[Ailist] How does it work?

Wed Mar 5 08:18:47 MST 2008

What if we challenge our framework that says our experiences are negative or
positive--what if we step back and just explore them as experiences.  

HOW we explore them is what then makes the difference.  There are so many
appreciative questions one can ask about ANY experience.  

I also suggest looking at the overall outcome of a whole conversation/
dialogue/interaction and not just the specific individual questions.
Sometimes asking an open ended question that elicits what we label as
negative opens the door to talk subsequently talk about strengths, lessons,
insights, personal power, decision-making points, and greater collective
capacity.

Cheri

-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Roger Davies
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 4:44 PM
To: 'BILL SCOTT'; 'Hank Kearns'; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: RE: [Ailist] How does it work?

One of the ideas I have found that seems to work for addressing negativity
is to ask people how it affects them in a day to day setting. That helps
understand the impact of the negative and it's often smaller than one might
first expect. 

I think that Ai values all experience. The trick with negative experiences
is to reframe them in a way that helps you extract or at least consider the
positive. As a previous message said to change a focus on bullying to focus
on respect. I think this maintains the value of the 'bad' experience but
puts it into a useable form for Ai.

Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of BILL SCOTT
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 11:51 AM
To: Hank Kearns; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: Re: [Ailist] How does it work?

Hi Hank,

Your post is an interesting one and there are many strains to it.

First, let me say that I consider you to be taking a risk and asking a
question as opposed to "showing your ignorance." And perhaps that is as good
a way as any to underscore the difference in an appreciative approach.
Practitioners of appreciative process ask that we consider reframing what we
don't want in terms of what we do want - and it's not always as simple as I
don't want "bad" so I must want "good."

You speak about not wanting to "ignore the bad" and I completely understand
where you are coming from on this one. As a former counsellor, I know that
someone only feels "heard" when they believe another person has heard their
story - their whole story. If you don't hear their story, it is rare that
you can move forward. 

While it is true (as others have noted) that the focus of an AI approach is
on the positive and room is given for people to voice their concerns, it is
also true that many AI practitioners ask their clients to "take a leap of
faith" and put aside the doubts, fears, concerns, etc. until the end of
their time together at which point they will come back to the client and see
if the concerns have been addressed. The difficulty, in my opinion, with
this approach is that there is an inherent power differential between the
"expert" AI practitioner/teacher/consultant on the one hand and the
client/learner on the other. If the client has not felt heard, it is
unlikely that they will feel engaged with the process. 

It also strikes me as counter to the principles of AI to not allow voice to
people's doubts, fears and concerns. We understand that the moment we ask a
question or guide a conversation that we have influenced the dialogue.
Sooooo ... it seems to me that by asking people to hold on to their doubts
until a later time that we are influencing the direction of the process.

I'm reminded of the story Diana Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom tell with
respect to British Airways. They tell how us how they came to settle on the
affirmative topic Exceptional Arrival Experience only after hearing the
horror stories associated with baggage loss.

Last year about this time, I was involved with staging a major AI conference
in Vancouver. We invited Pam Johnson (from Seattle) to come and speak at one
of the concurrent sessions. In part, the description of her workshop read:
"The most interesting question in my own practice is how to embrace
resistance and work productively with the 'shadow' of human experience
within the framework of AI." Her workshop was one of the most well attended
sessions that we offered. And I can tell you from being there myself there
was a great deal of interest when she began to speak about addressing
doubts, concerns and fears in the context of an AI experience. In fact, many
newbies to AI stated that having practical skills to address negativity was
a critical outcome of the conference for them.

Pam, Steve Fitzgerald and others have written and spoken extensively about
the place of "shadow" in AI and appreciative process. I know from talking
with people in the AI community that there thiuking on this subject is
controversial and I also believe that's what makes for great dialogue which
in turn improves the quality of the product - in this case, AI. 

Gervase Bushe makes the point that AI is Not (Just) About the Positive in an
article of the same name. I suggest that you have a look of it. You can find
it here: http://www.gervasebushe.ca/appinq.htm (scroll down to the middle).
As he notes, somehow the initial emphasis on generativity has been lost in
favour of an emphasis on the positive. My personal view is that
"generativity" is a much harder concept for people to understand -
especially when compared with "being positive."

I know this is a little long and I hope that it stimulates conversation from
others - that is the piece I really appreciate about this list.

Best regards, 
Bill 

WJS Connsulting 
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
wjs.consulting at shaw.ca 

Engaging human potential 

----- Original Message -----
From: Hank Kearns <hkearns4 at comcast.net>
Date: Monday, March 3, 2008 1:05 pm
Subject: [Ailist] How does it work?
To: AIList <ailist at lists.business.utah.edu>

>I have no problem with the
> major  
> principles of AI, but I have to admit that I'm not convinced 
> about  
> ignoring the bad.

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