Appreciative Voices in Times of Change

Better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate. Saint Thomas Aquinas

Ask any Appreciative Inquiry practitioner what AI is, and the words of St. Thomas Aquinas resound throughout their explanation: you will hear them talk about it as a process of active engagement that considers organisational change in the context of “what works” with a clear focus on strengths, not weaknesses. You will also hear about the way it highlights and elevates the core aspects that “give life” to the organisation. Most emphatically you’ll hear how AI illuminates the positive core within the organisation and delivers this in a way that results in positive change for individuals, teams, groups and communities. It does all this by creating an environment that supports and encourages individuals to be and to share their best through collective learning, especially in times of change. The transformational elements of narrative directed towards positive change are a key aspect of AI, especially as it elicits how we feel, how we comprehend our world, and the meaning we attribute to what is happening around us and within us. Every effort is made to create a discourse that inspires people to recognise and live their best.

The quote from Saint Thomas Aquinas is one that I have admired since my teenage years and have used as a mantra all my adult life. In many ways, my connection to Appreciative Inquiry stems from all that Aquinas’s quote elicits, emphasising the importance of discernment and contribution. This quote came to mind on New Year’s Eve 2020 while riding my bicycle around my neighbourhood and reflecting on the year that was. As I began to make my way home, I came across a huge mural painted on an old silo by a local artist, Loretta Lizzio. It is a copy of the iconic photo taken by Hagen Hopkins in March 2019 depicting the moment New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern embraced a Muslim woman several days after more than 50 people lost their lives in a terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand.

I looked for a good hour at the mural, trying to fathom the impact of what had happened, the lives lost, and the grief experienced by many. The image, along with Aquinas’s quote, stayed with me for the rest of the day and late into the evening. There has been so much grief around the world, especially in 2020 where we experienced numerous catastrophic incidents, including the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected almost everyone , and is expected to do so for years to come. As with any crisis, change is inevitable. One of the challenges is to try and comprehend what has happened in order to make sense of it while exploring ways to understand it that give hope for the future.

The true, the good, the better, the possible

The mural provides a glimpse of a way forward ,reflecting the kind of leadership that takes the time to embrace grief while understanding and planning for the challenges that lie ahead. This is where I see AI as an invaluable approach in times of crisis. As David Cooperrider puts it, appreciative leadership is:

…the capacity to see the best in the world around us… the capacity to see with an appreciative eye the true and the good, the better and the possible. (Creelman, 2001)

This is what I see in the mural: truth, empathy, hope and deep acknowledgement of what has occurred, yet a will and commitment to move forward with compassion. One of the defining points of wisdom of AI is that the question sets the direction; in his early research, David Cooperrider identified that: “…the more we started asking questions about the true, the good, the better, and the possible, the more we were able to participate in the creation of positive change” (Creelman, 2001).

Amplifying hope where hope has been diminished

Appreciative Inquiry is as much a world view as it is a strengths-based approach geared towards positive change, and therefore well positioned to amplify hope in times where hope has diminished. The effectiveness of AI stems from its consideration around what has been working well; that reality is created in the moment; and that people have more confidence moving towards the unknown (future) when elements of the known (past) are carried forward with them. This powerful experience of the connection between past, present and future along with questions designed to explore the true, the good, the better and the possible is instrumental in bringing about positive change.

Over the past five years I have had the privilege of engaging with AI practitioners located across the globe who have contributed articles to the AI Practitioner journal based on how they have approached challenges with an appreciative mindset, an appreciative lens and an appreciative voice. These practitioners have worked across many sectors, including the community, health, education and business. They have, indeed, illuminated more than merely shone, and delivered contemplated truths rather than merely contemplating!

I have included below a brief overview of inspirational work achieved by three Appreciative Inquiry practitioners. Their full articles as well as articles written by other inspirational AI practitioners are available at www.aipractitioner.com

PETRA VAN LEEUWEN | THE NETHERLANDS

AI and Strengths-based Social Work: Perfect Partners
AI Practitioner | Volume 18, Number 2 – May 2016

Homelessness

Equipped with questions that explored the true, the good, the better,and the possible, Petra Van Leeuwen and her colleagues in the Netherlands developed a strengths-based approach designed to support homeless women experiencing mental health and addiction problems. Entitled the “Eight Steps Model” (ESM), the women were assisted through individually tailored support plans that addressed their overall wellbeing. The model was so successful that 75% of homeless shelters across the Netherlands incorporated it into their care strategies. ESM was designed to see the person, not the problem. It was several years after developing the ESM that Petra learned about Appreciative Inquiry and adopted it into her practice. She commented that the ESM shares similar principles and processes to AI and they work perfectly together. A key aspect of the ESM is to consider a person’s strengths and the challenges that they face across significant areas of their life. The questions used are strength-based in nature, incorporating hopes, dreams and meaningfulness.

