My publisher had emailed me 3 days earlier with the following heartwarming message:

It’s here and it’s beautiful!!!!
Congratulations.  You should get your copy soon.

I am really happy, as my book is a unique application of Appreciative Inquiry to the world of learning and development.  Amid global challenges and complexities, the Appreciative Inquiry worldview asks, “What is it that we do already that is working for us, and how can we leverage our strengths going forward?”

The twenty-one workshops in this book are on topics of strategic importance, addressing the desire and need, in our interconnected world, for greater participation and active collaboration in meaning making and resource sharing.   This book is for change agents, leaders, trainers, facilitators, organization development professionals, and consultants.

All 21 workshops are ready for delivery; the topics are all highly relevant in today’s world, and with the Appreciative Inquiry design, they are equally applicable in global corporations, local communities, schools, colleges, universities, government agencies, non-profits, non-governmental agencies, special interest groups, communities of practice, and small business.

Workshop titles include classic topics, such as team building, leadership, and change, as well as on newer topics, such as cultural diversity, corporate social responsibility, intergenerational mix, and social media, to name a few.

This book takes Appreciative Inquiry principles and processes and applies them to real, everyday work and relationship issues in a workshop format that allows organizational members to resolve issues and create solutions from a strength-based perspective.

See larger image Appreciative Inquiry for Collaborative Solutions: 21 Strength-Based Workshops (Paperback) By (author) Robyn Stratton-Berkessel List Price: $60.00 USD New From: $50.39 In Stock Used from: $93.83 In Stock

We are offering some great presentations and workshops online using iCohere collaborative platform and we are seeking a number of volunteer online hosts who will be able to participate in the conference and perform some support activities.   This is a great opportunity for those who want to participate, but for a variety of reason can’t make it to Nepal in November.  Colleague, Sue James is co-ordinating the online hosting activities.

What are the benefits of volunteering?

• Receive support and training in the virtual conference environment, prior to the conference itself;
• Become part of a global network of volunteers, all of whom share your interest in Appreciative Inquiry;
• Gain personal and professional recognition across the AI community; and
• If you can act as an online host for six (6) hours or more over the four days of the conference, you will receive a 50% discount on virtual conference registration!
• (These hours will not have to be contributed in one block, but can be spread out in two-hour time slots over the four days)

For all the details and to register, please go to http://suejames.com/aihosts2009/

I am fortunate to be able to travel to Nepal for the Conference and will also co-facilitating an online workshop, “Flourishing Destinies: How to Sustain Positive Change.”  I will be happy to answer any questions and request that you use the contact form on this site to reach me.

I have reason to be excited.   Our workshop “Flourishing Destinies: sustaining continuity for positive change” received media attention and was the lead story yesterday in  Axiomnews , based in Ontaria Canada and whose mission is “to publish news, on behalf of organizations, that catalyzes meaningful contribution.“

The New News Media such as Axiom News are helping to shift cultures to cultures of responsibility and positive, sustainable actions. Axiom News has “A Passion for Organizations that Make a Difference“.  From their website:

“We believe the organizations we all work for, and access goods and services through, are the best vehicle for influencing social change and for finding fulfilling, meaningful work. We are committed to our mission of helping organizations make the greatest contribution they possibly can to society, and the self-actualization of their team members.

We know that high functioning, open and dynamic social ecologies are the best environments for making this happen. As practitioners of the journalistic arts we are passionate about our Constructive Stakeholder Journalism approach as a high-yield catalyst for such environments, social contribution and the creation of meaning in work.”

With news networks like that, we will focus on growing that which we want.

The overall theme of the Global Forum is “Manage in an era of massive innovation” and our workshop’s purpose is to prototype a container for massive innovation. Our container is made up of a process with web-based technologies.  Our process is Appreciative Inquiry and our web-based technologies are Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter and a collaborative platform iCohere.

