Strength based approach, Appreciative inquiry and Positive thinking

      During our last session on Team building at IIMB,  we were exposed to the underlying power of Strength based approach & Appreciative inquiry(AI) and how to apply them at work place. Most of us use these approaches in our daily lives, but paying more attention and reaping the benefits of these approaches may change the way we live our lives.

      Strengths and weaknesses are unique to each individual. Some strengths are built-in, whereas others are acquired due to our interest in a subject. Culture and society play an important role in exhibiting our strengths. Sometimes we may be unaware of our own strengths, all it requires is to try out different activities and find out what we are good at and what makes us feel happy.

      Once we know what our strengths and weaknesses are, let's try to invest more time on our strengths... because that's the area which maximizes our satisfaction and feel-good factor...which in turn leads the path to success. A formal definition of strength-based approach...

“The strength-based approach is an approach to people that views situations realistically and looks for opportunities to complement and support existing strengths and capacities as opposed to focusing on and staying with the problem or concern. The problem and the person are separate; however, the problem is never minimized. (Bernadette Glass) 

      Rather than wasting our time and effort on improving our weaknesses, spending more time on our strengths may give good results in life. This can be well explained the way kids behave to different situations. They do well in what they are good at, but once they are forced to spend time on activities they are not interested in, it results in poor performance. Said that, one can't ignore the weaknesses too. We need to make a right balance. Sometimes working on our weaknesses will complement the strengths we have.

      If you are in a leadership position (whether it be at work or home), you need to identify the strengths in your team and try to maximize the output by making use of their strengths. Appreciative Inquiry comes into play to identify the strengths and pave a path to success. 

Appreciative Inquiry is primarily an organizational development method which focuses on increasing what an organization does well rather than on eliminating what it does badly. 

Rather than spending more time on what went wrong, if we identify what went smooth, we can share those findings to minimize the problems in the future.

      When we are appreciating the work done by others, make sure that our appreciation is genuine. If it is sugar coated to just get the work done, it may actually reduce the output if the person takes advantage of the situation and exploits the beauty of the process. Tricky part is to identify the right tools and environment that actually encourages the person to contribute more towards the goals.

      In order to reap the benefits of Appreciative Inquiry, one needs to have positive attitude towards others. This comes only when we have positive thinking in our mind. From childhood, we are taught to stick to the phrase See no evil. Speak no evil, Hear no evil. When we hear this phrase, the imaginative power of Human mind actually thinks of an evil scene :-).  But if we rephrase the same sentence to See Good, Speak Good, Hear Good, it changes the way we imagine things. Always think positive and enjoy the video clip to tap your positive energy.