NELLY NDUTA NDIRANGU | KENYA

Cultivating Appreciative Communities
AI Practitioner | Volume 19, Number 3 – August 2017

Segregation

A fundamental aspect attributed to Appreciative Inquiry working toward positive change is its unwavering focus on the positive core. Nelly Nduta Ndirangu’s commitment to generate collaborative communities by identifying the positive aspects within each community, bringing them together and creating common ground through their differences is a heartening example of successful appreciative practice in times of segregation. Despite the history of ethnic divide, Nelly and her team used the AI process to identify and support the potential within each individual and in whole communities. Apart from working through the disparities across communities, the peace-building programs she has developed and implemented with her teams in Kenya have also extended to working with victims of post-election violence and resettlement programs for internally displaced families. Working closely with a team of counsellors through the Kimo Wellness Foundation, Nelly and James Karanja, a Taos associate member, lead the development of a tailor-made comprehensive AI trauma-based healing program for people traumatised by terrorism, landslides, road accidents and school fires.

GUDRÚN SNORRADÓTTIR | ICELAND

The Gift of the Human Spirit: Resilient greetings from your friends in Iceland
AI Practitioner | Volume 22, Number 2 – May 2020

Pandemic

In this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, good leadership is crucial for a hopeful future. Gudrún Snorradóttir highlights the importance of a solution-based mindset and harnessing the strength of community. The pandemic is a testament to the fact that we cannot always control what comes. However, when we come together with compassion and planning – and the right set of questions – we embolden each other to the point of positive action and a co-created environment of possibilities replete with shared meaning. Gudrún places great emphasis on human connection, the choice to be resilient, and keeping a clear focus on what we can control in the face of the pandemic. It is clear that the impact of Covid-19 will continue for some time to come, and it is here that Gudrún underlines the importance of good leadership that encourages and supports an environment that ensures collective wellbeing.

REFERENCES

Creelman, D. (2001) An Interview with David Cooperrider. Retrieved from
https://www.centerforappreciativeinquiry.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/interview-with-david-cooperrider_Center-for-Appreciative-Inquiry.pdf

Download the full article.

By Keith Storace

Keith is a registered psychologist with the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) and associate fellow with the Australasian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM). He has designed and implemented health and wellbeing frameworks across the community, health and education sectors. Keith’s current focus is on developing his work in Appreciative Dialogue (ApDi) to assist individuals in moving from self-doubt to inspired positive action.

On Fear

by Robert Neimeyer

In fear’s noose
we stiffen, freeze,
build walls between
self and other

We place ourselves
under a protective order,
lock down,
shelter in place

We sense threat,
pull back, cut off,
safeguard a self under siege

Fear is about
hardening the body,
focusing on the threat,
harboring the hurt,
running from imagined loss

It is about
fencing … distancing … censoring
saying goodbye

It is a world of
limits … orders … alerts … masks

In its grip
we strangle the life
struggling to be born

Acknowledge fear

On Faith

by Neena Verma

Faith
the quiet call of soul
an invocation for life
in grief and growth

We hold ourselves gentle
In our own embrace
snug and soft,
safe and strong

We sense life
and feel light
and sing in silence

Faith is about
being in surrender
to not-knowing,
and staying awake
to what wants to happen

It is about
sitting in awe and avowing
welcoming

It is a call for
letting-go and letting-come

In the darkest despair
hope illuminates
and life calls

Invoke faith

On Loss

by Neena Verma

In loss’s clutch
we writhe, wrench,
slide with despair
in cracks and crevices

We drown ourselves
in the ocean of despair,
lose breathe,
cry, search and yearn

We feel numb,
frail, fragile, frightened
longing for affirmation

Loss
stifles all senses,
blinds vision,
invades with pain
intrudes with grief

It is about
knocking on door
that wouldn’t open
about clutching-on

It is a cave
dark … dingy
fear… anger … sadness

In its grip
life gets smothered
yet wants to resurrect

Accept loss

On Love

by Robert Neimeyer

In love’s embrace
we soften, flow,
bridge gaps of
self and other

We usher ourselves
into broader fields,
open up,
invite others over for tea

We sense possibility,
step up, reach out,
affirm our common bond

Love is about
releasing the body,
broadening our vision,
remembering the joy,
sensing possible growth

It is about
doorways
meeting … sharing
saying hello again

It is a world of
play … touch
iguanas … elephants

In its caress
we nurture the life
yearning to be born

Choose love

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Book Appreciation by Neena Verma

Neena Verma, Ph.D., PCC is a scholar-practitioner of AI-based OD. She is an ICF-PCC credentialed coach, specialising in leadership, systemic and transcendence coaching. An accredited sensitivity trainer and certified AI practitioner, she has developed a number of coaching and OD models. As well as extensive editing experience, including the February 2013 and November 2016 issues of AIP, Neena has authored two books and numerous articles.

