Appreciative Inquiry: focus on the positive to what extent?
How many times have people said to you "ABCD seems good in theory but by looking at the glass half full, you are ignoring the real issues!" or "You are looking through rose-coloured glasses!"
I have certainly heard it many times over the years...
In recent work with the Department of Defence's community office, my colleague,Graeme Stuart and I addressed this through exercises which looked at both needs and strengths of communities and encouraged people to look at the bigger picture! Most times, participants surprisingly found they ended up with 2 lists for 2 different reasons...
The 'needs' side listed services, organisations, departments, external supports which could help to address the needs in various ways and means...
The 'strengths' side listed a range of skills, abilities, internal and personal supports which people could use to address the needs such as; compassion, understanding, resilience etc...
I recently found this interesting article via LinkedIn which reminded me of this work:
Appreciative Inquiry is growing in popularity and use as a fast and effective approach to facilitating organisational change and to developing skills in groups and organizations.
Those who came into contact with the approach, or have heard of it, have learned that it is an approach with a strong focus on the positive.
However,to what extent should we focus on the positive?
What do others think? Do you find this in your work too?
updated by @dee-brooks: 10/24/16 04:46:48PM
