Page 116 - Appreciative Leadership

The Genius of Inclusion 89

administrators, parents, students, and who else? One school included
cooks, janitors, board members, bus drivers, and graduates in their
strategic planning process. Or imagine convening a meeting to con-
sider alternatives for providing community health care. Who would
you include? Yes, physicians, nurses, administrators, politicians, and
patients are among the many voices that need to be invited and engaged.
How about pharmaceutical companies, social workers, educators, lab-
oratory technicians, and local media? In every situation there are many
people, groups, and organizations with a stake in the outcome, all of
whom can make a valuable contribution. All of whose voices matter,
and all of whom will be enlivened through participation.
You get the idea. When we say everyone whose future it is, we mean
all the relevant and interested people: everyone who has a stake in the
outcome. We mean everyone who may, in some way large or small, be
affected by the process, the decisions, or the resulting actions. Every-

one whose future it is.
Your future may be a situation as simple as setting an agenda

for a meeting next week or as complex as effecting change within a
10,000-person corporate culture. It might refer to the need to sched-
ule vacation times, set sales targets, or strengthen union/management
relations. Whatever the situation, conscious inclusion is essential for
ensuring resources, fostering commitment, and successfully creating
a future that works for all.

Some leaders choose not to be inclusive. They are content to work

with a limited pool of potential. They repeatedly invite the same people,
who think the same way—their way—to serve on teams and committees.
They attempt to solve problems without engaging stakeholders, oft en

for fear of revealing the organization’s “dirty laundry.” And they
continuously tell people what to do, rather than inviting them into
dialogue and collaborative decision making. As a result, they lose the
many benefits of a high-engagement, inclusive work environment.

Appreciative Leadership, on the other hand, draws on the gen-
erative capacity of inclusion. By inviting diverse groups of people to
coauthor their future in teams, departments, and whole organizations,
you and your organization will benefit from the collective wisdom of