[Ailist] Deficit and Constructionist Approaches

[Madelyn Blair]

Sue and Jane,

I do a lot of work with Paul Costello in the area of narrative and  
story. One of my favorite quotations from Paul is, "God is God because  
he/she knows all the stories." We just finished our annual  
international Smithsonian Event on storytelling in organizational  
settings here in Washington, DC, last weekend. One of the speakers,  
Loren Niemi, an experienced storyteller and writer, told of his work  
in MInnesota (for the last 40 years) in helping minorities get their  
stories told and listened to at the tables of power -- and their  
success in this. The stories are neither positive or negative. They  
are the small pieces of the larger puzzle that fill out the picture  
sometimes on the edges so that we don't even know those pieces are  
missing. So, to me how to talk to others is to talk in listening mode,  
and that's not an oxymoron.

Madelyn

Madelyn Blair, Ph.D.
Pelerei, Inc.
Turning Vision into Reality
www.pelerei.com
301-371-7100
301-371-7957 (fax)
301-471-8721 (mobile)
Skype ID: madelynblair


On Apr 23, 2009, at 9:19 AM, Sue Hammond wrote:

>
> That was a brilliant set of posts Jane. Thank you for sharing your  
> thoughts. From this snip I am inspired  to recommend a new book by  
> one of the greats in our field, Ed Schein. Called /Helping: How to  
> Offer, Give and Receive Help,/ he clarifies among other things 4  
> different kinds of inquiry. How we talk to each other is key to  
> relationships and I don't think we learn that skill in any kind of  
> explicit way here in the US. As consultants this is also extremely  
> useful so we understand which form of inquiry to use in different  
> situations. It's a small book, full of a variety of examples.
> I would also love to hear from our many international members, how  
> does your culture teach 'how to talk' to others?
> Sue Hammond
>
> Jane said:
>> the focus is really not on the
>> activity, rather it is on the relationships. If the relationships  
>> are in
>> alignment, any task can be successfully worked out. Plato and his  
>> notion of
>> "a perfect tree" or perhaps "perfect treeness" has us Europeans  
>> trapped in
>> dichotomy! AI gives us a way forward and saves us the angst of  
>> blame and
>> shame!
>>
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> 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