So through the Appreciative Inquiry process we seek to discover high peak stories of when the energy, innovation and  commitment generated in the planning process of a workshop or conference have not withered on the vine, but  continued to build after the event, spiraling into greater levels of achievement.  Through all of our shared stories and experiences of successful sustained implementation and our dreams for what such implementation could look like, we will develop a deeper understanding of how the energy and innovation created in the planning process can build after the event and spiral into ever greater levels of achievement that lead to flourishing destinies.  We will co-create insights and understanding that we can take away to apply within our own organizations and projects in order to create sustained continuity for positive change and innovation at the scale of the whole.

You are welcome to participate free by going to our site www.flourishingdestiny.org and follow the prompts.   To join the Twitter discussion, use @BAWBGlobalForum;  Facebook; LinkeIn

Key insights from their conversation:

Positive emotions increase our thought-action repertoire creating a broadening effect that opens us up to generativity, to creativity and to each other.   By paying attention and increasing the frequency of positive emotions, we build up more positive resources that increase our resiliency over time.   This translates into the ability to hold our positivity in the face of adversity.  We are able to hold both sadness and fear and feel at the same time, gratitude and love.  We are more able to see and feel what is real and difficult while at the same time maintain our uplifted spirit.  Resilient people can hold the positive and the negative side by side.  The ratio of holding the positive affect to offset negative affect is 3:1.  Nurses who show greatest resiliency are the best able to uphold the human spirit when dealing with their patients’ great pain and suffering.

Our social construct has been to emphasize our ‘brokenness’ over strengthening our potential and goodness.  There are greater numbers of positive acts in the world than negative, yet it is the negative ones that get emphasized.  Most of millions of day-to-day positive acts are quiet and don’t attract attention.

Whatever we focus on, grows.  Therefore, as a practice, we can grow our capacity to flourish (feel joy and happiness) as we focus on all the micro moments of positive emotions.   We are mindful that positive emotions are fleeting; and we are reminded of the impermanence of life and that all things will pass.   Loving-kindness meditation is one way to build our positive emotions and hence our resiliency.

Final takeaways:

• The skill is to develop a sense of renewal through self-compassion and letting go, as opposed to hanging onto states that do not support us
• Our everyday thoughts and practices shape who we are.
• The neurons that fire together, wire together.
• Experience is fundamental to memory.

When invited to say what attracted them to the workshop they offered the following shared themes:

• To gain greater understanding of AI and how I can integrate this into various aspects of my work with individuals and groups.
• Learn how to do it right so that the outcomes for people and organisations (and me!) are realised.
• Looking for practical examples.
• Understand the process of moving through an AI
  “discovery” with the others in the room as well as gaining insight into
  the facilitation process itself.

• Feel comfortable about integrating AI methods/approach in my coaching and facilitation.

What stood out as highlights and common themes following the discovery interviews of a high point in their work:

• creating environments where people can act in a positive way, facilitating challenge, using skills, creating something, making a difference, discovery of skills and unlocking potential, awakening, contribution to something value, creating value for others.

And what they valued about the experience of the discovery interview:

• having my story validated by others, encouragement;
• prompt that reflection on past success should be done more often to feed future growth and success;
• I valued the opportunity to remember my story and to get in touch with how significant it was in my own growth and awakening. It was also uplifting to hear my colleague’s story and to recognise another person’s amazing growth and discovery…
• Time to reflect … the interview was an opportunity to learn about my own experience and then the value is real as it was what had happened. No need to justify or to prove the research….it was re living something real; real listening and appreciation of the story;
• Just a chance to take some time and space; to be able to slow down;
• Sort of acknowledgement, validation as well as delight in the fact that the important bits were successfully communicated and understood. Being present when people are experiencing positive emotion seems to itself create the atmosphere of creativity and potential;
• Sense of one’s self at a higher place.
• Reinforced the worth of my work, realisation that I can make a difference, am positive about the next stage;
• I was happy to find that that someone else could see the value in the story I was telling. I was also moved by the story that was narrated to me because it had simpatico vibes for me;
• Opportunity to get closer to a new friend;
• I felt uplifted, positive, a sense of something greater than myself, encouraged;
• The simple sharing of stories and having a conversation of personal experiences.

