[Ailist] AI Newbie

[David J. Snider]

Hi Faith

I suggest you buy these two books:

Frank Barrett and Ronald Fry, Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive  
Approach to Building Cooperative Capacity.  More info at this  
amazon.com site:
http://www.amazon.com/Appreciative-Inquiry-Positive-Approach- 
Cooperative/dp/078802163X/ref=sr_1_1/104-2160990-4751932? 
ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176403315&sr=8-1

Diana Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom, The Power of Appreciative  
Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change.  More info at this  
amazon.com site   http://www.amazon.com/Power-Appreciative-Inquiry- 
Practical-Positive/dp/1576752267/ref=sr_1_1/104-2160990-4751932? 
ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176403519&sr=1-1

Buy both and get free shipping because purchase is over $25.000.   
Your total cost will be about $40.

I would read Barrett and Fry first.  Its focus on capacity building  
with AI is unusual and useful.  It also is written as an introduction  
to AI.  Whitney and Trosten-Bloom do a great overview of AI and its  
foundations.  I think the amount of good information it includes  
makes it a little more challenging, but it is basically easy reading,  
too.  And their section on the freedoms that AI enhances is powerful.

I also suggest "living" for several hours on the Appreciative Inquiry  
Commons:  http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/   You can search for  
topics of interest.  There are hundreds of pages of great resources  
there, and you can print them out, save them on your computer, or  
simply read and enjoy.  I still am amazed at the richness of  
resources there - costs are only your time, paper, toner!  I believe  
you will find sources on evaluation,   although I am not certain.  I  
think of this in relation to certification requirements your  
organizations must meet.

I hope you enjoy immersing yourself in AI sources and find what you  
need.

Best to you,

David

David J. Snider, Ph.D.
David Snider Associates
   Consultants On Personal and
   Organizational Development
17214 Wildemere
Detroit, MI 48221
O: 313 342 8060
Fax: 313 342 8650
davidsnider at mindspring.com


On Apr 12, 2007, at 10:15 AM, faith at bayflash.com wrote:



> Good Morning, All!
>
> New to the list, new to Appreciative Inquiry. I would really  
> appreciate any guidance you could provide.
>
> My agency, a state sexual violence coalition, provides funding and  
> support to my state's rape crisis programs. Part of my job is to  
> perform site visits and help programs provide better services to  
> rape survivors. Certainly an Appreciative Inquiry opportunity!
>
> Another part of my work is to help these same programs meet our  
> certification requirements so they can continue to receive funding.  
> We have standards that must be met (in some cases, statutorily),  
> and so part of the task is, in fact, to find out where gaps exist,  
> and provide help where they do. To me, this feels a little less AI- 
> friendly, partly because the consequence of 'failure' is to have  
> one's funding pulled.
>
> I'd like to apply appreciative inquiry principles to what I do, and  
> I've been given the go-ahead to try. What I need is a starting  
> point. A few books or other resources that fit our context, as our  
> financial resources are limited and so I pretty much need to buy  
> 'correctly' the first time. Do you all have any ideas?
>
> Any other thoughts?
>
> Thanks so much for your time.
>
> Warm regards,
> Faith
>
> _______________________________________________
> The Appreciative Inquiry Discussion List is hosted by the David  
> Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. Jack Brittain  
> is the list administrator. For subscription information, go to:
> http://mailman.business.utah.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/ailist