Need To Re-energize Your Organization? Try A Strength Based Approach.

It’s been tough. We had to downsize. Everyone’s been working longer and harder. Morale’s kinda down. People are tired.

Sound familiar? There’s a lot of this going around. The recession has been a long, tough slog. The recovery is coming, but it’s not here yet. How, in this environment, can you help people re-energize and find a reason to stay?

An approach that is working for some organizations is a relatively new methodology called Appreciative Inquiry. By applying the concepts of Appreciative Inquiry, or AI as it’s often called, leaders are seeing a restored sense of enthusiasm and commitment among their people.

AI is an organization development process that builds resilience an increases a group’s capacity for adaptability and change. Developed by David Cooperrider and others at the Case Western Reserve University, it is a strength-based philosophy and toolkit that enables leaders to build on the positive core that exists in every organization. That’s correct – in every organization, no matter how challenged and stretched.

AI is a highly participative process that strengthens relationships across functions and levels. It’s not training, and it’s not facilitation. It’s a process that engages employees in working collaboratively with each other to discover the very best about themselves and their team. It moves their thought process from negative, deficit-based traps to strength-based, possibility oriented positive energy. As one amazed AI participant stated, “Wow. Will you listen to us? We’re never this supportive. We usually put each other down and argue all the time. This is great!”

Appreciative Inquiry works because it recognizes that the people who give life to an organization are the greatest resource for creating a new and better future. It engages people with each other in relevant and positive ways, using their combined strengths and collective knowledge. It’s been successful in many different enterprises – manufacturing, healthcare, government, service and not for profit.

Here are some great books that can get you started with creating an appreciative regeneration in your organization.

Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change by David L. Cooperrider and Diana Whitney http://tinyurl.com/5rvs9aa

The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change (Bk Business) by Diana Whitney, Amanda Trosten-Bloom, and David Cooperrider http://tinyurl.com/5rvqf4c

The Appreciative Inquiry Summit: A Practitioner’s Guide for Leading Large-Group Change by James D. Ludema, Diana Whitney, Bernard J. Mohr, and Thomas J. Griffin http://tinyurl.com/62qhnqk