Does appreciative leadership mean that we appreciate the exercise of leadership ? Not quite. But that doesn't stop you from taking pleasure in taking on responsibilities and getting others on board. You might even like it even more when you learn more about this new approach to leadership ! Let us explain.
A positive and optimistic approach
"We are sometime truly to see our life as positive, not negative, as made up of continuous willing, not of constraints and prohibition." This quote from Mary Parker Follett serves as an epigraph to the long article that David L. Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva published in 1987 to introduce the notion of " appreciative leadership".
This is to say that this approach is positive and optimistic. For social innovation experts Cooperrider and Srivastva, our organizational models are designed more for solving problems than for driving projects. These proponents of the socio-constructivist approach to dynamics believe that our vision of the world, the economy and society exudes mistrust of others, frustration and fear of lack, dissatisfaction, questioning of shortcomings and guilt... In the end, we shouldn't be too surprised that we live grumpy ! What if we looked at life differently, by taking the decision to protect and increase what is going well ?
The glass half full? Rather a different look at the water !
Then you say to yourself: it's okay, I've understood everything about appreciative leadership, it's just a matter of looking at the glass half full rather than the glass half empty. No luck ! This is not the case, because by reasoning in this way, we are content to sit on part of our need to " fill " the glass. It is a pleasant posture in appearance, but very fragile since it depends on the individual's temperament and mood. It also requires that the balance between reasons for satisfaction and dissatisfaction remain stable. However, as we all know, all this is constantly changing, especially in times of change.
Appreciative leadership would rather like us to get out of the glass, a bit like we " get out of the box " to imagine another frame of reference, other ways of seeing, other ways of acting. To continue the metaphor, we would no longer be interested so much in the quantity of water in a container but in the properties of water on the one hand and the multiplicity of uses made of it by living beings on the other.
Protecting existing balances
If we continue the metaphor of water a little further, this implies that we systematically keep in mind, each time we consider using it (to consume it directly, to bathe in it, for industrial activities, for agricultural activities, etc.) to check who are the other " actors " who also use it to live and develop. This awareness must lead to a form of responsibility for the protection of the existing. But also to be inspired by the most sober, the most effective, the most respectful ways in which it is used.
What applies to water and all common goods also applies to the functioning of social groups, to local initiatives, to team projects. What is balanced, what works, what does not harm must be preserved... So don't impose change where the balance is good, even if you imagine that you could propose something " better " or more efficient. As pediatrician Donald Winnicott says for parenting (being a good enough father/mother is very good like that, there's no point in wanting to be a perfect parent at the risk of becoming a toxic parent!) or anthropologist Daniel S. Milo for organizations (lots of boxes are running well without having an optimal functioning; absolutely wanting to " rationalize " them, it's stupidly taking the risk of breaking the dynamics that made it work well without any guarantee that it will work better afterwards).
An apology for the status quo ?
Does this mean that the appreciative approach promotes the status quo ? There is certainly no question of leaving systems that go off the rails in peace just because they are working as best they can. Otherwise, we could say, for example, that productivist models have the merit of generating turnover and that there is therefore no reason to disrupt them. Or we could consider that mainly male corporate governance has so far been able to drive the economy and that there is therefore no reason to seek gender diversity and even less to ask the question of quotas.
In an appreciative approach, we leave systems that are balanced in peace... And we draw inspiration from them to transform those who are not. For example, we draw inspiration from the management of natural resources by indigenous peoples to imagine the future of extractive economies. We are inspired by the functioning of egalitarian collectives to consider inclusion in organizations. We are inspired by the methods of participatory social movements that produce collective well-being to think about commitment and cooperation. We are interested in the actions of active minorities to work for social justice. In short, you don't reinvent the wheel when you have realistic examples of satisfactory models at hand.
Creating hope together !
But how do you implement this approach in organizations ? By acting as an appreciative leader! In Leading positive performance: A conversation about appreciative leadership, researchers Diana Whitney, Amanda Trosten-Bloom, and Kae Rader propose a definition of appreciative leadership as " the relational ability to mobilize creative potential and transform it into positive power – to unleash waves of confidence, energy, enthusiasm, and performance ."
In concrete terms, this is based on 5 pillars :
1/ Collective learning. Collective work times are dedicated to the expression of " what is going well " to highlight best practices in a perspective of peer learning.
2/ Positive psychology. Preserving the emotional well-being of individuals is a priority for management, which ensures that positive experiences are valued, particularly through recognition. As for " negative " experiences, they must be dealt with in a way that builds trust, recognizes the right to make mistakes and encourages risk-taking under optimal conditions.
3/ Inclusion. Because it is at the crossroads of the sense of belonging and the power to act (individually and collectively) and constitutes the basis of commitment, inclusion is a permanent point of vigilance in the appreciative approach. Management ensures that everyone feels considered in their uniqueness (identity, needs, aspirations, etc.) at the same time as fully involved in the creation of common value.
4/ Creativity. In current operations as well as in crisis situations, management must put in place all the conditions conducive to the search for solutions and the spirit of innovation. This implies in particular promoting serendipity by supporting the diversity of inspirations, by leaving room for chance and hazards, by offering space and time to ideas that may a priori appear to be " next door " or even irrelevant.
5/ Balance. For the previous four steps to be possible, it is essential that individuals can preserve their balance. It is up to management to exercise real vigilance on the workload, on the degree of commitment, on the respect of the articulation of life times and on the recognition of identities and extra-professional achievements.
