The Power in Positive Action
Lapsi Khola, Nepal. The sun was bright as the groups in the workshop argued heatedly about next steps. We had revisited the collective dream and the entire group had decided to work on one issue. Then individuals stood up to make their commitments. One of the women said, 'We need to agree among the different wards where the secondary school should be located. I know that we all want it here, but we can't do it alone, we need to get people from other wards to support the school too. So, I will arrange a meeting with two representatives from each ward so that we can decide where the school should be; here or in Phakhel Chaur.' She sat down to sighs of relief from other groups and applause.
Then others began to make their commitments. In a previous meeting the building materials and labour for the school had been pledged. In this one, people began to pledge money for the registration fee. There was tremendous excitement, especially when we added up the cash commitments and found that over 10,000 rupees had been raised (the equivalent of an entire family's yearly income) by about 35 people. This was one fifth of the registration fee.
Atpara, Bangladesh. The workshop was finished, commitments had been made. One woman stood up and said, 'Together we can do so much, so quickly!' A man followed with, 'We dreamed together what our village could be. We never did that before.' And they all agreed that they didn't need anything from anyone else, they could do it on their own.
Hardly surprising, perhaps, but these two workshops were in villages where almost every person existed under the poverty line. This means, among other things, that people in these villages will go hungry for several months a year. There was no INGO/NGO involvement; no funding, we are just a group of friends experimenting with some new methods in development. Two different countries, but the same outcome: people who have been brought up to rely on outside aid, spent a few hours working together using the Appreciative Planning and Action (APA) method and broke through their own organisational paradigm. They discovered the power within themselves and made a major culture shift from a dependence mentality to one of independence and interdependence. And it sticks, as we find when we return on a regular basis to monitor progress.
In today's rapidly changing world, we need to rethink what organisations are, how they react to their environment and what they need to develop. These are the days of 'organisational agility' , there is an ever increasing need to respond to change which occurs at increasingly rapid rates. To do that, we need to learn faster. This is the key to organisational survival and the only real means of sustaining competitive advantage.
It becomes clear, therefore, that organisations not only need to become learning organisations, but they need to be the best in their business at being a learning organisation. Yet, not many are. I believe that the main reason for this is the pain of change, coupled with the difficulty of implementing the culture change necessary to be a learning organisation.
Implementing a learning organisation is concerned with getting groups of people to collectively shift their mentality. We are asking people to experience and be a culture change. And it is very difficult to do. It is certainly not something a practitioner can do to us. If we are not willing participants, nothing changes. If we can facilitate the change of something as fundamental as a total life outlook, in a poor village (see box), then I think we can certainly change our organisational culture such that we become a learning organisation. It is risky and threatening for some. But, if you are willing to take the risk the rewards are great.
APA is a capability-based strategy which helps an organisation build upon the strengths it already has to achieve organisational change and transformation. It is based on the Appreciative Inquiry approach developed by David Cooperrider, S. Srivastva et.al at Case Western University at the end of the 1980's. It provides the vision, energy and momentum for a culture change.
Appreciative Inquiry and APA were developed from a frustration with the traditional problem-solving approach to organisational development. Instead of viewing life and organisations as a series of problems to be solved, it views organisations as a series of successes to be celebrated and built upon. It looks for the life in an organisation and how to breed success from past success. When you focus on problems, you will find problems, when you focus on success, you will find success. At the same time, the APA process gives us a central framework for transforming what is, into what should be for our shared future. And it helps us each to commit to our own part in the creation of that shared future. It gives us the vehicle for integrating all aspects of organisational transformation. The need for other tools and methods becomes clear from the approach as you use it.
It is unlike the normal, problem solving approach in that it focuses first on what an organisational does well and only after that looks at what stops it from being better. In normal problem solving, we dissect issues to see what is going wrong and what the cause might be. We do not normally look at how it might effect other parts of the organisation or system. And generally speaking, when we implement a solution, OUR part works correctly and frequently someone else's part of the organisation then experiences a problem.
When we try to fix someone else's problem, we encourage defensiveness and the breakdown of trust. We encourage a blaming culture. The ensuing defensiveness discourages creativity. People begin to worry more about looking good rather than being good.
Appreciative Inquiry is an approach to organisational analysis and learning that is uniquely intended for discovering, understanding, and fostering innovations in social organisational arrangements and processes. It is a proven tool that works to mobilise and implement organisational change. The art of appreciation is the art of discovering and valuing those factors that give life to an organisation or group, that yield the energy and life force of the organisation. The process involves interviewing and storytelling to draw the best of the past to set the stage for effective visualisation of what might be.
- First we discover and value those factors that give life to an organisation
or community;
- Second, we envision what might be. Dream together, for we can build upon
what is good, not upon what is bad;
- Third, we engage in dialogue to help the individual appreciation become
collective appreciation;
- Finally, we construct the future through innovation and action. We design
how we will make it happen, using the appreciative eye to mobilise us into action.
We've used APA in many ways:
- To do an organisational audit using the appreciative eye to uncover
the strengths of a high tech, international organisation, concentrating on customer
service and the value chain;
- To mobilise an international aid organisation and help them implement
culture change, involving their stakeholders (clients and suppliers) as well
as their own staff;
- To discover how to raise shareholder value by learning what the organisation's
best way of working with stakeholders is and working out how to institutionalise
it throughout the organisation for a unique competitive advantage. This was
for an international computer services group together with their partners, clients
and suppliers;
- To mobilise, implement and institutionalise change in rural village development
in 3rd world communities. Using APA enables demand-led development;
- To arbitrate in a conflict situation between different parties, getting
them to appreciate the value of each other's position;
- To gain buy-in and an idea of how to implement a voluntary organisation's
new mission statement;
- Developing an organisation strategy and ensuring its implementation.
So what is some of the learning we take away from 3 years experience using the approach? There is tremendous power in positive action, which this approach stimulates. Working from the positive energises and motivates people to do things. There is tremendous power in people defining 'it' themselves, whatever that 'it' for change is. There is an enormous risk too: Once you unleash the power in people, there is no turning back. When they realise what they, themselves can do to change the organisation, they will do it. And you might lose some control. If you awaken the power in people and then 'take it back', you will demotivate your people. And you might not be able to stop them. Are you up to the risk?
We used the APA process to help an organisation develop its in-country strategy for the next 5 years and to ensure that there was participation from all levels of the organisation including from its partners. People said that it was a fantastic experience for everyone who participated. They were surprised by what they developed: a vision, strategy and plan which is the best it can be, utilised the best of what is and challenges them in the coming years. And, despite having a new managing director, they are implementing the strategy today, more than one year later.
Here are some of the participants' comments:
I have learned that participation helps to find the reality. Participation is the pre-condition of real learning; I learned how to reach to constructive dream/vision through a creative group work and portray how & what I feel about us; Group work can be really fun & at the same time constructive by sharing the same dreams; People are always ready to find flaws - not enough 'Constructive' criticism going around; We all are very much innovative and we can contribute more in this process; ...Our participation together for our future. Everybody could decide anything; I learned that if we take initiatives & are ready to make decisions as well as take responsibility for them while 'Enjoying' ourselves we can make a difference & bring about change for the better; How to minimise a 'Large' amount of work in a short time by providing input from different levels. We could follow it in future for 'Dreams'; I learned that if you want to develop something, you have to draw a Dream