I learned something new today. It’s called Appreciative Inquiry. Heard of it? Until today, I had not.
According to Wikipedia: “Appreciative Inquiry is an organizational development method that seeks to engage all levels of an organization (and often its customers and suppliers) in its renewal, change and improved performance. It may be particularly applicable to organizations facing rapid change or growth.
“The method is based on the fact that questions tend to focus attention. Excessive focus on dysfunctions can actually cause them to multiply or become intractable. By contrast, when all members of an organization are motivated to understand and value the most favorable features of its culture, it can make surprisingly rapid improvements.”
If I am interpreting this properly, it’s the act of focusing on the positive and purging the negative. Rather than dwell on problem-solving or what’s wrong with an organization, it zeroes in on what is going right and thus will teach the organization to build on the successes.
I love the idea. It reminds me of something my grandfather used to say: “Good things happen to those who expect good things to happen.” I’m not sure whether he was a Norman Vincent Peale fan (the “Power of Positive Thinking” guy) but it wouldn’t surprise me given the sentiment.
I wish the business world (and the world in general) could focus solely on the positive but, and I’m not following Appreciative Inquiry theory here, I doubt it’s very practical. For it to work, all levels of the organization need to embrace it – from presidents to administrative assistants. However, if any link in the chain goes negative and eschews the method, it will fail. That requires a lot of faith, too much faith in my opinion.
It’s similar to Stephen M. R. Covey’s book, “The Speed of Trust,” which says that business would be a lot better off (and much more efficient) if we could simply trust others to do their jobs. If everyone trusted more, the world of work would be a better place. I completely agree, but again all levels must be included. Everyone needs to trust and be trusted or it won’t work. Again, how practical is this?
Business is tough, filled with political maneuvering, negativity and, often times, deceit. It would be nice to think that we could give positivity and trust a bigger seat at the table.
I’m trying to be more positive in all aspects of my life because being negative is just too easy. Do you care to join me? Let’s do it together: be more positive and trust more and then report back here in a few months…
