Appreciative Leadership Plenary WAIC 2012

Diana Whitney, Ph.D. www.positivechange.org

Diana Whitney, Ph.D. www.positivechange.org 2

“Every generation needs a new revolution.”

Thomas Jefferson

“Every organization needs a positive revolution.”


Dream Catcher

You must learn to live and work in

the Energetically

Positive.

Understand and do what gives

life to the people.


Appreciative Leadership: The Nexus of Three Revolutionary Fields


The Leadership Challenge TodayIBM Global Chief Executive Officer Study 2010.Over 1500 CEOs Worldwide Interviewed. Biggest challenge: complexity of a global

environment.Single most important leadership competency:

creativity.Successful organizations co-create products and

services with customers. They integrate customers into core business processes.

Better performing organizations manage complexity through operational dexterity.


Appreciative Inquiry:A Process for the Age of Co-Creativity

Many leaders today have visions and values that are incongruent with old paradigm methodologies.

They are in search of new paradigm processes and methodologies for leadership, innovation and change.

Appreciative Inquiry answers the call.

What problem solving was to the industrial age; Appreciative Inquiry is to the co-creative age.

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AI Invites a Reconfiguration of …

1. Logics and Language From Deficit to Strength Based Logics and

Language Root Cause of Success, WWW, Positive Problem Solving

2. Lens on Performance From Individualistic, Behavioral Lens to a

Systemic, Relational Lens

3. Ways of Knowing and Evidence To Quantitative Metrics we add Qualitative

Experiences, Personal Stories and Metaphors

4. Voice of Authority From Few to Many to the Whole



Leadership NarrativesSystemic and relational, not individualistic.

Leadership of this conference… Leaders of this conference…

Are about how and why things happen – or don’t.Performances, Strategies, Ways of Doing Things,

Processes, Resources, Relationships and Results

What is your Story of Leadership of Successful Appreciative Inquiry Initiatives?


A Mini Interview (5 minutes each) Turn to one other person and ask:

Reflect upon a successful AI initiative and its Leadership. It can be a project you have been part of, or one that you have heard about – large or small. Tell me about it.

Describe the leadership. How did leadership contribute to this success?How did it bring out the best of the people involved?What do you most respect about this leadership?What words and phrases best describe this

leadership?


Enriching our Vocabulary of Leadership

What are some of the most innovative and meaningful words and phrases that you heard

used to describe Leadership?

Diana Whitney www.positivechange.org 12

Leadership of Successful AI InitiativesActive participation of people at all levels and

functions with other members of their organization and community to create a better way.

Openness and enjoyment in the surprise of learning.

Caring about people. The purpose of their organization as helping people develop and have a better life.

Truly believe and practice the power of the positive.


Our Research: What kind of leadership brings out your best andcreates a high performance work environment?

Answer: Positive Power


Appreciative Leadership

“The relational capacity to mobilize creative potential and turn it into positive power, setting in motion

ripples of confidence, energy, enthusiasm, and performance that make a positive difference in the

world.”

Whitney, Trosten-Bloom and Rader


Appreciative Leadership:Five Relational Strategies

The Wisdom of INQUIRYLeadership by Asking Positively Powerful Questions

16Diana Whitney, Ph.D. www.positivechange.org


Positively powerful questions are values based.

They are about ‘topics’ that we value and want more of in our organization, our life

and our world.


“Tell me about the river that connects you.”


The Wisdom of INQUIRY

What value based question might you ask to spark a positive revolution in your

organization?


The Genius of INCLUSIONLeadership by Engaging with People

“Don’t Talk About Me Without Me”


The Quest for Uniqueness

Inquiry into the unique values, strengths, hopes and dreams of seemingly different people is what generates collective wisdom, and leads to the Genius of the Whole.

An Improbable GroupIdaho State Department

of Education AI Summit – 250 PeopleFocus: Educational

Services for Students who are Deaf and Blind

Sub-Text: Should we close the school?

Who would you include?


Who Would You Include?

