Monthly Archives: April 2016

Well, it’s no surprise to me that Dewitt Jones was so successful as a photographer for National Geographic for so many years.  It was so refreshing to hear his outlook and perspective on life.  He almost makes it sound too easy.  We learned early on in this course, about the power of the positive.  It’s clear that Mr. Jones took this philosophy and created career success from it.  He attributes his success to the ability to believe in positive energy and was able to exercise tremendous patience and faith in that belief.  I think that it takes a special kind of person to embrace positive energy as seamlessly as Mr. Jones has.  It truly is something to aspire to.

Appreciative Inquiry is right up my alley.  If I had not ever learned about AI through this course, and decided to go into independent consulting, I believe that my natural style would have led me towards practicing AI techniques.  I tend to be driven towards coaching people to reach their potential as an HR professional.  When I interviewed an AI practitioner, I was told that one of the biggest challenges in practicing AI is to be aware of self limitations.  I’ve been thinking about that ever since I heard it.  I am definitely a “glass half full” person, but I also know my “triggers”.  I think this is important for anyone who is interested in this line of work.  Especially in AI.  People are perceptive, and if one who is practicing AI doesn’t embrace the philosophy, it could lead to a failed change effort.  I think it would be naïve to assume that AI practitioners are positive all of the time.  However, if they genuinely embrace the positive, I believe that will be “felt” by all who interact with them.  I hope that people I interact with would say the same about me.

The more that I hear about Appreciative Inquiry and how it is applied to organization’s change efforts, the more I am inspired to practice this in my current role. There were a couple of things that Ms. Whitney illustrated in her presentation that I found particularly inspiring.

First I loved her example of “inclusion” and how it contributed to the success of the AI summit she attended for the Blind and Deaf Association.  I can’t think of a better example of  how inclusion led to a successful intervention when you have such a large group (250) that was able to make a decision together.

Finally, I found her definition of “integrity” to be very creative.  I wrote down “Integrity = integral = health of the whole”, and I intend to put that in my office.  I typically think of integrity as it relates to ethics and honesty.  Ms. Whitney helped uncover for me a whole new meaning of that word.