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Loss, Grief, and Attachment in Life Transitions:
A Clinician’s Guide to Secure Base Counseling

By Jakob van Wielink, Leo Wilhelm and Denise van Geelen-Merks

Routledge, 2020

ISBN – 978-1-5230-9401-1

Having read and benefitted from several books on the intense themes of loss, bereavement, trauma and grief, my search for a book that would offer subject knowledge, case-based understanding, food for reflection and practice toolkit all in one place was meaningfully fulfilled by the seemingly unassuming yet richly endowed book called Loss, Grief, and Attachment in Life Transitions. This book stirred my curiosity by its intriguing description – “an attachment-informed grief counselling framework and a new way of understanding non-death loss”. However, as I immersed myself in the book, it offered so much more than the promise that its brief description holds, helping me gain a nuanced understanding of grief work across various realms of loss and trauma.

Core Proposition

Grounding their proposition in the attachment theory of British psychiatrist John Bowlby, the authors explain the importance of taking a secure base (safety, care, inspiration, facilitation, energy) approach to grief counselling. Explaining the four-quadrant attachment styles as arranged on the simultaneous dimensions of “Self/Other” and “Avoidance-of-intimacy/Separation-anxiety”, the authors highlight the importance of a secure attachment style since the helping-professionals represent attachment figures in the context of grief counselling. Such a style balances a positive view of the self and others; low separation anxiety and low avoidance of intimacy; being available and being present; and caring and daring, thereby supporting the therapeutic process in a secure way.

The authors deftly weave together several concepts into a coherent model of a transition cycle which forms the framework for grief-counselling work that they teach with care and competence.

The six-faceted Transition Cycle model, the central concept of this book, guides secure base counselling work that helping-professionals can do with clients going through loss, grief and life-transitions. The authors explain each facet along with its flip side that is likely to manifest in case of solidified grief. These facets include – contact (flip side – isolation); attachment (flip side – detaching or clinging); intimacy (flip side – avoiding intimacy); loss and separation (flip side – denying loss and separation); grief and integration (flip side – resistance); and meaning reconstruction (flip side – meaninglessness, cynicism).

While their focus remains on explaining the healthy side, the authors take care to caution against labelling the flip sides as purely negative or unhealthy. Instead their advice to the helping-professional is to stay mindful of the natural oscillation that the clients may experience, and aid them in moving towards the ultimate goal of meaningful reconstruction.

Addressing a wide range of factors and differences such as the bio-psycho-social, emotional, relational, gender, age, and even acquired brain injury – the authors dwell at length on the duality of grief journey between its loss-oriented and restoration-oriented aspects.

Though all chapters of the book are richly relevant, the most valuable part of the book for me waited in chapter seven, devoted to meaning-reconstruction, the sixth and final facet of the transition cycle. Combining the dual-process model of Margaret Stroebe and Henk Schut with the meaning-reconstruction model of Robert Neimeyer, the authors present an insightful matrix to understand and practise meaning-reconstruction, explained along twin dimensions of loss/restoration-orientation and positive/negative meaning-making.

What stands out for me

The authors explore and explain the phenomenon of loss in its full dimensionality – both the locatable and tangible loss such as death, as well as ambiguous and less-tangible losses such as lost dreams, illness or an unfulfilled desire to have children. They also address primary loss, such as parents’ divorcing while a child is still young and its secondary manifestation such as resultant loss of sense of security or having to bear the reflected tension of the parental conflict.

The authors insist on maintaining a client-centered approach to grief work, underlining the responsibility that the helping professional must assume to honour the client’s natural way and pace while staying self-guarded to avoid – dispensing advice, problem-solving, clichés, diversion, dilution or leading questions.

Discussing the issue of resiliently coping with trauma, the authors pay attention to neurological development and the role of brain functioning. They also touch upon the possibility and dynamics of growth after loss. They explore the generally ignored and unacknowledged issue of grief in the context of work, delving into both the employees’ personal grief that organizations can help deal with through supportive employee care initiatives, and the organizations as a source of loss.

The final chapter of “dialogue” feels practically like a masterclass on attachment-informed grief work, offering elaborate guidance on designing a complete counselling program along with detailed tips about individual session dialogues. The book is richly endowed with meaningful and practical exercises. Having tried (with positive impact) some in my client work, I find it both difficult as well as unfair to pick one over the others. That said, I do wish to acknowledge with gratitude the virtual dream story exercise (Page 152) that impacted me immensely at a personal level.

This book offers a comprehensive resource to helping-professionals working with clients dealing with loss, grief, trauma and life transitions. The authors have thoughtfully designed each chapter with case-studies, knowledge segments, counseling dialogue transcripts, questions for self-reflection and exercises for skill-building. Competently combining theory and practice, the authors richly reference and build upon several research-grounded models. Their writing flows with ease, elegance, appeal and impact. I gained much more than my expectation. I highly recommend this book to not just the grief counsellors and coaches, but as much to those who are themselves coping with grief and trauma, to caregivers, and just about anyone keen to learn about attachment-theory guided grief work.

The book is easily available on all online marketplaces.

Jakob van Wielink, M.A., is an international grief counselor and executive coach. He is a partner at De School voor Transitie in the Netherlands, a faculty mentor at the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition in the USA and is affiliated with IMD Business School’s (Advanced) High Performance Leadership Program in Switzerland and Singapore.

