Conversations Worth Having – Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement
Conversations can be critical and destructive, or they can be generative and productive. This book shows how to guarantee your conversations will help people, organizations, and communities flourish.
Conversations are at the core of how we interact. We all know that conversations influence us, but we rarely stop to think about how much impact they have on our well-being and our ability to thrive. This book shows how Appreciative Inquiry (AI)--one of the most widely used new approaches for fostering positive change for individuals, groups, organizations, and communities--can help everyone communicate better and flourish in all areas of their lives.
Stavros and Torres spell out 2 practices and 5 principles to create great conversations. Each chapter is built around real-life stories of people using these practices and principles to strengthen relationships and generate possibilities for a future that works for everyone.
About Cheri B. Torres (Asheville, North Carolina Author)
Cheri Torres brings the practice of Appreciative Inquiry, design thinking, and an ecological worldview to communities and organizations striving for sustainable growth. Her work facilitates learning, innovation, and dynamic interpersonal relationships capable of achieving remarkable outcomes. Cheri has worked with diverse communities across the globe, from public schools and community organizations to corporations and government entities, to elevate their strengths and broaden their capacity for collaboration and collective intelligence. She has trained thousands of trainers and teachers in the use and practice of Appreciative Inquiry and Experiential Learning, with a particular focus on leadership development, teamwork, creativity, and sustainable collaboration.
Cheri holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a specialization in Collaborative Learning from the University of Tennessee. She also holds an MBA, a Masters in Transpersonal Psychology, Level II Certification in Spiral Dynamics Integral, and training in the Sociotechnical Systems Design Process. She has authored or co-authored numerous books and articles, the newest of which is Conversations Worth Having: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement (due May 2018). Cheri lives in Asheville, NC, with her husband, Michael, their two dogs, Logan and Annabelle, and two cats, Ziggy and Lucy.
About Jackie Stavros (Co-Author)
Jacqueline Stavros has over 25 years of strategic planning, marketing, international, and organization development, and change. Her passion is working with others to discover their strengths, identify opportunities, and create a plan with meaningful results for positive change. Jackie integrates strengths-based, whole system, and sustainability concepts and practices such as Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results) into her research, teaching, training, and consulting work. She has worked and traveled to over 20 countries in Asia, Europe, and North America; and has authored or co-authored six books, 20 book chapters, and over 40 articles on AI, SOAR, and organization development.
Jackie earned a Doctorate in Management at Case Western Reserve University, and an MBA from Michigan State University. She has received numerous awards for her work, most recently the Lawrence Technological University Presidential Bonus Award for Contribution to Strategic Initiatives of LTU (2015) and the Blackboard Catalyst Award for Exemplary Course Program of the MBA Global Strategic Management Online Course (2014). Jackie currently serves as an associate for the Taos Institute; professor at College of Management, Lawrence Technological University; board member of Positive Change Core; and member of the Academy of Management, Organization Development Network, and the Organization Development Institute.