This caring group of eight individual professionals identified their positive core as

• not leaving their heart at the gate, shared endeavour, valuing and encouraging people, passion, sense of purpose; collectively working in a relationship of trust and creating an environment where people can learn.

The wishes expressed to realise the dream workplace in 10 years time included:

• Happy place;
• Positively focused collaboration;
• Flexibility, trust, fulfillment;
• I wish for people to have the time and space to appreciate their fellows, share understanding and grow together;
• Camaraderie, energy and meaningful work;
• New directions by collaborative design and sharing leadership;
• Work which is in line with my deeper purpose.

Here are some responses to the question: What do feelings of joy bring out in you, as you work, play and relate to others? Where do you feel joy in your body?

• Song in the heart literally!
• Lightness of body and mind, easing and reduced tension of muscles.
• I feel joy in my face and in my core – feel light and happy – almost floating.
• A satisfaction and tiredness with the inner glow.
• A lightness and warmth in the gut.
• More ideas, alive and invincible.
• Overall heightened sense of well being.
• Relaxation, ease.
• Feeling joy – lightness, feel it in your chest/heart – breathe deeper, feelings of warmth, connected.
• Heightened connectivity of ideas and concepts firing at a faster rate.
• Relieved; stress makes you smile and be animated. Feel it in your face, feel warm.
• Jumping for joy – literally I feel like expressing myself physically – like a child jumping up and down with glee.

The collaborative software platform we use facilitates the capturing, sharing and sense making of all participants’ ideas in a generative way.

What becomes clearer to me each time is how valuable the technolgy is, not only to capture participants own words and feelings throughout the workshop as shared above, but especially when it comes time to do the operational, more linear tasks as well, such as creating provocative propositions, making the topic selection and creating the interview protocol.

As an example of the latter, the task was: (1)Take your selected topic; (2) create a “lead-in” statement and (3) write two affirming questions to elicit “high peak” experiences related to the topic and the lead-in statement just created. The tool truly facilitates this process elegantly.

Teams worked on these three steps and in a very short time produced three excellent interview protocols. Using the technology provides a focussed energy augmenting teamwork, the co-creative process and the desire to share and contribute.

At the end of our two-day workshop, when invited to express how they will introduce AI into their work and personal life these views were recorded.

• Hope as the lead-in.
• AI frame will help my work with groups facing challenges.
• Taking a refreshed / fresh perspective and positive approach.
• Make a real difference, new approach that may engage people.
• Satisfaction to add (not deficient thinking).
• Discovering and deploying strengths, both active and dormant.
• Growth and benefit to all concerned a real positive experience of life through a new way of seeing and being.
• An approach that I can draw upon to help move groups forward in a positive, generative way.

• Integrate and synthesize information into overall framework. Creating systems with a capacity for self reflection so that they are able to reflect on their actions while they are doing them…..reflection in action… I’m a great typist. I passionately seek out alternative viewpoints and constructs to illuminate and transform stuff
• Using the wisdom traditions from the past, using a facility with language and communication, as well as skills for teaching; we look forward to how to teach the next generations, so that ideas can be built on and developed and amplified. We use what we know from teaching and technology to unite minds for more power and creativity; developing tools and processes for the next generation we expect the integration of the different waves of human evolution will transcend and include all levels.
• Work on oneness, energy, higher levels of consciousness with proven methods; increased awareness of positive and negative energies.
• Taking broad concepts and interrelating them to other concepts, synthesizing that and making it new and broader, bring sense of possibilities, bringing in humor, imagination, encouraging resilience in the face of challenge, wisdom to the improvement of the world, vision and alignment.
• Help people think out loud, deeper presence with others, in tune with the world, courage, ability to connect with people, boldness, capacity for strategic synthesis, skilled with technology and cautious about how we’ll use it, positive framing.
• Kindness, poetic – appreciation of beauty, listener, nurturer, zeal, enthusiasm, share the practicalities, energy-driven.
• To engage and connect people globally to share their collective wisdom for the betterment of the world.
• Themes: connecting, synthesis, becoming whole, becoming one, growth and development, creativity, teaching, self-reflection, applying technology for the common good,leadership with humility.

