A Model for Transformation You Didn't Know Existed

What's the question that everyone wants the answer to?

Personally, I want to know what we did, as a society, to deserve the enchanting duo Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande shattering our SOULS with the latest production of Wicked. They defy the laws of harmony, physics and change. Gravity be damned!

The real question I think we all want to know, including Elphaba and Glinda, is:

How do we change and how do we grow?

We are always looking to the western sky for inspiration, motivation and energy to make changes in our life. I would argue there is another question Elphie, and the rest of us, want the answer to but it’s far less common to admit out loud:

How do we accept ourselves as exactly as we are?

What if I told you there is a model for positive change that champions both the search for acceptance and the desire to evolve?

This model can be used in your personal life and in organizations. And lucky for you, I just saw Wicked. So this whole blog will be drawing parallels from Elphaba’s storyline. I promise, if you haven’t see the movie, I will spell it out for you to see just way I think this model should be more popu-lar. LAHR.

Defying Gravity: Redefining how change begins.

From the point at which we desire a change to the point when we see progress is likened to the pace of a tectonic plate. Or at least, that’s how it can feel sometimes in work and life. So where is the kink in the flow of change? I believe it's at the very spout of initial desire for something different.

When you're frustrated with what's going on in your life, at work, or with your relationship what is the first action you take? (Let’s pretend you’re not the repressive type.) You convey what's happening to someone else or perhaps you write about it in a journal. It’s this concept you probably have never heard of called venting.

At work, we don’t call it venting though. We call it a SWOT analysis. But it’s a similar assessment process of the current state of affairs, oftentimes, largely fixated on all that has gone wrong.

Organizations will agonize over reports of loss, turnover, reduced output, decreases in productivity as a means for designing their next change initiative. We all tend to focus on deficits as our starting point for a change. But my argument, and the argument of the change-management method Appreciative Inquiry, is that revolutions don't start with a deep analysis of liabilities. They start with a concentrated investigation of existing strengths and their potential to be exponentiated.

Even though Elphaba is very aware that her skin is green and feels the heavy glares and judgment from her peers, you don’t see her obsess over it in the film. Internally, we know she hasn’t fully accepted herself yet. But when she arrives at Shiz (school) her focus becomes sorcery: an existing strength she has potential to exponentiate. If she focused on her greenness or perceived weaknesses, I doubt that broom would have made it into her hands.

This is where I believe we all should start to approach change differently. Not by dissecting what’s wrong but by amplifying what’s already right. This isn’t about avoiding problems but flipping the script to uncover possibilities.

The foundation of Appreciative Inquiry is right there in its name. "Appreciate" comes from the

Latin word appreciatus meaning "valued" or "appraised." In English, to appreciate means "to be grateful for" or "deem as worthy and valuable." "Inquiry" comes from the Latin "quaerere" meaning "ask" or "seek." "Inquiry" within this method, is more than asking simple questions. It's deep exploration and investigation. The Appreciative Inquiry approach is essentially taking the Power of Positive Thinking to the extreme.

It's an art of asking value-based questions. Instead of "tell me where it hurts" it's "tell me about a time it was working beautifully."

Popular: Why we gravitate towards the standard model of change

So why don’t we do this? Why don’t we rally around success analysis? Simple answer: It’s not popular. Glinda (the gah is silent) is so relatable in her pursuit of popularly because it’s easier to do and act the way we always have than to go against the norm. After all, isn’t it simpler to point fingers and spot Le Problem, than it is to guess, or conjure up what a better process/solution might be? How are we supposed to know the solution?? All I can tell you is that I know the issue. But the problem-oriented mindset keeps us in a frustration loop. There’s a never ending list of issues to fix but that’s the devil we know. My suggestion is that we simply start small and by ask ourselves different questions.

My favorite quote from the Appreciative Inquiry Handbook:

"Human systems grow in the direction of what they persistently ask questions about." -Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change

This is not a new concept. The Law of Attraction and the theory of Appreciative Inquiry are deeply intertwined, as both emphasize the principle that what we focus on expands. Appreciative Inquiry's core belief, encapsulated in the phrase "what you appreciate appreciates," aligns closely with the Law of Attraction's idea that a positive outlook beckons positive results/manifestations.

This also corresponds with what we know about how the brain works. For all my Bill Nye The Science Guy fans out there, this is not just about forcing-feeding positivity. In your brain there is a network of neurons that act as a filter for sensor information, priotirized what aligns with our focus and beliefs. It’s called your Reticular Activating System. The argument is that when we focus on positive aspects, amplifying strengths, and leaning into (as AI and the Law of Attraction advocate), the RAS helps us notice opportunities, resources, and patterns that support those positive outcomes.

Now imagine you have an entire org with fired up Reticular Activating Systems, ready and willing to spot strengths at every corner that render weaknesses inconsequential.

Plus, what would you rather obsess about? Which of these questions would actually be a more popular and FUN conversation to have if there were no rules to follow for how we explore change??

• Why turnover rates are so high? OR 👉🏻 What makes people stay?

• Why did all those people leave right after we made this specific change? OR 👉🏻 What compelled people to remain?

• Why am I so bad at organizing my house? OR 👉🏻 What motivated me to alphabetize my spice cabinet? (Seriously, my spices are so cute and perfectly labeled.)

• Why aren’t I married yet? OR 👉🏻 What do my friends love about me?

• Why is this job such a struggle? OR 👉🏻 What projects light me up so much I could work on them for hours?

The beautiful thing about the model of Appreciative Inquiry is that it invites us to explore the moments when everything was working beautifully and discover how to replicate and build on those successes.

"The Wizard and I": Imagining a Brighter Future

In her song "The Wizard and I," Elphaba envisions a future where she is valued for her strengths. (Slight undertone of patriarchy, wanting to prove her worth to a man, but given that we know how that turns out, we’ll make like Elsa and let it goooo.) Similarly, one of the important phases of the Appreciative Inquiry model is all about —Dreaming—urging us to imagine our ideal outcomes. Whether it’s an organization striving for peak performance or an individual seeking personal growth, change begins with a compelling vision of the future.

David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney highlight the importance of this visionary stage in Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change:

“Imagine your organization ten years from now, when everything is just as you always wished it could be. What is different? How have you contributed to this dream organization?”

By imagining our future selves or organizations at their best, we create a magnetic pull toward that reality! Elphaba’s motivation was chasing the vision of having her wishes granted by the Wizard. Meeting him was compelling enough of a future for her to harness her powers. Let’s normalize dreaming big in the workplace.

We definitely cannot ignore that problems exist. But if we shift our mindset we can see gaps in work and in life as "mysteries to be embraced," not deficits.

"Appreciative Inquiry is the cooperative, coevolutionary search for the best in people, their organizations and the world around them." -Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change

In their book, Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change, David L. Cooperrider and Diana Whitney affirm that this method has been highly regarded, deemed "as offspring and heir to Maslow's vision of a positive social science," and "a radically affirmative approach to change that completely lets go of problem-based management and in doing so vitally transforms strategic planning, survey methods, culture change, merger integration methods..." etc. etc.

After reading this book my life was changed for good…;)