Thinking and Leading

Appreciatively
Paul D. Tolchinsky, PhD
27 March 2014
Learning & Development Summit V
Bucharest, Romania
I Wish I Worked Here!
Melissa R:

When I think about our culture, I think about the many inspiring people
and experiences. I am so fortunate to have been involved in the growth
of our company from the beginninga time when we did not have the
Ten Core Commandments on paper, but when they were practiced day
in and day out and became the foundation for our amazing culture
today. I have witnessed and been a part of dreams coming true for this
company, especially this past year and for that I am very grateful. I
recently took a sabbatical and was able to reflect on my time with the
company. The culture is one in a million and for me personally, one of
the greatest experiences of my life that I know will not happen again!


2
And Here Too!
Brenda B:

I remember the first All Hands meeting that I attended for the company.
It was the first time I had the opportunity to see the culture in full force,
and I can remember how proud and honored I felt to have been chosen
to work here. It was the first time that I was able to witness, for myself,
the close family bond that the company had built with its employees ad
I remember the great sense of relief I felt, know that this would be my
new home. I was amazed [still am] at what the company has been able
to accomplish with its culture and GREAT employer/employee
relationships. I can truly say that I feel like the FAMED Charlie of Willie
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I KNOW I have FOUND the golden
ticket!

3
What is Energy?
The acquired ability to be physically energized,
emotionally resilient, mentally focused and spiritually
aligned with what matters most to you. (HPI Institute,
Canada)
A spark, motivation, something that propels the
individual and others around them to greater heights
(Wenzl, Austria)
Eastern cultures think in terms of potential energy (yin)
and usable or kinetic energy (yang)




4

What Creates Energy in Organizations?






HOPE POWER



5
Energy
MEANING
Meaning
All About Purpose
Why are we doing what we are doing?
What is the compelling reason?

What will be different, in the company, in the world,
because we did this?








6
Hope
Strengths
Resources
Leveraging Potentialities, Talents
Embraces Diversity

Comes from seeing the results of our efforts






7
Power
Is Primarily About Inclusion and Engagement
Having Input and Being Involved, Being Heard

The Ability to Influence the Situation

Making a Contribution to the End Result






8
REFLECTION: SMALL GROUP
DISCUSSION # 1






9

What Energizes/Gets You Pumped?
Think about your work life and the energy you have had in
different positions and situations.
Take moment and draw an energy line with all the peaks
and valleys:




5 minutes for everyone to draw their energy line, then 10
to share and highlight what creates the peak experiences.

E
n
e
r
g
y

Time
Small Group Work for 15 minutes
At the peaks, what was going on that made it so?
At the valleys, what is blocking your energy?
Who/what is getting your best energy right now?
What gets in the way of high energy for you?

What Everyone is Looking For?
To Feel Valued
To Be Heard
To Have a Voice
To belong to a community in which they are
appreciated
To belong to a community that makes a
difference in the lives of others





12
LEADING APPRECIATIVELY
Why So Important
Three quarters of the world's workforce is not committed
to their organization
(Towers Perrin: Global Workforce Study 2009)
Over 50% of those under 30 are looking for something
more than a job
Only 8% of change efforts are successful in the
timeframe set
14 % were horrible failures
The #1 implementation issue is the speed of ownership and
commitment
Only 38% of employees think of their managers as a
good leader!
Followers are Different Today
Younger works seek different environments and
cultures
They are more values oriented
See themselves as highly capable and requiring little
leadership and little learning
Seek meaning and purpose with a social consciousness
Results do not cause results, the RIGHT ATTITUDE is
THE essential motivating force

Roots of Positive Thinking and Whole-
Scale Change
Positive
Concepts
Positive
Psychology
Seligman,
Csikszentmihalyi
Appreciative
Inquiry
David Cooperrider
Strengths-based
Management
Marcus Buckingham
Gallup
Positive
Organizational
Scholarship
Kim Cameron
Focus: Individual Focus: Organization
FEAR
FACTS
FORCE
THE OLD WAY OF LEADERSHIP
THE NEW WAY LEADERSHIP
Positive Deviants
In every community there
are people whose
unusual practices or
behaviors enable them
to find better solutions to
problems than their
neighbors who have access
to the same
resources.
The Old Sufi Mystic Parable
Nasrudin is a notorious smuggler who routinely crosses the
frontier with his string of donkeys, saddle bags loaded
with straw. Customs inspectors search in vain for the
contraband that accounts for his steady accumulation of
wealth. Years go by. Nasrudin retires. One day he
encounters the former chief of customs in a local tea
house. The retired officer broaches a long suppressed
question: Nasrudin, as we are now old men who have
ended our careers and are no longer a threat to each
other, tell me, during all those years, what were you
smuggling?

