Appreciative Inquiry - Cortex Leadership Consulting

Engaging People in Proactive Thought One of the age-old ways of determining how a person views a situation is asking them if the glass is half full or half empty. Many pessimists will reply that the glass is half empty while opportunists will see the glass as half full. Even one person that leads with ego in the group can hinder everyone else’s proactive attitude, so it is important to engage every employee in proactive thinking. When everyone focuses on what’s going right it not only creates a pleasant work environment for everyone, but employees begin to be more engaged and feel better about themselves and take pride to finish any job with ease.

– Encourage group discussions
– Invite others to share their ideas and opinions
– Make them focus on what’s going right rather an overemphasis or
only emphasis on areas of correction

Shifting from “What’s Wrong?” to “What’s Right?” One of the first things that lower a team member’s engagement is looking at a situation and only noticing the negative aspects, or the “What’s Wrong” side. The main focus of appreciative inquiry is about focusing on a person’s strengths and what’s going right and aiming towards goals. When presented with a problem, take a few minutes and look at both sides of the situation. Make a mental list of everything that is working about the situation before touching on what isn’t. You’ll find that any situation won’t appear as bad as we think when we notice what’s working, first.

Keys to shifting your thoughts:
– Avoid the “all or nothing” thinking – deciding a situation only has two sides.
– Realize the difference between being right and being happy.
– Avoid over-generalizing a situation – focus on details.

Framing Positive Questions When we ask questions to a team member, what kind of response are we expecting? If we ask questions that can come across as negative or critical, we can expect for that person to become defensive. However, by using proactive language to form more impactful questions, we can not only put the other person at ease, but they will feel more confident about their abilities and be able to have a better exchange with you. Create positive experiences to help the person realize their own skills and ambitions, while at the same time determining how they can work best on the team and for the organization.

Impactful inquiry questions:

“What do you think is working well right now?”
“What do you consider to be the best part of your job?”
“If you could change on thing in the situation at work right now, what would it be?”
“If you had to do that situation over again, what would you change about how you approached it?”
“What do you think you could start doing to be more effective in this situation?”

Rules to follow when engaging with team members:

Keep in mind your desired outcome.
Provide an agenda, prior to each group meeting.
Honor start and stop meeting times.
Remove all distractions and sounds like cell phones from all view.
Use timed rounding at beginning and end of meeting to be sure all are heard.
Stick to “I” statements
Appreciate others strengths and ability to contribute
Say it now, not later

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