Power to the Positive

I had a great conversation with my friend Cheryl this weekend. One of the many things we discussed was motivating positive change in organizations. Our Quaker Meeting is facing many potential changes as we contemplate renovating our meetinghouse and other buildings, consider our responsibility to the environment, and strive to be a community that is welcoming and inclusive. At the same time, I work with a staff that is trying mightily to improve the academic achievement at a school that has been chronically underperforming for years.

There are a lot of cliches about change: change is hard, change is inevitable, etc. It is easy to slip into trying to control the behavior of others. And there are some people who don't feel they have done their job unless they have ennumerated every problem or shortcoming of a situation. So it was refreshing to hear from Cheryl about a process called Appreciative Inquiry. The main points that interested me were that the best way to motivate positive change is to look for what's working and share it, and that the process of inquiring into a situation is in itself an intervention. The questions that are asked are key, not only for the data they yield, but for the change they spur.

Next week at work, we will have the second of our panel discussions, where we share videoclips of teachers, allow them to talk about their process, and invite questions and comments. This has been such an exciting project. It has improved teaching at our school far more than critiquing teachers ever would, increased morale, improved collaboration, and is just plain fun.