Highlight #1 is the creativity that flowed from play, a joyful, fun state.

After a series of playful warm-ups, inlcuding introducing the word
EUNOIA, the shortest word in the English language containing all five
vowels and which means BEAUTIFUL THINKING, we asked each table group to:

Describe the ocean without using the letter “e”.

It is a cool body of liquid that flows and is soothing, and has a fabulous sound. Many humans want to play in this amazing big bath. Surf and sun, rolling foam and coastal swimming and sailing, kids laughing and running across sands, sunburnt arms and happy dogs barking. I swam through a vista of warm, wavy liquid and it was salty without stinging. I was happy to swim fast and playfully again and again amongst fish plants and rocks. I saw sand and coral with tiny barbs. I saw swimming schools of fish and dolphins and octopus and a squid jump in, and join us now. I can float on H2O, got sand on my body, wind in my hair, salt on my lips, gulls calling, soars my soul. I can swim on constant highs and lows all day if I wish. Foamy swim in foamy light cozy bouncing liquid. Dolphins jump high towards sky. Whales roll and sing. Shrimp slink across a murky bottom. Today I saw a big soft salty fluid opportunity for joy with sand, sun and fun, and fish, wind, surf and play turns into a good day for all, Too much sun, not much fun though! Bill was surfing on a balmy day, slipping through glassy liquid, sun on his back, wind driving him on. Shark says ‘tasty!”

From , something from the field of Organisational Scholarship:

• Go to http://www.unc.edu/peplab/publications.html to pull up a .pdf of Chapter 11 in the book by Cameron, K., Dutton, J. & Quinn, R. (Eds. 2003) Positive Organizational Scholarship. This chapter speaks to how positive emotions lead to thought-action repertoire which her theory states overtime strengthens our resiliency and our positive disposition – a field of work I am very interested in. By the way, Barbara is doing the closing keynote at the AI Conference in Orlando, Florida in a couple of weeks http://www.2007aiconference.com/index.htm
• I am very excited about a meeting we have set up at the conference because I have a hunch that the Positive Matrix meetings (at the front of the manual you received during your training) serve to support her “broaden and build theory.” She is looking for tools that “…(encourage) organizational members to explore ways to cultivate meaningful positive emotions within their organizations”.
• My experience is that participants in Positive Matrix meetings, because of the deliberate structure, language and questioning sequences, based on AI, open up to “thought-action” tendencies which she describes as play, exploration, envisioning future possibilities and actions, enlarge the cognitive context, and in another paper she describes “greater feelings of self-other overlap and “oneness” and this broadened sense of self may predict a more complex understanding of others”.

John Findlay and I are presenting a session entitled “21st Century Wisdom Tools that Broaden and Build” on the last day of the conference, just before Barbara’s closing keynote. I’ll let you know what transpires.
Talking of 21st Wisdom tools here are two excellent slide shows on the topic of Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG) and happiness.

• Jane McGonigal, whom Juergen and I met at the AMP Innovation and Thought Leadership Conference – we attended her presentation and she ours – and we got very excited about where our interests overlap talking about the role of play, games and positive psychology and more. I encourage you to take a look at two slide presentations she has uploaded to http://www.slideshare.net/avantgame on a game designer’s perspective on the future of happiness.

David Cooperrider’s live Webcast on Becoming a Green Company for Profit and Value

• you can now download at http://weatherhead.case.edu/webinar/archive/

On the topic of “Greening”

• if you know the magazine EnlightenNext, http://www.enlightennext.org/ their next issue is on Greening and also features an article on Second Life – virtual reality that is about play and happiness from my perspective.

I would love to create a game that takes women on a quest to become fearless …… that draws on strengths and positive psychology.