Go the appreciative way!

Whenever there is an important soccer match in my country, people seem to transform themselves into soccer experts. These 'experts' then mostly talk about what the team is doing wrong. This, unfortunately, is a way of thinking which is deeply ingrained in my country's culture. And not only on the soccer field.

Many organizations have the same outlook. If something goes wrong, the first inclination is to research the problem. Behind this approach lies the paradigm that the solution lies in the 'how' and 'why' of what went wrong. This is a traditional way of looking at things which usually doesn't solve the problem. If we look for problems, we will certainly find them. But by paying attention to them, we only serve to emphasize and amplify them. And in most cases we don't find the true solution and we sometimes even create new ones. Why is that?

David Cooperrider provides the answer. In the mid-eighties he challenged this traditional approach and called for a reversal. In other words to look for what works instead of looking for what does not work. His point of departure: everything grows when attention is paid to it — either in a negative or in a positive way. It's a natural law. The traditional approach often brings resistance and no profound change. The reverse approach creates energy and fuels a generative process, leading to opportunities for a successful solution.

It is this 'simplicity' which makes Appreciative Inquiry (AI) so effective, as twenty years of AI-experience has demonstrated. The difficult part of AI is applying it. As most people are fixated on problems, it doesn't come naturally but requires letting go of old habits and exploring new territories. A challenging process. But once you have taken this leap, the possibilities are endless. Imagine what could happen if you or your organization go the appreciative way?! Not to mention soccer fans and experts...........

Read more about AI in the Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry by Sue Hammond (www.thinbook.com)