Page 55 - Appreciative Leadership

28 Appreciative Leadership

the VP said, “Tell me about the river that connects you.” He
responded, “You mean the river that divides us.” Realizing
that she had unknowingly tapped into the core story of the
community, she said, “No, I mean the river that connects
you.” He did not respond.
The next morning, when the VP entered the conference

room where she was to speak, she found him waiting.
He asked if he might say a few words to the group before
she began. She said, yes of course. Knowing that he was a
respected leader, she was somewhat nervous about what he
would say.
He began by telling the story of the car ride to town.
And then he said, “She asked me a very wise question.
I was so set in my ways that I didn’t want to answer her

question. It made me think differently about a lot of things.
Last night I realized that she was right. We all need to think
differently. We all need to talk about the river that connects

us. I want to thank her for the wisdom of her question and
welcome her to our community.”

Appreciative questions are a ready source of positive power. All you
have to do is ask, and a wealth of information, ideas, and knowledge
unfolds. Positive questions are keys to treasure troves of best practices,
success stories, and creativity. They unlock positive emotions essential

to high performance such as acceptance, validation, job satisfaction,

confidence, and courage. Positive questions are among Appreciative
Leadership’s most powerful tools. They are compelling vehicles for

empowerment, for fostering risk taking, and for guiding value-based
performance. They stimulate learning, change, and innovation.

Learning comes from questioning, wondering, observing, and
studying: What really makes customers happy? Why do people want
to work here? What kinds of relationships endure? How do great
teams get started? What are my strengths as a leader? How can we
get the most cost-effective results? Knowledge is created and skills

are built by the questions we ask: How do you close a sale? What is