e. e. cummings

I’m feeling very motivated these days. I work for a few different companies, all of them seem to be changing at the moment, I’m learning a lot!

I see one organisation failing in a very sad way, sad because I really cared about it. To my inexperienced eye it seems that the organisation is schizophrenic, the different departments are unaware of each other and very diverse. There is a great void of understanding between the departments. There are very few bridges of communication but a lot of blame. Worst of all, I fear that our new management is content to make the right noises about change and leadership while doing nothing to halt the current spiral into non-viability, the better to shut everything down and break it up for sale later maybe? I don’t know, maybe this is not the future they plan, but everything they are doing at the moment is at best stop-gap, top-down, behind the scenes.

Alternatively, I see a different organisation squeezing the staff for every penny, paying very small bonuses and offering more and more part-time (read no pension payments, no health care, no job security) positions, less and less hours to their current staff to the point where monthly income is below living costs. Simultaneously, they are expanding, opening a couple of new offices in expensive CBD areas. Maybe this is a normal thing and I’m naive...?

Finally, I see yet another organisation that is again schizophrenic, but very positively focused, currently trying to see, understand and better integrate itself. I see it growing and learning in a very constructive way, providing a learning experience and support for all involved. I’m lucky enough to be part of this organisation’s learning experience as it conducts an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) throughout its ranks.

Carl Jung said, “All of the greatest and most important problems of life are fundamentally insoluble. They can never be solved, but only outgrown\Z Some higher or wider interest appeared on the horizon and through this broadening of outlook the insoluble problem lost its urgency. It was not solved logically in its own terms but faded when confronted with a new and stronger life urge.”

So, it would take a lot to explain what AI is but you can get an idea from the quote, and there is a reading list down the bottom. To get you interested in looking at some of those links, let’s say briefly that it is an organisational change methodology, a way of improving an organisation though focusing on building on strengths rather than fixing the problems.

A metaphor: Generally speaking, Western medical science focuses on the problem, compartmentalises it and tracks it down to a specific condition or set of conditions that can be influenced, changed, improved for the general improvement of the whole body. Generally speaking, we take this same problem identification, localisation and fixation...er… (what’s the word im looking for?) method and apply it to organisations. This works, I’m not saying it doesnt, but how well does it work and what are the side effects? There are other ways to improve the condition of a body, and I’m all in support of the positive, holistic methods. AI attempts to give the whole a better understanding of itself, works to identify the best qualities of the organisation; on the foundations of its strengths AI then teases out the organisation’s dreams for itself and encourages it to map a path from those dreams back to the present.

Heady stuff! I’m loving it! As Maxi Jazz says, “You don’t need eyes to see, you need vision!”

So, between the three organisations, I have positive and negative lessons all around me and my brain is busy trying to integrate it all.

Resources:
Appreciative Inquiry Commons
Clergy Leadership Institute
Philanthropic Quest International
Articles:
Five Theories of Change Embedded in Appreciative Enquiry
Appreciative Inquiry in Organisational Life

• dr Dave said on 05/06/20 at 10:39 PM.....

  Hey! I got that Maxi Jazz quote in my random quote collection! http://www.marshmallowspikers.net/images/smileys/wink.gif

• j-ster said on 05/06/21 at 12:58 PM.....

  Dr. Dave, my favourite quote of your random ones is “You are not a beautiful, unique smowflake. Get over it.”

• Kristen said on 05/06/21 at 01:39 PM.....

  ...that snowflake quote is from Fight Club. What a great movie.

• T said on 05/06/22 at 12:20 AM.....

  So totally agree that sometimes the solution to a problem is just to outgrow it..  personally and professionally. 

  
  Given the speed of technology change in my industry that often things that may seem insurmountable problems may just have disappeared in six months. So to focus on the strengths and not on the “problems” is very proactive.

  Navel gazing is great for understanding the past but takes lots of valuable energy for present “problems” that one can better channel into moving forward.