Appreciative Inquiry: Leadership in Context

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Appreciative Inquiry Leadership in Context

• Leading Transition
• United Nations University
• International Leadership Institute
• Maria Fernanda T. da Costa

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Our day today

• Introduction of AI main concepts
• Experience of AI intervew about Leadership in
  Context
• Group work crafting images of future leadership
  in the world
• Presentations

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What is Appreciative Inquiry?
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• A Positive Revolution in Change

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The Birth of Appreciative Inquiry

• I think the seed of the question emerged on me
  when was junior in College. And it was a very
  powerful experience for a young man to visit the
  site of the first atomic bomb. And I felt some
  powerful feelings and it felt like an atomic bomb
  of awareness was going off inside of me...

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The Birth of Appreciative Inquiry

• And the awareness was shaking me away to the
  miracle of life of this planet, to the fragile
  and the whole miracle of life on this planet
  thats in our hands more than we think...

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The Birth of Appreciative Inquiry

• And so a question came to me at that time
• What in the social sciences
• might be as positive in the process of human
  relationships and as powerful
• as the atomic bomb is in the negative sense?
• That was the seed of Appreciative Inquiry

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The Birth of Appreciative Inquiry

• The world isnt a problem to be solved but
  its a miracle to be embraced.
• If we can cultivate this awareness everyday, and
  begin to raise awareness of what is it that gives
  life to human systems, we might be able to help
  that process of building more and better life.
• David Cooperrider

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• Begin with David Cooperrider Suresh Srivastva
  in 1987...

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And now is all over

• United States
• Canada
• South America
• United Kingdom
• Europe
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Africa
• Asia

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What Is Appreciative Inquiry Used For?

• Dialogue with people
• Take ownership from past experience
• Involve whole organisation or community in change
• Build a vision for the future that everyone can
  share and help put into practice

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What Is Appreciative Inquiry Used For?

• Strategic Planning
• School Improvement
• Action Research
• Evaluation
• Mentoring Performance Management
• Leadership Training
• Community Development
• Customer Service / Client Satisfaction
• Culture Change Transformation

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Some examples...

• United Religions Initiative
• Roadway Express, GTE, Hunter Douglas
• Nutrimental Foods Brazil
• U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Avon Mexico
• The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia
• Discover Nepal
• The Whaiti School New Zealand

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Ap-preci-ate (verb)

• Valuing...
• the act of recognizing the best in people or the
  world around us
• affirming past and present strengths, successes,
  and potentials
• to perceive those things that give life (health,
  vitality, excellence) to living systems
• To increase in value, e.g. the economy has
  appreciated in value
• Synonyms valuing, prizing, esteeming and
  honouring

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In-quire (kwir) (verb)

• the act of exploration and discovery
• to ask questions to be open to seeing new
  potentials and possibilities
• Synonyms discovery, search, systematic
  exploration and study

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Deficit Theory of ChangeAnd How Pervasive.

• Identify problem
• Conduct root cause analysis
• Brainstorm solutionsand analyze
• Develop action plans/intervention

• Metaphor Organizations are problems to be solved

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Cultural Consequences of Deficit Discourse

• Fragmentation
• Few New Images of Possibility
• The Experts Must KnowDependence and Hierarchy
• Spirals in Deficit Vocabularies
• Breakdown Relations/Closed Door Planning
• Note For More see Ken Gergen Realities and
  Relationships Harvard University Press.

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Appreciative Inquiry is a Shift...
Organizations Are Centers of Human Relatedness,
Alive With Infinite Capacity, Strength
Possibility
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What would you call it?(all these things taken
together)

• Tacit Wisdom
• Core competency
• Visions of possibility
• Vital traditions
• Positive macrotrends
• Social capital
• Strengths Business ecosystem e.g. strengths
  suppliers, partners, customers

• Achievements
• Strategic opportunities
• Technical assets
• Innovations
• Elevated thoughts
• Best practices
• Positive emotions
• Financial assets

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The Positive Core
AI systematically and collaboratively creates a
knowledge link between the entire system and the
life-generating core of past, present, and future
capacitiesand this ignites change
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The 4-D Cycle
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• No problem can be solved from the same level of
  consciousness that created it. We must learn to
  see the world anew.

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• There are only two ways to live your life. One
  is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is
  as though everything is a miracle.
• Albert Einstein

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Principles of Appreciative Inquiry

• Constructionist Principle
• Simultaneity Principle
• Poetic Principle
• Anticipatory Principle
• Positive Principle
• Wholeness Principle

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Constructionist Principle Words create Worlds

• The language we use shapes our reality

From The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry, by
Sue Annis Hammond
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Constructionist Principle Words create Worlds

• Words Are Tools
• To a hammer
• everything
• is a nail!

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Simultaneity Principle Inquiry creates change

• The act of asking questions influences the
  outcome in some way

From The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry, by
Sue Annis Hammond
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Simultaneity Principle Inquiry creates change

• Reality is created in the moment and there are
  multiple realities

From The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry, by
Sue Annis Hammond
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Poetic Principle We can choose what we study

• Organizations, like works of art, are endless
  sources of study and learning

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Anticipatory Principle Image Inspires Action

• What we focus on becomes our reality

From The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry, by
Sue Annis Hammond
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Anticipatory Principle Image Inspires Action

• Human systems move in the direction of their
  images of the future
• Positive image leads to Positive action

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Positive Principle Positive Questions Lead to
Positive Change

• Brings out the best in people
• Inspires positive action
• Creates possibilities
• More sustainable
• magnectic work environments
• X
• low morale

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Genius is in Creating the Question

• What would the universe look like if I were
  riding on the end of a light beam at the speed of
  light?
• (Albert Einstein)

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Six main areas of research

• Powerful placebo
• Pygmalion effect
• Positive affect learned helpfulness
• Imbalanced inner dialogue (21)
• Positive imagery as a dynamic force
• Affirmative capability

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Leadership tips from David...

• You know, a couple of years ago I met Peter
  Drucker and asked him, What is your definition
  of good leadership? He said, Its very simple.
  The task of the leader is to create an alignment
  of strength that make peoples weaknesses
  irrelevant.

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Leadership tips from David...

• Three Facts About All Human Beings
• Exceptionality
• Essentiality
• Equality of Voice and Vision

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Acknowledgements

• A debt of gratitude is owed to the CWRU
  Apreciative Inquiry website and all its
  collaborators, specially
• David Cooperrider
• Cheri Torres
• Sue James

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• Maria Fernanda Teixeira da Costa
• Phone [phone]
• Mobile [phone]
• mariafernanda_at_elosbrasil.org.br
• http//www.elosbrasil.org.br
• http//appreciativeinquiry.cwru.edu/