#📓 #📚 #🟡 # Conversations Worth Having: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement ![[calendar-plus.svg]] <small>Sep 26, 2021</small> | ![[calendar-clock.svg]] <small>Jan 03, 2023</small> 🏷️ [[Appreciative Inquiry]], [[Organization Development MOC|OD]], [[Dialogic OD Activities & Exercises]] **Author:** Jackie Stavros & Cheri Torres **Citation:** Stavros, J., & Torres, C. (2018). *Conversations worth having: Using appreciative inquiry to fuel productive and meaningful engagement.* Berrett-Koehler Publishers. --- # Summary Book about how to have conversations that engage others and generate positive action using the philosophy/technique of appreciate inquiry. The authors start by explaining the difference between appreciative and depreciative conversations and how to be aware of which conversations you're having. Next, they explain practices for setting the tone of positive conversations followed by rules for using those practices effectively. They also explain the formal process of the Appreciative Inquiry 5D Cycle to generate meaningful and productive change in organizations and communities. Finally, they discuss the impact appreciative inquiry has on individuals and groups and that it can be used in any setting or situation. ## Key Takeaways # Notes & Important Ideas - Most defining moments for an individual or an organization involve conversations with significant others. - Combines design thinking, strengths-based leadership, positive psychology and Appreciative Inquiry to create conversations worth having - [[Having appreciative conversations doesn't mean ignoring problems]] - [[appreciative-depreciative dimension]] - [[inquiry-based and statement-based dimension]] The Nature of Conversations | Inquiry-Based | Statement-Based ------ | ----- |------ Appreciative | Conversations Worth Having | Affirmative Conversations Depreciative | Critical Conversations | Destructive Conversations - [[critical conversations|Critical conversations]] are sometimes necessary, even if they're depreciative. - [[positive framing|Positive framing]] isn't just about focusing on the positive. - [[generative questions|Generative questions]] adopt an attitude of curiosity. - [[Appreciative Inquiry Principles]] underlies success with positive framing and generative questions. - [[Appreciative Inquiry 5-D Cycle]] can be used at systems level to initiate worthwhile conversations around important topics. > By focusing on what we want to happen instead of what we want to avoid, and asking questions to deepen understanding and increase possibilities, we expand creativity, improve productivity, and unleash potential, at work and at home. (back cover) > Our organizational lives and the lives of others flourish or flounder, one conversation at a time. - David Cooperrider (p. 3) > Change begins with a single conversation. (p. 3) > We live in worlds our conversations create. - David Cooperrider (p. 6) > seeing *beyond the problem* and inviting a different kind of inquiry or search that creates an empowering environment. (p. 9) > Generative questions focus on the best of what *is* and what *might be*. The result: new ways for solving complex problems and compelling images for collective action (p. 55). > [[Innovative solutions can be found in what's already working (p. 57.)]] ## Connections to Other Materials --- # Personal Reflections & Application - I need to use the [[Notice the positive]] activity as a homework assignment for leaders before our check-ins. # Other References TBR:: 🔖 (1996). The trillion-dollar vision of Dee Hock: The corporate radical who organized Visa wants to dis-organize your company. *Fast Company*. (Z) TBR:: 🔖 Ford, J., & Ford, L. ( 2009). *The four conversations: Daily communication that gets results.* Berrett-Koehler. (GR) TBR:: 🔖 Bushe, G. (2013). Generative process, generative outcomes: The transformational potential of appreciative inquiry. In D. L. Cooperrider et al. (Eds.), *Organizational generativity: The appreciative inquiry summit and a scholarship of transformation,* vol. 4, *Advances in appreciative inquiry* (pp. 89-113). Emerald. (Z) TBR:: 🔖 Adams, M. ( 2004). *Change your questions, change your life.* Berrett-Koehler. (GR) TBR:: 🔖 Marshak, R. J. (2004). Generative conversations: How to use deep listening and transforming talk in coaching and consulting. *Organization Development Practitioner, 56*(3), 25-29. (Z) TBR:: 🔖 Torres, C. (2001). *The appreciative facilitator: A handbook for teachers and facilitators.* Collaborative by Design. (GR)