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2003
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1576752267
• ISBN 13: 9781576752265
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 270
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar