tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353960188989276944.post4980035916917692352..comments2023-10-06T10:15:32.977+01:00Comments on The Art of Positive Change: Learning from mistakesFrits Hesselinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16364344359931762377noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353960188989276944.post-59001553256149337452007-05-07T17:02:00.000+01:002007-05-07T17:02:00.000+01:00“In Strategy it is necessary to know the Ways of a...“<EM>In Strategy it is necessary to know the Ways of all other Schools</EM>”, writes Musashi. So I am happy that the title triggered Gillian’s contribution. She also offers a good start to learn about the appreciative inquiry approach (http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/). I subscribe to its basic principles. Question is: do you always apply them? <BR/><BR/>Schools are about interpretations, descriptions of reality. They are not reality. Like a map of the Netherlands is not the Netherlands. Musashi may have said: “<EM>know the appreciative inquiry approach and in applying the strategy do what has to be done, and don’t do what has to be left undone</EM>”. <BR/><BR/>So in this case – I had only 1,5 day to help this field project and had to respect what my local project leaders had prepared - I did not suggest to change the sitting arrangements, make the meeting with villagers more interactive, respect the local knowledge, although I had a tough time biting my tongue. I knew the real change in the situation of the Spiranthis spiralis would have to come from a different side.<BR/><BR/>My strategy for change was let things develop and concentrate: look out for that one opportunity. And, as described in the phone call posting, in the end it came. If I had used my energy and credit with the team on getting the process of the round table with the villagers right, I may have missed the entry point for the right process.<BR/><BR/>In the end I was fortunate in this case that many pieces fell into place, especially by focusing on what went well and what could be improved. And the questions the team started to ask. For me it is an art to get there. But I can be wrong of course, I may have just been lucky!Frits Hesselinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16364344359931762377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353960188989276944.post-36724428744163761502007-05-07T09:27:00.000+01:002007-05-07T09:27:00.000+01:00Hi Frits, I am very much enjoying reading your blo...Hi Frits, I am very much enjoying reading your blog and I have a comment to add...<BR/><BR/>If I can be a little provocative here :-) (which is why blogs are so great!) there is a whole field of study that actually challenges the notion that people learn most from their mistakes. The field is called Appreciative Inquiry (AI), and it's foundations say that people learn more from looking at what is working, rather than their mistakes. When you know what is working then you can do more of it, think how to apply those success criteria to other situations where things are not working so well. <BR/><BR/>I have found using AI in my work as a facilitator and trainer to be very powerful. People seem to have more hope when they can look back and identify those things they did really well and then understand the detail of what made it work, then extrapolate those lessons to other areas. There is a good website called the Appreciative Inquiry Commons, which is run by Case Western University. AI has been used now all over the world, with good examples from Nepal, South Africa, as well as North America. People are even using it for evaluation purposes and find that it does not skew that results, instead makes people want to use them for further improvements (which is why evaluations are normally done, or should be). Has anyone else tried using AI in work contexts? What did you think?Gillian Martin Mehershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13551238107247852991noreply@blogger.com