TeachersSchool AdministratorsStudents – Blind and

DeafAdults – Blind and

DeafGovernor’s OfficeAdvocacy GroupsEducators at all LevelsOther States Facing

Similar Issues

Parents Family MembersCommunity MembersLocal Board of

EducationState Dept. of

EducationState LegislatorsSign InterpretersGuide DogsThe PublicOthers?Diana Whitney, Ph.D. www.positivechange.org 23

OutcomesConsensus Decision to Keep the SchoolSet of Agreed Upon Recommendations

to the State Department of EducationAcceptance and Budgeting of the

Recommendations by the State Legislature

Significantly Strengthened RelationshipsGreater Parental InvolvementImproved Services for Deaf and Blind

Students



The Genius of INCLUSION

Who are the voiceless and invisible in your organization or community?

How might you include them in conversations that matter?


Strengths“Near perfect performance in

an activity.”

Feel easy.

Increase excellence, success, productivity.

Provide a sense of joy, flow, energy, and fulfillment.

Now, Discover Your StrengthsBuckingham and Clifton


Excellent PerformersAre rarely well-rounded. They capitalize on their strengths. They minimize their weaknesses.

Each person’s greatest room for growth is in his or her areas of greatest strengths.

Now, Discover Your StrengthsBuckingham and Clifton


Strengths: Traits or Narratives?


The Art of ILLUMINATIONLeadership by Bringing Out the Best of People &

Situations

‘Interpretative Generosity’


Practice: Strengths SpottingThanks to Peter Lang and Elspeth McAdam, KCC, UK

1. Select a partner – improbable partner.2. Ask your partner to tell you a success story.3. Listen to discover your partners strengths.4. Reflect those strengths back to your partner.

Reverse Roles4 Minutes Each - Total Time 8 minutes


Leadership Strengths Spotting Inquiry 1. Tell me about a personal leadership success,

something that you have done in the past few months or year, that gave you great satisfaction and pride.

1. What did you do? 2. Who or what gave you the idea to do this?3. Who else was involved and how did you relate to

them?4. What else did you do?5. Tell me more about what you did to make this a

success.

2. Based upon your success story, I would say that some of your leadership strengths are…


The Art of ILLUMINATION

To whom might you give the gift of Strengths Spotting?


PositivityBroaden and Build Theory

Dr. Barbara Fredrickson

Broadens Peoples’ Attention and Thinking

Undoes Lingering Negative Emotional Arousal

Creates Resiliency to Change


More of Fredrickson’s ResearchPositive Emotions & Performance

Joy……….……...play, imagination, experimentation Innovation

Interest…...involvement, investigate, explore New Knowledge

Optimism.....opportunity, confidence, persevere Achievement

Contentment...savor, integrate complex ideas Deeper Insight

Love……………..….……….………………connect, relate Cooperation


Positivity Ratio = Flourishing“People flourish in the presence of positive

emotions and positive communication.”

The Healthy Range is 4+ : 1- ------------- 11+ : 1-

Marcial Losada, ChileSuccessful Teams 5+:1-

John and Julie Gottman, Seattle, WA Long Term Successful Marriages 5+:1-


The Courage of INSPIRATIONLeadership by Awakening the Creative Spirit

Achievement, change and innovation are all correlated to positive emotions.

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The choice is yours…


We Are All Intimately Connected.

Our questions, words and choices are fateful.

They create ripples.Large or small,

conscious or unconscious, they influence our lives and the lives of others.



The Path of INTEGRITYLeadership by Making Choices for the Good of the

Whole

Whole = Integral = Integrated = Complete = Wholeness Healthy = Healed = Holy = Sacred


“To be on the path of

Integrity is to be moving, growing and evolving toward wholeness; and to be supporting and enabling others to do the same.”


“Make a career of humanity…You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of

your country, and a finer world to live in.”

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Five Strategies of Appreciative Leadership


1. Inquiry: Ask Positively Powerful Questions.

2. Inclusion: Invite Improbable Participation.

3. Illumination: Be a Strengths Spotter.

4. Inspiration: Maintain a 5/1 Positivity Ratio.

5. Integrity: Make a Career of Humanity.


To keep the conversation going…Diana Whitney, Ph.D.

[email protected]

Corporation for Positive Change

www.positivechange.orgConsulting

AI Workshops/Training/CertificationLeadership Development

Keynote Speaking

Twitter: DianaWhitneyPhDLinkedIn Group: Positive Change Practitioners

Appreciative Leadership Plenary WAIC 2012

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Transcript of Appreciative Leadership Plenary WAIC 2012