I recently had the priviledge to view an Appreciative Inquiry Summit in Mumbai. It was my first experience with such powerful stuff!
The three days were packed with activity with 120 people of different departments all across the organization. The end result was simply amazing.
For those who do not know what this is…..here is a teaser:
Appreciative coaching derives many of its fundamental premises from the work of David Cooperrider and colleagues. Through the use of Appreciative language,the coach and coachee move away from the traditional coaching paradigm of feedback and confrontation directed at performance deficits.Appreciative coaches emphasize that individuals and executives do not need to be `fixed`but rather require constant affirmation.Coaching therefore does not dialouge around looking for weaknesses or problems, but focusses on existing strengths and distinctive competencies.It assumes that executives,managers and entreprenaurs have already achieved a significant degree of success because of their discintive and unique strengths, that is, something already works well and coaching serves to access this and bring more of it into play.
The fundamental assumption of appreciative coaching is that the solutions we seek and the resources we need are already within us.It is a question accessing,amplifying and integrating all of these to move coachees forward to reach their objectives.
Compassion and concern for the coachee are central to this style of coaching,which attempts to move the individual toward self reflection and self responsibility through appreciating their values,goals and intentions.
(This post has excerpts from Behavioral Coaching: Suzanne Skiffinton & Parry Zeus. I wish to thank the authors for the same.)
