The same can be true within organisations.  Negative thinking is strong and contagious. Knocking each and every positive suggestion – we’ve done that before, it didn’t work then so why would it now? – can soon lead to a reluctance to try new things, an aversion to taking the risk of making radical proposals.

In January I took part in a workshop which merged the concepts of Appreciative Inquiry with Action Learning.  Using the structure of Action Learning in our groups, we each in turn talked about where we are in one part of our lives – Discovery.  Then we talked about our Dreams – what could be, without constraints.  Our Action Learning set, the other people in our small group, then helped us as individuals to hone down what we could do as first steps to Design and Deliver that Dream.  It was a powerful and uplifting experience, both as recipients to others’ questioning inquiry and as enquirers into the other person’s dreams.

The workshop was led by a trainer from New Zealand and he introduced the Maori proverb:

We walk into the future backwards, looking at the past

To me, that is a very liberating idea.  We can decide what of our past baggage we carry with us into the future.  And we can decide what dreams we will hold on to, deciding how to bring them a little closer with positive steps and actions.

President Barack Obama, with his book the “Audacity of Hope” and his campaign phrase “we can”, has brought a new positivity to America – at least from what our relatives in the USA tell us.  Obama does seem to be walking positively into the future, despite the obvious challenges his administration faces.  But he is also walking backwards into that future, looking at the USA’s and his own past, conscious of having to acknowledge and deal with historical wrongs.

Beware the power of negative thinking – it can be very depressing. Instead, looking at the past as you walk backwards into the future, hang on to those positive dreams and work to make them a closer reality.  Now that’s uplifting!

Positive, realistic thinking is a powerful tool to take with us on our walk into the future.

A new client through an associate relationship has approached me to discuss and probably facilitate action learning in their organisation. To me it links with Appreciative Inquiry in the sense of making space and time for reflection. The idea behind Action Learning is that people learn best by taking a real example from the workplace, articulating the issue with a trusted small group, in confidence, and then working together to consider potential solutions. Next time, to have the opportunity and in fact the discipline to report back on the results and so monitor and evaluate the process. It is very much learner-centred learning – for which there is plenty of empirical evidence of its effectiveness.

Action Learning also links with Nancy Kline’s model of ‘Time to Think’ where a group meeting is structured to give participants a voice and chance to be heard and to reflect in the group setting. So often we – all of us – are so busy doing that we don’t make (have?) time to reflect. If we did, how often would we take a different route or other decision?

I’m taking the opportunity to train as an Action Learning Facilitator in a month or so. I think it will add to my skills portfolio as well as form part of my Continuing Professional Development which is something else that can so easily be disregarded in the busi-ness of working life.

What actions do you need to learn from and reflect on?