Leo Wilhelm, M.Sc., is a grief counselor, author, executive coach and advisor to De School voor Transitie in the Netherlands.

Denise van Geelen-Merks, M.Sc., is a psychologist, coach and couples’ therapist, and is licensed for systemic work in the Netherlands.

Book Appreciation by Neena Verma

Neena Verma, Ph.D., PCC is a scholar-practitioner of AI-based OD. She is an ICF-PCC credentialed coach, specialising in leadership, systemic and transcendence coaching. An accredited sensitivity trainer and certified AI practitioner, she has developed a number of coaching and OD models. As well as extensive editing experience, including the February 2013 and November 2016 issues of AIP, Neena has authored two books and numerous articles.

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The How of Happiness:
A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want

By Sonja Lyubomirsky

Penguin, 2008

ISBN – 978-0-14-311495-6

Have you tried using Google to search for “happiness”? If not, let me tell you that you can expect over nine hundred million results. And have you tried searching for “happiness” books on Amazon? Let me tell you that you can expect over fifty thousand results.

Searching for a research-grounded, practice-oriented book on the subject, I  found several with an overly simplistic and rosy-eyed approach, but very few with substance. I picked The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky because this book offers an authentic guide on “happiness”, substantiated by scientific research, yet speaking to the heart as much as it speaks to the mind. From scholarly explanations, to the significance in the context of everyday life, to the myths muddling the phenomenon of true, abiding “happiness”, to helping the reader learn in simple and practical ways to create and sustain happiness for oneself … this book delves deep into all, and more. It is not often that I begin reading a book at the end. But the postscript on “If you are depressed” did not just evoke my curiosity but also affirmed my own belief that “happiness” and “depression” can be explored in a shared realm.

Core proposition

Happiness, the author suggests, is the “holy grail of life”. She offers a “forty percent solution” proposition, arguing that, while fifty percent of the difference in our happiness can be explained by our genetically determined happiness set-point (one’s innate characteristic potential for happiness) and ten percent by life-circumstances, as much as forty percent of our happiness is for us to create and influence ourselves through conscious and intentional effort – wisely choosing to live such activities that help us create, sustain and enhance our happiness.

Happiness, she argues, is more meaningful and deeper than what is depicted in the “ubiquitous smiley face and the inspirational posters”. As she explains, happiness is about the “experience of joy, contentment, a sense that life is good and worth living”, and an abiding wellbeing that each of us embodies in our own unique ways – whether through cheerfulness, serenity or productivity. The author insists that happiness is not an object out there to be found through a passive pursuit. It is rather an active life-process that we undertake to create and sustain happiness through conscious choice and intentional effort. She emphasizes that while life challenges do stress happy people as much as anyone else, their innate sense of wellbeing helps them cope and work through challenges with poise and strength.

Many readers may not need an elaboration as to why it is important to be happy. But I guess some may be curious to know how happy they are. The author shares a simple subjective happiness scale that she has developed to help one guess one’s happiness set-point. At first glance, this scale appeared simplistic. But as I read, I realized that each of the four simply worded statements is actually an invitation for authentic self-inquiry. If you like being honest with yourself, the scale would help you design a meaningful happiness project for yourself, especially if you also choose to rate yourself on the depression scale that follows immediately.

Delving into myths of happiness, the author explains why life circumstances are given little space on the happiness pie. Citing scientific research, the author clarifies that while genes have a strong influence (as much as fifty percent) on our happiness temperament, life events make little impact because humans tend adapt quickly and remarkably well to hedonic sensory or physiological changes. She assures readers that, though happiness set-points can’t be changed, it is nonetheless very much (forty percent) within an individual’s choice and ability to manoeuvre one’s happiness levels through the intentional effort of investing in undertaking “wisely selected” activities in sync with one’s personal make-up.

Along with the “forty percent solution”, “creation of lasting happiness” and “intentional effort”, a unique offering of this book is the concept of person–activity fit. The author shares a self-diagnostic test that she has developed to help one ascertain what happiness activities would best suit. Pursuing such wisely selected activities that serve one’s goals and strengths, according to the author, helps one stay motivated and make the desired intentional effort.

A treasure house of happiness

Part II of the book is a treasure house of happiness activities that would be a delight to both professionals and individuals interested in self-help alike. The rich platter of various happiness activities is sure to have at least one for each reader. I found several of these activities relevant and valuable for me. However, it is “forgiveness” that sang to my heart. While it is easy to argue why and how forgiveness helps, it is hard to practice forgiveness. The author gives practical and effective ways to practice forgiveness. Apart from practicing “imagine forgiveness” and “charitable attributions” strategies myself, I also used a couple of others with my coaching clients, helping them to not just forgive the transgressor but also seek release from their own emotional hurt.

