[Ailist] Attitudes and Perspectives in Appreciative Inquiry Processes

[sbelgard at comcast.net]

Dear colleagues--

Some time ago, there was a discussion on this forum about more humane and humanized ways of practicing law, including some comments about collaborative law.  I promised to post an article I wrote with my colleague, a therapist, blending appreciative inquiry and collaborative law.   The article is called "Positive Perspectives:  Integrating Appreciative Inquiry into Collaborative Practice".

I apologize for the long delay, and am finally attaching the article below (and, after consulting with Dawn Dole on where it might best fit on the AI Commons, posting it under "Working Papers").

In addition to appealing to those of you who are interested in the specific subject, the article also includes a chart/matrix about attitudes and perspectives during an AI process which might have more general application.  Knowing that many participants at our presentation would be new to AI, we developed a set of suggested ways of being and thinking for each phase of AI (and the matching phase of the collaborative process)--i.e., what kind of container they might create to support each phase.  We looked at the following perspectives for each of the phases:

·         relationship to self
 
·         attitude toward self as collaborative professional
·         attitude toward the collaborative process
·         relationship to clients
·         relationship to collaborative team

I hope this stimulates some more discussion and would love to hear suggestions about how else to support our collaborative law practitioners (lawyers, financial planners, mental health practitioners, communications coaches, child specialists and others) as we take them through workshops and presentations using the AI process to how AI can benefit and strengthen their passion and skills in this work.
All my best,
Susan
Susan Belgard, JD, CPCC
“Building on the Best in People and Organizations”
Appreciative Inquiry Practitioner & Trainer
Certified Co-Active Coach™
Civil Collaborative Law Trainer
6-hour Cal. State Bar CCL Training
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=136390 
www.coachingthefullspectrum.com
Hour-long CDs:
"AI and Personal Coaching"  --
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=90214,  
AI and organizations  --
"Creating Sustainable Positive Change: 
A Micro-training in Appreciative Inquiry"
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=117283 
Workshops, teleclasses and other events:
www.acteva.com/go/SusanBelgard 
susanbelgard at gmail.com 
925-899-2333
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