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Shorts: Appreciative Inquiry
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Andrea Corney
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Jul 28, 2002 16:44 PDT
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Welcome to the July 2002 issue of Management Shorts
Written by Andrea Corney (ACor-@acorn-od.com)
Published by Acorn Consulting (www.acorn-od.com)
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. INTRO: Getting Uncomfortable
2. MANAGEMENT SHORT: Appreciative Inquiry
3. GETTING STARTED: Tell Some Stories
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1. INTRO: Getting Uncomfortable
Like most people I love the IDEA of growth and learning, but I find the
REALITY pretty uncomfortable. It would be so much easier to lie back on the
metaphorical couch and watch soap operas! In the past few weeks I've had two
opportunities to get uncomfortable. And I've decided to choose to stay
uncomfortable and see what I learn in the process.
The first opportunity was signing up for Team in Training, a fundraising
program for the national Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Training for a 111
mile bike ride, raising funds, learning about the huge challenges faced by
people with blood-related cancers - I'm getting more uncomfortable by the
minute! But I'm committed. I've already learned what a huge difference the
fundraising makes in medical research - in the past 20 years the survival
rate for childhood leukemia has grown from 5% to over 80%. If only every
investment yielded that kind of return. And yesterday I talked with one of
our team honorees - Tom, who has leukemia, joins us regularly at training
events to talk about his experience and to provide support to us in our
training. When I thanked him for the support he gives us, he told me the
program was a life line for him; the only thing that kept him going. I can
already see that embracing the discomfort of this experience is going to
have a positive impact on my life as well as the lives of people with
blood-related cancers.
The second opportunity to get uncomfortable is the real topic of this
newsletter. (Finally) A colleague recently introduced me to a concept
called "Appreciative Inquiry". The basic idea is that positive thought leads
to positive action, so its most productive to spend your time thinking and
talking about what works, not what doesn't work. This goes against the grain
of so many of us who pride ourselves on being great problem solvers. How can
we fix things if we don't talk about and fully understand what doesn't work?!
Well, rather than dismiss it as pure Pollyanna, I decided to live with the
discomfort of a new idea that doesn't fit my preconceived notions. I'd like
to ask you to do the same for a few minutes.
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2. MANAGEMENT SHORT: Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry is a frame of mind that assumes you get more of whatever
you focus on. If you focus on problems, even with the goal of solving them,
you just get more of those problems. If you focus on what works, you get
more of that (and presumably that leaves less space for the problems).
Studies show that the brain tends not to hear negative words like "no" and
"not". A golfer who thinks "Don't hit the sandtrap" is really telling his
brain, "Hit the sandtrap". A golfer who instead thinks, "Hit the green" is
more likely to get the golf ball where he wants it. Have you ever noticed
that Tiger Woods only talks about what he is doing well? Even when an
interviewer asks about a mistake or problem, his response is positive.
Another example of how internal dialogue influences action is a study done
many years ago called the Pygmalion Project. For reasons that will become
obvious, a study like this would never clear today's ethics committees. In
this study, grade school children were randomly assigned to three groups.
Their teachers were told that Group 1 had been identified as high performers,
Group 2 as average students, and Group 3 as poor performers. In reality, all
3 groups had the same mix of abilities. Only the teachers had been given
this false information. At the end of the school year students in Group 1
had indeed done better than average in school, Group 2 had been middle of the
road and Group 3 had done poorly in school. The only difference was that the
teachers had a certain story in their head when they interacted with each
student!
Now apply this to the work setting. What story do you have in your head
about each of your direct reports or about your peers. Where did that story
come from? How long had you worked with each person before the story started
to form in your head? What might happen if you started thinking of each of
them as high performers? (Did you just wince at this suggestion? Embrace
your discomfort.)
I learned about Appreciative Inquiry at a retreat for a nonprofit board on
which I serve. We were developing a 10 year vision for the organization.
Members of the Board shared stories of times when the organization had been
at its best. These stories generated a lot of positive emotional energy and
creativity about what we could be in the future - all grounded in reality by
the specifics of real stories. It was a terrific experience with some great
outcomes - not just great ideas about where we should go as an organization,
but a lot of energy and enthusiasm for making those ideas come true.
This experience opened me up to the power of Appreciative Inquiry. I admit
I'm still a little uncomfortable about using this approach when the task is
problem solving and conflict resolution. Still, I've decided to live with
the discomfort and see where it takes me.
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3. GETTING STARTED: Tell Some Stories
There are many approaches to using Appreciative Inquiry, but the simplest is
to set aside some time for your team or group to share stories of real
events. Ask them to talk about a time when they experienced the team or
organization at its best (most effective, productive, creative, or any other
quality that matters to you). What was so great about the experience? How
did it happen? How did they feel about themselves and about the other people
involved?
Once you've shared your stories, ask the group to identify the factors that
made these stories possible. Push them to be as specific as possible. Was it
a level of coordination that had the team working like a well-oiled machine?
Was it specific training or resources that were easily available? Was it
seeing how the boss handled mistakes? Maybe a weekly staff meeting that
allowed rapid identification of upcoming challenges, a commitment to
supporting team members facing a crisis, or regular visits to customer sites.
List all the factors and ask the team to identify the most important ones.
Now ask the group how to increase these factors in your daily work. What can
each person do to allow the team or organization to function at its best?
On a smaller scale, think about a work or personal relationship that is
frustrating you. You've probably told the story of this relationship to a
few friends or co-workers. Try telling a new story that focuses on the
aspects of the relationship that work. Can you do it? Try again! Could you
talk with that person about what each of you could do to expand the parts of
the relationship that work? Rather than focus on all the things they do that
you don't like, talk about the positive action you'd like from them. So
instead of "don't leave your dishes in the sink!", how about "Please wash
your dishes before you leave the house".
As I write this I've got all kinds of "yes, buts" going through my head.
Even so, I've decided to experiment by telling myself a positive story about
the value of Appreciative Inquiry and seeing what happens if I choose to
believe it can be effective.
In future newsletters I'll be letting you know how this experiment goes - as
well as a few reflections on what we can learn about team building from the
Leukemia Society's Team in Training Program.
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Many thanks to Carole Robin, Ph.D., Senior Partner at Avista Consulting
(www.avistaconsultinggroup.com) for introducing me to Appreciative Inquiry.
Please forward this issue of Management Shorts to colleagues and friends who
could use a little "appreciation". (As opposed to "don't delete this e-mail
and forget about it"!)
Warm regards,
Andrea
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About Management Shorts
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Management Shorts is a free monthly newsletter for senior managers on
strategic planning, leadership, management and teamwork. Each issue brings
you a short and practical tool or idea that you can put into practice
immediately.
Copyright 2002, Acorn Consulting
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Acorn Consulting
"From Strategy to Execution: Helping Management Teams Get Traction on the
Critical Issues"
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in-@acorn-od.com
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