Combined with the person–activity fit test, are the clustering of various activities, detailing of strategies pertaining each, discussion about timing and variation, and the scientific way to turn happiness-inducing behaviours into lasting habits. The author makes it very simple and easy to start practising these research-evidenced activities in actively creating and enhancing one’s happiness. Appendix 1 offers a quick reckoner of the various mutually supportive happiness-enhancing strategies.

The book’s distinctive appeal

What makes this book stand apart with engaging intellect and evocative appeal is author’s deft and appropriate blending of scholarly explanation and practical wisdom. The author explains profound concepts in simple, jargon-free and easy-to-relate-to language. She cites extensive research, offers practical advice and shares several moving stories. I felt particularly touched and inspired by Judith’s story: she “chose to be happy” and returned to college at age fifty-two despite having lived through difficult life circumstances and a likely low set-point for happiness.

Sometimes endings hide meaningful beginnings. This book’s postscript provokes one to take a fresh view of depression. Affirming a positive psychology proposition, the author makes a case for trying “happiness-increasing activities”, even for severely depressed individuals without necessarily waiting to be first cured of depression. While these activities may not cure depression, there is a strong likelihood that they “lighten the burden and darkness of depression”.

What else?

The book’s postscript evokes more than just curiosity. I am filled with respect for the author for her courageous choice of giving space to the very urgent and timely topic of depression in her happiness book. It would have been nice to read in greater detail about how conscious happiness creation and enhancement can help one face and work through depression. That said, I understand that this topic is complex and important enough to deserve a book exclusively devoted to the theme. I would keenly wait for that. Further, it would be interesting to learn if and how various happiness activities as elaborated in this book relate to the famous positive psychology character strengths. The author begins the book with Mary Oliver’s poetry. And I close this book appreciation with the same …

Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.
Mary Oliver

The book is easily available at online marketplaces and leading bookstores.

Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky is a highly respected positive psychologist and happiness pioneer. She is a distinguished professor and the vice-chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). She has done extensive research on “happiness” spanning her long career as a scientist and researcher in the field of psychology. She directs the Positive Activities and Well-Being Laboratory at the UCR. She has published numerous scholarly articles on happiness as well as two best-selling books, The How of Happiness and The Myths of Happiness.

It was a pleasure to meet Félix Viloria Landaeta at WAIC2019 in Nice, France last year, where he shared his moving and inspirational story which clearly resonated deeply with attendees. His inviting smile reflects the enthusiasm with which he embraces his work in the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) space. Félix is our contributor to Voices from the Field in this Issue of AI Practitioner, where explains his understanding of what it is to be appreciative, his growth as an AI practitioner, and the welcome influence his mother has had on what he eventually chose to do with his life.

Stories that boosted me: Appreciate, celebrate and value what is in you and in front of you, as it is

Félix Viloria Landaeta | Colombia

Félix Viloria Landaeta is a Venezuelan Appreciative Inquiry practitioner based in Colombia. In recent years, he has been dedicated to facilitating dialogues and accompanying leaders and organizations in building a more inclusive and humane vision with their work teams through the construction of an appreciative ethic. He is also an Appreciative Executive and Life Coach and Managing Partner of the firm Cresiendo Consultores.

Since I began in the world of Appreciative Inquiry, I have become aware that I live in a constant internal dialectic. Like any other person, I debate daily between the good or the bad, the beautiful or the ugly, what I like or what I don’t like. And I realize that that’s fine! But, in addition, I have gone a step further and have learned to ask myself, what do I do with that internal dialogue? Which side of the story do I choose to stay with? How do I put it at my service and at the service of the welfare of others?

What to do with the internal dialogue when you have grown up in a ‘think wrong and you’ll get it right’ culture?

I spent much of my corporate career supporting and leading strategic planning processes. I held on to the apparent “truth” that the worst-case scenario always had to be considered and, therefore, I always looked for the flaw in any idea. With the healthy intention of challenging the conversation, I focused on finding what was not right by listening to the negative, the doubts and fears that arose in my mind. This eclipsed the possibility of appreciating any proposal in an integral way. I was trained to identify failure. Even on a personal level, I was always aware of what was wrong or what could potentially fail. I was an expert in “pricking the balloons” of any idea. I measured my success on the number of proposals that did not pass my “filter” or the discussions I won by highlighting the weakness in the approaches of others. The balance of the dialogue was totally inclined towards the negative. While people appreciated the fact that I showed them what was not right in their plans, the way I did it was far from being perceived as good intention.

In March 2019, in a wonderful meeting in Barcelona generously organized by the IDeIA Network, I heard one of the facilitators commenting on how she, over many years, “had lived in the questions”. That phrase “woke up” in my reflection and made me realize that, with the practice of AI, I could learn to challenge ideas in a different way, letting go of the urgency to arrive at the correct answer and win the competition.

I continue to learn to use this negative internal dialogue of doubts and fears, and to put it at the service of asking questions that generate possibilities instead of making judgments, of focusing my intention on how to improve the idea, not how to discard it.