Key Concepts of Appreciative Leading
Ownership not buy-in
The group is the guru
Dont decide about
me, without me
Act your way into a
new way of thinking
What and how, not
why
Appreciative Leaders: Leading
Learning

Focus on future, not the past
Look at potentials, strengths and abilities
Say yes and not yes but
Look for the energy and joy in the person and
the organization
25
Core Ideas of Appreciative Learning
Focus on what works
Focus on positive deviation of organizational
performance
Learn from successes (even with the worst
performer)
Focus on development rather than on problem
solving
Bring positive energy to people and to the
organizations


In Summary
Traditional Approaches Positive Deviance Approach
Leadership as Path Breaker Leadership as Inquiry
Outside In (Expert driven) Inside Out (Community driven)
Deficit Based
(finding what is wrong)
Asset Based
(leveraging pre-existing solutions)
Logic Driven
(think into a new way of acting)
Learning Driven
(act into a new way of thinking)
Vulnerable to Transplant Rejection Open to Self-Replication
Flows from Problem Solving to
Solution Identification
Flows from Solutions Identification
to Problem Solving
Focused on the Protagonists
(those conventionally associated with the problem)
Focused on Enlarging the Network
Ownership driven from above Community owns the problem and
its solution
Management owns the data People develop their own data
Adapted from www.woodward-lewis.co.uk
WE CAN NOT YET CLONE
PEOPLE, BUT WE CAN
ADOPT THEIR SUCCESSFUL
BEHAVIORS/STRATEGIES


Its easier to ACT your way into a new
way of THINKING,
than to THINK your way into a new
way of ACTING

Lao Tzu Said it Best
Go to the people. Live with them.
Learn from them. Appreciate them.
Start with what they know. Build with
what they have. And with the best of
leaders, when the work is done, the
task accomplished, the people will say:
We have done this ourselves.
Finally---- Research Shows
The most effective leaders are always investing
in strengths
The most effective leaders surround themselves
with the right people and then maximize their
teams performance
The most effective leaders understand their
followers needs
People Want:
To Be Heard

To Have a Voice in the Decisions that Affect Them

To Belong To Communities That They Can Believe in

To Have What They Need to Be Good Citizens in Their
Communities

To Stay Informed About How Their Communities Are Doing

WHOLE-SCALE CHANGE
Large Group Opportunities
Max / mix represents
whole organisation
Real time change
Mass education and
validation of policies
Thoughts and ideas
of people who know
Commitment and
will to change
Do it in a new
way?
36
36
Change Formula for Leadership
D x V x F > R
Vision of the Future
Resistance to
change
First Steps
Data, Drivers
Appreciative Thinking
Discovery
What gives life?
What gives energy?
What does function
well?
Dream
What might be?
What is important for
the world?
Design
What should be?
How it could be?
Destiny
How to empower
How to do it?
How to manage?

38
38
1. Leadership
Gives mandate and
develops attractive vision
2. Microcosm:
a) plan and organize the process
b) create a common database

3. Large Group Workshops:
Up to 2000 employees

Real-time strategic change
4. Microcosm:
Evaluate and summarize date,
monitor progress
LSIP How Does It Work?
39
Large
Group
Work
Small
Group
Small
Group
Small
Group
Small
Group
Small
Group
Small
Group
Small
Group
Small
Group
Small
Group
Large
Group
Work
Converge-Diverge Model
Whole-Scale Change Concepts
Arthritic Theory

Microcosms

Maximum Mixtures

Common Database

Uniting Head and Heart

DxVxF > R
What is Whole-Scale Change?
Components

Systems Thinking
Simultaneity
Socio-Technical Systems Theory
Action Research
Appreciative Inquiry
Bibliography
www.positivedeviance.org, Best Site Available
you tube, positive deviance and you will find 5 or 6 short videos
Kim Cameron: Positive Leadership, Berret Koehler Publishers, San
Francisco. 2008
Kim Cameron: Organisational Effectiveness: Its Demise and Re-Emergence
through Positive Organizational Scholarship; Michigan Ross School of
Business; in "Handbook of Management Theory", London: Oxford
University Press
David R Marsh, Dirk G Schroeder, Kirk A Dearden, Jerry Sternin and
Monique Sternin, The Power of Positive Deviance, British Medical Journal,
vol. 329, pp1177-1179, 2004)
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow. Klett-Cotta 2007 (13.Aufl.)