Appreciative Inquiry: A Way to Capitalize on Your Strengths |
In life and in work, it is often easy to focus on what is going wrong than to consider what is going well. We accentuate the negative rather than the positive—and sometimes that can be the right thing to do. But focusing more on what’s going well can open up avenues of advancing—in life as well as inwork.
Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, considered positivity-based approaches to be powerful, both for individuals and organizations. There are choices that constantly present themselves, and how we make those choices becomes crucial for the future.
In any encounter or decision, we can choose actions that can further self-development and strengthen our organizations. Yet sometimes we are frustrated and stymied at work by perceived deficiencies, unwanted rules set by management, or unspoken laws of how things get done. In such situations, Drucker advised, ask yourself what you can do, rather what you can’t. You may have more leeway or discretion than you’ve considered.
Appreciative Inquiry Inside and Outside the Workplace
A sense of appreciation is embodied in the theory of appreciative inquiry, originally........