Listening consciously is a daily challenge. It has involved listening to the other from a space of openness and humility in order to identify the possibilities and, in addition, to listen to myself to identify when my internal dialogue moves me away from that purpose and to redirect it to the service of the objective.

Which side of the story do I choose to stay with?

Félix’s mother

By chance, I saw a video of the AQUARIUS IMPARABLE PROGRAM. In it, I heard the phrase “desire is not a matter of age” and I could not help but recall my mother’s life story. She died recently at the age of 82.

Her childhood wasn’t easy. She was the second of thirteen siblings of whom only five survived, which meant she became the older sister. Having lost her father at a very young age and with a widowed mother who was sick, worn down by pain, and without encouragement or enthusiasm meant that, from the age of eight, my mother had to work to help support the family.

Despite growing up in such a harsh environment, my mother told her story with joy, never with resentment or regret. Was there pain in her life story? I believe so. But I am convinced that she chose to keep what made her happy during those rough moments.

During my adolescence and then into my adulthood, she always told me “look at everything you’ve achieved so far, you can do it, you deserve it, go for it!” The life stories that she chose to share inspired me, encouraged me to develop, and convinced me to prosper and live a full life. I realize that, unconsciously and naturally, my mother had embraced the positive and flourished. Her enthusiasm for living, exploring and discovering new things was the driving force to who I am today and my choice to live and work appreciatively.

A little more than a year ago, my good friend Santiago Otero and I were in Argentina philosophizing about what it is to BE APPRECIATIVE and we managed to articulate this statement: “feel, think, talk, act and relate with others from the conscious choice of perceiving, recognizing and amplifying the valuable and meaningful in people, events and things”.

It was wonderful to be able to articulate the ability to “appreciate” as concrete actions, but even more wonderful was the fact of declaring it as a “conscious choice”. This gained a total relevance in my professional spectrum and, more deeply, a new perspective in my personal sphere. This conscious choice complements my listening. It invites me to reorient my internal conversation to strengthen my relational capacity; to retrain my brain to identify success.

Progressively, with the practice of AI, I have incorporated the daily choice of staying on the side of the positive, which makes me look at the negative from a different viewpoint and approach it with better energy. From this view, the negative serves as a reference to understand what I do want: to understand the other point of view, to form a criterion, to include, to learn. Only from there have I been able to support others to go through change, to leave behind conversations that lead to separation, and to find a point of convergence.

To exclude the negative is to exclude part of the story. With AI, I have learned to look at and embrace the negative with the intention and purpose of giving voice to the entire system in the organizations with which I work. My challenge has been how to refocus it, how to approach it so that in the end it results in realizing the longings and aspirations of those overwhelmed and seeking to achieve their dreams.

It is undeniable that considering organizational dynamics is just the beginning of working towards a different path in terms of the construction, rather than identification, of business opportunities. Moving from Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) to Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results (SOAR), for example, requires leaders to understand that it is not about concealing or eclipsing the negative, but looking at it from the perspective of opportunity and abundance.

How to put the internal dialogue at my service and at the service of the welfare of others?

One of the exercises I use in my consulting practice with clients, when conflict between parties is present, is designed to unleash the creative potential. This involves mapping the entire relational system and giving voice to each component through the construction of a map of empathy, an extremely helpful way to externalize the dialogues that occur within each team member. At first, they are resistant and afraid to open this space of putting themselves in the place of the other and to answer these questions: “What would they say? How do they feel? What do they think? What do they need? From where are they focusing the situation? What do they see?” Once they engage in this dialogue, they discover possibilities that were not as clear before. Listening to what they deem negative from their counterparts makes it possible to build what they want to happen, to find convergences and move towards the goal.

Inviting us to move from opposition to acceptance, however contrary ideas may be, allows us to recognize that we coexist with others, that their presence is a fact, and they all have a place in the system. This space of coexistence and cohabitation inspires a new look at the reconstruction of relational systems as it encourages listening to and recognizing the aspirations of all.

We have the power to use actions and words to judge and label, or to promote wellbeing. It is a choice that can crucially change the future of organizations and of us as human beings.

The more positive the internal dialogue, the more positive the emotion and, therefore, the more positive the action. The image we make to the world is a product of the oscillation of our thinking between good and bad. Daring to listen and redirect the internal dialogue – about ourselves, about others and about situations – takes us to the space of consciousness and connection.

In addition to loving our neighbours, we also must like and appreciate them. We need, then, to tell ourselves new stories that arouse that admiration. That can only be possible with openness and acceptance.

Download the full article.

By Keith Storace

Keith is a registered psychologist with the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) and associate fellow with the Australasian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM). He has designed and implemented health and wellbeing frameworks across the community, health and education sectors. Keith’s current focus is on developing his work in Appreciative Dialogue (ApDi) to assist individuals in moving from self-doubt to inspired positive action.

We invited those at WAIC2019 to share their thoughts and experiences in the form of short snippets, woven together below.

What did you learn or became aware of you didn’t know?

There were so many positive incitements to fresh ways of thinking, seeing and being.

