The Questions We Ask
February 16, 2007 at 12:47 am (activism, appreciative Inquiry, communication, community, creative visualisation, creativity, education, inspiration, inspirational, leadership, life coaching, psychology, spiritual, spiritual journey, spirituality, transformation)
I took a one day workshop last weekend that totally blew me away. It is a new approach to facilitating groups who want to resolve specific problems. What we usually do in these situations is define the problem, talk about the problem, and then try to fix the problem. Our focus, from the moment that the discussion begins, is on the negative, on the deficits. Who did what to whom? Who is dysfunctional? How is this system unfair? It is like giving a kid a hammer. Soon everything becomes a nail! This is where we go for solutions.
Appreciative Inquiry asserts that our future is shaped by the questions we ask. You get an entirely different conversation, and an entirely different outcome, by beginning with “What is right here?” instead of “What is wrong?” Appreciative Inquiry begins with an examination of what is working, and then builds on that. For example, when a consulting firm applied Appreciative Inquiry to Avon Mexico’s problem with chronic sexual harassment complaints, the firm began with a study and interview of cross gender teams at Avon that were amiable. The results were amazing! Stories poured in from cross gendered teams discussing how they dealt with the tough issues of attraction, power, the glass ceiling for women, etc. Management models were created based on the studies of what was working already. A few years later, Avon Mexico was given an award for the best company for female employees!
Appreciative Inquiry taps the potential of what is already there. It releases positive, life affirming energy that cannot come forth when we focus only on what is wrong. Inquiry and change are not truly separate events. They are simultaneous. The nature of a question determines what results can show up. A question anticipates an answer. It is like a projector that organises all conversation, all possibilities, forward to an anticipated conclusion. Positive, expansive, inspirational and community building questions will produce….guess what? Positive, expansive, inspirational and community building results!
This is a highly simplified introduction to Appreciative Inquiry- but maybe one that will invite you to explore it further. I know that I will continue to research this exciting breakthrough in our understanding of what is possible for human potential.
The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but seeing with new eyes.
-Marcel Proust
If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never.
-Kierkegaard
You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions. -Naguib Mahfouz (Nobel Prize Winner)
spasmicallyperfect said,
February 16, 2007 at 8:03 am
Thanks for sharing this NH. I’ve come to the conclusion a few years ago that there must be a different, more positive way to things in general and this suggestion is aligned with many of the ideas I’ve been looking at. It’s amazing how once we change our attitude (eyes) how it shines light on spots we could never have seen before. It’s like coming across all these important websites like yours…..
I’ve found that, too, Spas. Our attitude both shapes how life shows up for us and also largely generates our future. It is exciting to me as I learn more about how this happens.
in2l said,
February 16, 2007 at 8:45 am
As a highly paid problem solver for the past 24 years this seemingly simple notion makes a lot of sense. The notion of focusing on “Best Practises” in other companies and industries is still fairly new in the business world. For many years the notion was that “if it wasn’t invented here often by the company founder) it can’t be as good as what our highly paid, smart problem solvers have figured out”.
We as a country can take a lesson from this, we should be doing appreciative inquiry into how other countries have succeeded with problems like multi-culturalism, alternative lifestyles, drug addiction, etc. We should be looking inside our cities and towns at the best of the best at handling difficult community problems.
Good topic, I would love to hear more.
Ps. That child is absolutely awe-ful, don’t you think?
Thanks for your insight. It is the same in our personal lives, yes? We think we can get good results doing more of the same stuff that produced bad results!
davidzinger said,
February 16, 2007 at 8:56 am
I stumbled across your blog today. What a wonderful collection of pictures and prose. I stumbled and I stayed and I will enter your blog into my bloglines account to keep following it.
I appreciate your thoughts and images. Keep up the exceptional posts.
David
Thanks, David. I checked you out, too, and found a really great motivational blog. Great ideas of how to use our passions in our work. Thanks.
Suresh Gundappa said,
February 16, 2007 at 4:12 pm
As a Investment banker one of the things I have to focus is on positives of a new venture rather than negatives of an Entrepreneur. It helps me to change my perspective in job.
You are an investment banker! Suresh, you have so many talents and accomplishments! I have a tendency to be overly cautious with money, too. It helps me to look harder at the positive possible outcomes of my spending and investments, and many have paid off surprisingly well. I then look back on my worries and fears and think how easily they could have stopped me from making a good decision.
Grace said,
February 17, 2007 at 12:33 am
A question anticipates an answer. It is like a projector that organises all conversation, all possibilities, forward to an anticipated conclusion. Positive, expansive, inspirational and community building questions will produce….guess what? Positive, expansive, inspirational and community building results!
^^^^ What an amazing read & insight!! Thank you so much for this post - it comes at a very timely point in my life…and reminds me of the power of Gratitude and Positive Perspective…
I had the same reaction at my workshop, Grace- this came at a perfect time for me. Every time that I am ready to grow, the means to really escalate my thinking and actions shows up. ah, **synchronicity****
knightofswords said,
February 17, 2007 at 9:33 am
Synchronicity! I’ve been thinking about this concept–without having a name for it–a lot recently, looking mostly at the nature of choice. We often say that even within the confines of the mainstream view of reality that people can proactively choose ABC rather than XYZ. Yet they do not think of ABC because they have said “my life is all screwed up” instead of saying “let’s make a list of the things I’m doing right.” I like the term “appreciative inquiry” because it frames the world so postively.
It seems like such a small thing when you first hear it- just look at what is going right as a springboard into the conversation. But I have found that it opens completely new realities to just start with “what is right here.” And then, “how can we generate more of that?”
in2l said,
February 17, 2007 at 8:17 pm
knightofswords - Just had this conversation with my wife. I was discussing not volunteering for a project in my community because I have this notion of how things always seem to go and happen just in time or not enough.
However, when I started describing the end-result, that is, lots of money raised or happy families gathering for a large dinner, the past looked a lot different to me and the potential for doing good work looked more hopeful.
When I appreciated the good aspects rather than the negative aspects of this experiences my whole outlook on the realm of what was possible changed!
Great example!
desiree said,
February 17, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Yes this makes perfect sense! We are what we think about so it stands to reason if you are focusing on the negative then you are not going to get the best results.
exactly.
The Round Table said,
February 17, 2007 at 10:01 pm
[...] February 17th, 2007 in Uncategorized Natural High recently posted an entry about the concept of appreciative listening, showing that we’re more [...]
To Dream « Living Life Fully said,
February 17, 2007 at 11:10 pm
[...] Appreciative Inquiry, the questions we ask are a means to discover our hidden best potential. We look at our peak moments, our best times, and [...]
Tomas said,
August 1, 2007 at 4:30 am
Your post is just stunning. Thank you. While reading your blog I got the answers to my questions: I asked myself what is positive in my mess, and thus I have encountered just incredible riches that I had in my poverty. Wow.
Thank you.