Appreciation is a game changer
For the last six weeks, I have been engulfed in the beginning of a new set of courses on inspiration leadership with the first class focused on appreciative inquiry. I had never heard of this topic before until I haphazardly fell upon it while searching for organizational development courses. Never have I felt so connected to a course or felt like I was pursuing my calling then when I was engaged in this learning. The philosophy is quite simple but empowering and I can't wait to share it with you.
Instead of focusing on the problems of the world and looking for root causes or solutions, let's change our perspective, our questions and our conversations to focus on what we want MORE of, not what we want less of. This simple shift in mindset opens up a tremendous world of opportunity and it has been eye-opening for me. I first discovered the strength based approach to life (leadership / parenting / fill in the blank) during my leadership development course at the SEC and it completely resonated with me. As a "maximizer" with "positivity" as a couple of my key strengths, I take great joy in recognizing and developing the strengths in others in order to help them reach their full potential.
But this course has taught me that recognizing and focusing on our strengths (instead of our weaknesses) is just the beginning. You see, the words we use in our daily conversations and the questions we ask are FATEFUL. What we discuss and focus on is what is likely to come to fruition in our life. So much of our current environment is filled with deficit-driven language. However, there can be a big shift in results when we focus our questions instead on what we want to see more of, what does the world look like when we are operating at our best and what's the smallest change we could make that would make the biggest difference. These are the types of questions that drive conversations in a generative manner - that is, to invoke creativity and think of new ideas and solutions more positively. This is the type of language that empowers us to resist focusing on the past and instead helps drive us towards the future. This is the type of world I want to be a part of and I am doing what I can to help drive this change.
I think sometimes it is easy to forget how important our language is in developing relationships with others. It's not about the words we use, but it's about how others feel when they are around us. Appreciative inquiry takes the approach that there is good all around us - we just need to start looking for it. The more we seek it out intentionally, the more likely we are to recognize it and the more our perspective in life will be framed in a positive manner - with hope for the future. We are social beings and we crave connection with others. Let's take the time to appreciate each other a little more - take the time to really listen to someone and pause before speaking; to think strategically about what someone else may be going through to help brighten their day; to appreciate what we have and when we feel like things are lacking - focus on what we want more of instead of dwelling on the shortcomings. I know that this is not easy, but from my brief experimentation with this approach thus far, the results can be powerful.
