[Ailist] Deficit and Constructionist Approaches

[Hazell, Martin]

Bruce

I think you confuse AI and unquestioning positivism, which is a common misconception.  

AI is about the creation of generative thinking to create engaging and inspiring futures.  One of the most powerful themes that has come from our work has been the creation of a programme of social cohesion which grew out of a very dark scenario in a sceneario planning workshop.  In fact the implications of the scenario were so bad that the team did not want to engage with it at first, but when the question was reframed as how could you build a positive future from such a dark place the idea generation became truly engaging and developed thinking that really started the creation of a Dream for a future starting from today.  
All AI practitioners should read Gervase R. Bushe's August 2007 Paper " Appreciative Inquiry Is Not (Just) About The Positive" [OD Practitioner, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp30-35, 2007.]
The real value of the MQ article is that McKinsey has at long last recognised the value of appreciative/generative approaches

Warmest Regards

Martin

Martin Hazell
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Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:57:58 -0700
From: Bruce Elkin <bruce at bruceelkin.com>

Extract from  The Irrational Side of Change Management  by Carolyn Aiken and Scott Keller, McKinsey Quarterly April 2009:
>  
> It takes a story with both + and   to create real energy.
>  
> The  deficit based  approach which identifies the problem, analyzes 
> what s wrong and how to fix it, plans, and then takes action has 
> become the model predominantly taught in business schools and is 
> presumably the default change model in most organizations. Research 
> has shown, however, that a story focused on what s wrong invokes blame 
> and creates fatigue and resistance, doing little to engage people s passion and experience.
>  
> This has led to the rise of the  constructionist based  approach to 
> change, where the change process is based on discovery (discovering 
> the best of what is), dreaming (imagining what might be), designing 
> (talking about what should be), and destiny (creating what will be). 
> The problem with this approach is that an overemphasis on the positive 
> can lead to watered down aspirations and impact.
>  
> The reason is that, as humans, we are more willing to take risks to 
> avoid losing what we ve got than we are to gain something more. Some 
> anxiety is useful when it comes to spurring behavioral change. We 
> believe the field of change management has drawn an artificial divide 
> between deficit-based and constructionist-based approaches and stories.
>  
> While it is impossible to prescribe generally how the divide should be 
> split between positive and negative messages (as it will be specific 
> to the context of any given change program), we strongly advise 
> managers not to swing the pendulum too far in one direction or 
> another. Consider Jack Welch, former CEO at GE, who took questions of 
>  what s wrong here?  (poorly performing businesses, silo-driven 
> behavior, and so forth) head-on, as well as  imagining what might be  
> (number one or two in every business, openness, and accountability).
>  

Great post., Brian,
It pinpoints what I think is a flaw in AI   the reluctance to look clearly into reality, in order to avoid negatives. But you don t have to judge reality, you can just describe it as it is   accurately and objectively.

Then the gap between envisioned results and current reality sets up a useful creative tension that both energizes and guides (contains) actions.

This is the basis of the creating process   the ACT of creating   that has served creators so well over the millennia. The  both/and  structure of creating is powerful enough to embrace and transcend the aspects of current reality that we mistakenly call  problems  -- and  to use them as the raw material for creating what matters.

Great stuff. Thanks for posting this.

Cheers!
Bruce