I became aware of the transformation stories of many people, of the impact issuing from AI which these processes have around the world. I also liked the recognition given to the strides emerging in Latin America.

So many positive incitements to fresh ways of thinking, seeing and being.

The K5 keynote helped me see the potential for networking in the UK.

What is possible for you now that wasn’t possible before the 2019 WAIC?

I can re- think and strengthen my network and relationships based on the multiculturality.

I have discovered accelerated learning on new paths. The speed with which I was able to obtain breadth of knowledge in just four days is something that is rarely obtained in everyday spaces.

The opportunity to get to know different perspectives voices, and dreams coming from different hearts in different places, as well as the scope and ways of life from AI, have led me to make an important decision regarding my personal and professional life: I have decided to fully dedicate myself to enable processes from AI, adding to these processes elements of plastic expression. It is thus that I offer my services to those communities with whom I develop proposals for Appreciative Inquiry and Dialogues.

Gervase Bushe’s keynote gave me resources that I can pass on to a key person I work with because it will help them understand the difference between problem-solving and generative questions.

I learned a comprehensive new map of applications for AI; and addressing my concern about new and different ways to address and promote sustainable change, beyond the 5D cycle, in different areas.

What changed because of what you experienced at the conference to allow that to happen?

My confidence level increased as I shared the work I carried out with those communities affected by the 2017 earthquake in Mexico. It allowed me to receive feedback from several appreciative co-creators. As well, going into other AI action areas, for example: being able to offer civil organisms, foundations and schools, different approaches regarding community development. [Looking at] other ways to revalue relations and that recognize all possibilities before focusing on the problems allows for sizing their scope and growth.

I have gained so many new ideas and insights that I will use in my life in all its aspects.

I was able to get in touch with practitioners of great experience and with different idiosyncrasies. Through them, I could discover the singularities and similarities in what we do, both in organizations and with people.

What particular story that happened to you during the WAIC would you like to share ?

The most superb story from WAIC2019 for me is about my own awakening, my self-awareness, that is, the people, the stories, as well as valuing and understanding what being appreciative means. It is taking the whole and giving it other ways of living the experiences and taking from them the best in order to co-create my own story and inspiring myself from the best, and thus being able to expand this way of being.

It opened a new level of trust that reinforced my intention to position AI in Latin America as a philosophy to build kinder relationships and dialogues.

I now see AI not only as a platform for change through dialogue, but a very high-level strategic platform for re-design reality.

What came alive for you at WAIC2019?

I left feeling more confident to find more opportunities to use AI after WAIC.

We all are together to achieve a world mission, all together for great goals.

I am thinking of holding things more lightly, of coming from a fun place, when facilitating.

It really empowered me to keep going on creating a much more appreciative world. You can see how the community is real, in the sense of applying a methodology, and the values underlying that methodology.

It became much clearer to me that we are biography – individual as well as a collective story – narrative and the living out of our discoveries!

AI Practitioner to be published in August 2019

Topic Participation:

Participation is at the heart of learning, development and change. It is based on the belief that when people take ownership and responsibility for themselves and the world around them, we build better futures by connecting different dreams and ideas. Participation is, implicitly or explicitly, part of any AI process, and beyond AI as well.

In this issue on Participation we would like to bring together a whole diversity of approaches, views and experiences on designing and facilitating participative processes in different contexts, as a way of creating an overview, and being inspired by what is already out there. As well the issue will be a reflection and analysis of what works and explore future questions and challenges for participation.

When we think about new ideas that are being experimented with, we think of stories such as:

• The company that had to let go of 20% of its people and did so in a beautiful bottom-up, participative process.
• The city experimenting with its citizens not only co-deciding policies but taking renewed responsibility for what is going on.
• A peace process that brings together parties who once fought and killed each other to build a new future.

The August 2019 AI Practitioner issue will explore the concept of participation from three perspectives / questions:

1. Why are we talking about participation now and what is happening in the world at large that calls for more participation?
2. What are inspiring practices that have worked in organisations and/or businesses as well as the public domain?
3. What is the still-unknown territory for participation? Which intriguing questions or challenges ask for more practices or experiments on participation?

Call for Articles

We plan to publish three articles per question. In order to include the greatest diversity of practices, experiences and approaches we are looking for your contributions on one of the following topics or questions concerning participation:

• An article that takes a longer-term historical perspective on participation: what shapes has participation taken throughout the centuries, and in different parts of the world? What was it an answer to at different times?
• An article that reflects on an unfinished, or ‘failed’ initiative around participation: what can we learn from that? Despite everything else, what did work?
• An article that reflects on (direct) citizen participation (e.g. citizen budget, youth participation in climate change policies, …) in complex matters at regional or national policy making.  What do good practices teach us on how participation of citizens will/can evolve in the future?
• An article on the part technology is or is not playing in participation. Which new opportunities does it bring?

Ways to Contribute:

We are looking for articles from several perspectives: experts to reflect on their practice, idealists who will pledge their case for participation, representatives of different schools of thoughts who deepen their communalities and differences, and beginners in the field who bring their bewilderment to the table.

