What makes a structure “positive?” (and how to avoid the trap)
Traditional organizational structures are negative. That is, they are based on dealing with what is missing, or weak, or threatening. They are problem-solving structures, focused on “how can we fix what’s wrong?” You recognize this if you’ve been to a community meeting, or a staff meeting, or a Board meeting, in the past 150 years.
The current positivity movement turns this around. People have been starting to focus on the positive, on what we do have, on our strengths, on our assets. These are opportunistic structures, focused on “what can we do with what we’ve got?” David has listed some examples, including my own Asset Mapping technique and approach. I’d add Appreciative Inquiry, Positive Psychology, and strength-based management to the list.
There is a trap here to watch out for. Very often, folks view and treat positives the way they used to view and treat negatives. That is, we try to use positives for problem-solving. We ask, what are the strengths or assets that we have, and how can use to them to fill our needs?
You see the problem, don’t you? We haven’t really let go of the negatives. We’ve just pushed them around. We’re trying to control and use assets in order to solve certain problems and meet certain needs. Despite the positive terminology, we haven’t really gotten out of the negative approach.
What I have learned is that we get stuck in the negative approach whenever we treat positives as discrete. If we think that we can identify our strengths and assets, name them, codify them, inventory them, and use them, we have not really taken a positive approach.
The real deal is this: in any context and perspective, there is always a negative way to view things, and always a positive way to view things. Positives are reflective, not discrete. The cup is always half-empty, and it is always half-full. Half-full is not a measure. We cannot codify it, or measure it, or prove it. It is a choice. It is a human choice to adopt a positive mindset.
From that positive mindset comes a different way of thinking and acting. This is opportunistic strategy. When we choose to see assets and strengths, we are led to action. We tend to connect our assets with other people’s assets, to get things done together that we could not get done on our own. We discover affinities in the things we do together. That leads us to a sense of larger identity, and to a real strategic vision much greater than anything we could develop around negatives.
Real positive structures are opportunistic. Shifting our mindset, we arrive at a different way of getting things done.
Traditional organizational structures are negative. That is, they are based on dealing with what is missing, or weak, or threatening. They are problem-solving structures, focused on “how can we fix what’s wrong?” You recognize this if you’ve been to a community meeting, or a staff meeting, or a Board meeting, in the past 150 years.
The current positivity movement turns this around. People have been starting to focus on the positive, on what we do have, on our strengths, on our assets. These are opportunistic structures, focused on “what can we do with what we’ve got?” David has listed some examples, including my own Asset Mapping technique and approach. I’d add Appreciative Inquiry, Positive Psychology, and strength-based management to the list.
There is a trap here to watch out for. Very often, folks view and treat positives the way they used to view and treat negatives. That is, we try to use positives for problem-solving. We ask, what are the strengths or assets that we have, and how can use to them to fill our needs?
You see the problem, don’t you? We haven’t really let go of the negatives. We’ve just pushed them around. We’re trying to control and use assets in order to solve certain problems and meet certain needs. Despite the positive terminology, we haven’t really gotten out of the negative approach.
What I have learned is that we get stuck in the negative approach whenever we treat positives as discrete. If we think that we can identify our strengths and assets, name them, codify them, inventory them, and use them, we have not really taken a positive approach.
The real deal is this: in any context and perspective, there is always a negative way to view things, and always a positive way to view things. Positives are reflective, not discrete. The cup is always half-empty, and it is always half-full. Half-full is not a measure. We cannot codify it, or measure it, or prove it. It is a choice. It is a human choice to adopt a positive mindset.
From that positive mindset comes a different way of thinking and acting. This is opportunistic strategy. When we choose to see assets and strengths, we are led to action. We tend to connect our assets with other people’s assets, to get things done together that we could not get done on our own. We discover affinities in the things we do together. That leads us to a sense of larger identity, and to a real strategic vision much greater than anything we could develop around negatives.
Real positive structures are opportunistic. Shifting our mindset, we arrive at a different way of getting things done.
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