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Appreciative Intelligence
by
Tojo Thatchenkery and Carol Metzker
The secret to highly successful people
Appreciative intelligence allows us to see what’s possible and make it
happen
When the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990, the general public and
scientists in the aerospace field both held high hopes. The world
waited expectantly for answers to riddles of the universe that would be
revealed by the telescope’s views of space.
But blurry images caused by a flawed mirror sent those hopes crashing
to Earth. The U.S. Congress demanded an explanation for the failure.
The project and its creators became the butt of jokes on late-night
television. Stress and health problems afflicted many NASA engineers.
“It was traumatic,” says the former director of NASA’s astrophysics
division, Charles Pellerin, who oversaw the launch of the Hubble.
Nobody could see how to fix the problem.
Well, nobody except Pellerin. He not only had insight on how to solve
the problem but found the funding and resources to repair the
telescope, for which he received NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal.
But
his real reward came over the next decade when the telescope provided
spectacular images and important discoveries about stars, galaxies and
other cosmic phenomena.
What was the secret of Pellerin’s success? Dozens of other people at
NASA had high IQs and world-class technical knowledge—they were, after
all, rocket scientists.
They
could perform the same analyses, use the same logic and master the same
models and mathematical formulas.
So
what gave Pellerin the edge? What made him persist until the telescope
was fixed when others felt overwhelmed by the challenge?
His mind perceived reality differently. He reframed the situation as an
unfinished project, not a failed one. He never lost sight of the
potential for a positive outcome—a space telescope that worked.
He saw
how that positive future could happen as the result of technical
solutions—corrective optics-package repairs performed by a crew of
astronauts—that were possible with a rearrangement of funding and
resources that already existed within NASA.
By
reassessing the situation, recognizing the potential and envisioning
the repaired telescope, he was able to help orchestrate the unfolding
of events that changed the future.
While most of the NASA scientists are at the top of the charts in the
intellect department, Pellerin possessed something more: appreciative
intelligence.
Appreciative intelligence can be defined as the capability of
perceiving the inherent generative potential within a situation at
hand. Put simply, appreciative intelligence is the ability to see the
mighty oak in the acorn.
It is the capacity to see a strong trunk and countless leaves emerging
from this small nut as time unfolds. It is a knack for seeing a
breakthrough product, top talent or valuable solution for the future
hidden in the present.
Appreciative intelligence is similar to what Viktor Frankl, survivor of
a German concentration camp, wrote in his classic book, Man’s
Search for Meaning, about the power of looking horror in the face
and finding something there that allows you to survive.
It is
that capacity not to flinch but to learn from the things you fear. To
quote Frankl, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the
last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of
circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Everyone has appreciative intelligence to a greater or lesser degree.
The most recent research shows our intelligence can be enhanced and
nurtured; it is not an innate, unchangeable ability.
Happily,
this means appreciative intelligence can be developed and improved.
Recognizing and cultivating your own sense of appreciative intelligence
can make a difference in your prosperity, health and success.
At least three different ways of changing your behaviours and thoughts
enhance appreciative intelligence.
First, you can change behaviours by working on them directly. For
instance, you may be accustomed to going to work a particular way every
day. If construction forces you to change routes, you may deliberately
remind yourself to travel that new direction every morning until a new
habit forms.
Second, you can directly change your thought processes. One of the
ideas for which 1972 Nobel laureate Gerald Edelman is well-known is
called “neural Darwinisim.”
He
pointed out that our brains have some 30 billion neurons and a
quadrillion synaptic connections. As we develop into adulthood,
connections that are used most often are kept, while the least-used
connections are destroyed or “pruned.”
According to Edelman, constant activation will influence neural growth
and synapse formation. In other words, the more we use certain mental
processes, the stronger they become.
Therefore,
if we intentionally work on feeling optimistic, those neural
connections are strengthened. We can think of this as a mental
workout—if we work the neural “muscles” of optimism, they get
strengthened and we feel optimistic.
If we
decide to be happy, those “happy synapses” get strengthened. In other
words, by choosing to have a certain mindset, we can end up getting it.
Third, you can change your mindset by changing your actions. To grasp
the significance of this, try the following quick exercise. Smile. Hold
that smile for a few minutes. (It may feel like a long time.)
Within
a few minutes you will begin to feel happier than you were before you
began to smile. After a while, your smile will feel natural, you may
relax, and you may feel genuine happiness.
Because
our brains do not distinguish between a smile (or other action) brought
about by a mental state or one caused by moving our physical muscles,
we can change our mindset through physical changes.
The best way to enhance your appreciative intelligence is to determine
what your abilities and qualities are and build on them.
Stretch
them, strengthen them and use them in new areas of your life. For many
people, this approach will run contrary to what they have learned.
Martin
Seligman, leader of the positive psychology movement, points out that
the trend in psychology for years has been to focus on deficits. In
corporations and elsewhere, consultants and management look for what’s
broken and try to fix it.
The
problem is this often returns a situation to a minimal level of
functioning—not an optimal state of productivity. Rarely does such an
approach bring about a great future.
Enhancing your appreciative intelligence will not make you happy all
the time or keep you from making mistakes. What appreciative
intelligence can do is to help you learn how to reframe situations so
you can solve problems in a creative way.
You
may begin to see innovative solutions. You might blame yourself and
others less and get what you want more. You may find yourself bringing
out the best in others; seeing connections you had never noticed; and
finding happiness, appreciation or fulfillment in new places.
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Tojo Thatchenkery is an associate professor of organizational
development and knowledge management at George Mason University, near
Washington, D.C. Carol Metzker is an organizational learning consultant
and contributing editor for Investor Relations Update.
This is an excerpt from Appreciative
Intelligence: Seeing the Mighty Oak in the Acorn, by Tojo
Thatchenkery and Carol Metzker (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2006).
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