2010 starts – and it’s back to the blog

Well I ended up taking quite a bit of a pause from this blog. The last time I wrote was about three weeks ago, and in that time I finished the final assignments of the Fall term of my MAPP (Masters in Applied Positive Psychology) program – which is both good and bad. Good to have assignments done (and my final grades are looking quite good, thank you very much!) and good to have one term done, but bad because it means I only have four months of this amazing experience left!

However, these four months are going to be great and this first class weekend back was a great start with David Cooperrider’s course on Positive Organizations.

If you follow me on Twitter (@LVSConsulting) then today you would have read a series of tweets of David Cooperrider quotes. Here’s a selection of some of my favourites:

All change begins in the imagination.

Simple face to face conversations can change the world.

Changing the envisioned image of the future can change the future.

What a gift it is to be around someone who sees you with an appreciative eye.

The vision of the future of an organization resides in its inner dialogue.

Positive change is in the art of the question. Unconditional positive questions.

when you focus on the good, a new richness of vocabulary emerges.

through an assumption of deficit-based change, we have created the model of organizations as problems to be solved. // but deficit-based change is exhausting, results in more hierarchy, fewer images of possibility, breakdowns in relations.

Why not study what you really want to see created in the organization? // study moments of great engagement instead of moments of low morale.

Human systems move in the direction of their inquiry.

Ask positive questions that SOAR: strengths, opportunities, aspirations, results.

Overall, it was a fabulous day and a half with an amazing man. The way he talks is inspirational, and although he can run Appreciative Inquiry summit with hundreds or thousands of people, he has a dynamically personal touch as he lectured to our class of 45.

The recent holidays were relaxing, and I was happy not to set an alarm for two weeks, but now I’m all positively energized again about my consulting and coaching work – and the positive change that can be created in the organizations around us.