Positive Psychology at Work:

Summary

In this chapter we have pulled out the key theme of the book: the power of positive psychology and Appreciative Inquiry to create flourishing and inspiring places to work. We identified that some of the key processes that support these outcomes are: the creation of social capital and relational reserves; the power of positivity to positively affect so many aspects of organizational life; the benefits of taking a strengths approach to individual and organizational development; and the insights unleashed when we consider the organization as a complex adaptive system. We noted that transformative collaboration approaches to organizational development incorporate all of these key processes: building social capital and positivity; recognizing strengths and resources; and understanding the organization as a complex adaptive system. We identified the organizational processes through which they work. We also noted that despite the clear benefits of working this way, many organizations find these approaches hard to adopt because they challenge the accepted ways of doing things. For those that are able to make the shift we outlined three approaches: Appreciative Inquiry, World Café and Open Space. Finally, we presented a few case studies to illuminate the transformational power of these ways of working.

Supplement 8.5 A Big Conversation, 5 December 2008

How a vision to adopt an alternative approach to conferencing was realized.

This is the story of The Big Conversation, one of the ...