Your contribution can be in any format: an article, essay, interview or picture-story. Creative contributions and formats are definitely welcomed. The final written submission will range between 500 and 2000 words.  Art and graphics should be in high resolution and ready for publication. Poetry should be formatted for publication. Video links are also encouraged.

Submitting a Proposal/Draft:

Are you enthused by the thought of contributing to this issue? Is your brain already generating ideas and contributions?

Important Deadlines:

15 April:         Proposal or Overview/Outline of Contribution
6 May:             First Draft Due
3 June:            Final Article Due
5 July:             Contributors’ draft from managing editor of AIP for final comments from contributors

Special Edition Editors:

Arne Gillert (agillert@kessels-smit.com)
Pieterjan van Wijngaarden (pvanwijngaarden@kessels-smit.com)
Kris Snick (ksnick@kessels-smit.com)

There was no better place to be this year in February than Nice, France. The World Appreciative Inquiry Conference, brilliantly organised by the Institut Français d’Appreciative Inquiry and supported by the David Cooperrider Center at Champlain College, was a combination of great energy, thought-provoking plenary sessions and engaging workshops. It was my first WAIC as the Managing Editor of AI Practitioner, and meeting so many people who’ve supported AI Practitioner over the years was wonderful.

A particular highlight was the presentation at the Villa Massena of medals from the city of Nice to David Cooperrider and Ron Fry for the work they have done over the years.

AI Practitioner shared a stand with the David Cooperrider Center. Lots of people stopped by to say hello. The AI Practitioner daily draw for a free annual subscription drew people to the stand.

The opening plenary session, given by David L. Cooperrider and Lindsey N. Godwin, was on 8 Steps for Leading P.O.S.T.I.V.E. Change, an evolution of the article that they wrote for the AI Practitioner in June 2015, was a practical, entertaining and appreciative discourse on non-deficit, life-centric and full-spectrum strengths-powered change.

Other plenary sessions included Appreciative Living and Healing Conversations, led by Jackie Kelm and Tony Silbert; Prospecting for the Positive; and the first-ever plenary session given in English and Spanish, One-ness toward common good, led by Circe Peralta Huerta from Mexico, Lorena Merino Naranjo from Ecuador, Miriam Subirana from Spain and Felix Viloria from Columbia. The sessions were brilliantly documented by visual minuters.

Topics of the workshops ranged from Appreciative Inquiry and T’ai Chi (Eberhard Belz and Varje Sommerhage from Switzerland) through Appreciative Inquiry Questions to Bring out the Best in Families (Dawn Dole and Diana Whitney, USA)  to Generative Journalism (Stijn Govaerts, Bavo Wouters and Hans Vanderspikken, Belgium) and so many more.

The November issue of AI Practitioner, to be edited by a team from the organisers of WAIC, will be a re-evaluation, re-visioning and sharing of what has come from this 2019 conference. For those who were there, a reflection on their experiences. For those who weren’t, it will be a sharing of the rich and generative dialogues begun at WAIC2019.

We are looking for thoughts, reflections, photos and responses to keep the generative dialogue started at WAIC2019 going. To contribute, please go here.

Call for submissions
AI Practitioner to be published in February 2019

Editors:
Mette Jacobsgaard and Anastasia Bukashe

Theme:
An African Perspective on Appreciative Inquiry

The initial ideas that have become the AI practice were introduced in Africa in the early 1990s. One of the most significant contributions to this was the work of the USAID-sponsored Global Excellence in Management (GEM) programme funded by the US Agency for International Development from 1994 to 2000. The GEM Initiative became a living laboratory for sowing the seeds of AI in a number of African countries. Through the years much of what has become accepted AI practice was first developed in Africa. This story was told in the August 2011 issue of the AIP.

Twenty-five years after Appreciative Inquiry was introduced in Africa we are curious to know who is using the approach? What has the impact been? Is AI being used just as another technique or has it made sustained transformations? We are particularly curious to know from Africans in Africa who have taken AI on board. What impact and changes have been made? Are there innovations that can be attributed specifically to AI in Africa?

Focus of the issue:
Profiling the variety of sectors, issues and places AI is being used on the continent.

Questions for inspiration:
How have people in Africa contextualised AI?
How do you locate AI in the African context – what lessons are there?
What is the voice of AI in Africa? What are we learning?
How do we sustain AI in Africa?

Ways to contribute:
We are looking for written contributions including creative presentations and pictures. The final written submissions will range from 500 to 2000 words. Art and graphics should be in high resolution and ready for publication. Poetry should be formatted for publication.

Submitting a Proposal / Draft:
If you are excited to contribute to this issue please send a proposal to 101572.622@compuserve.com no later than 12 November, maximum 300 words. By 19 November 2018 we will let you know which proposals will be accepted and need to receive your first draft at the latest by 4 December 2018. The final draft will need to be completed by 8 January 2019 in order to publish the journal on 1 February 2019.