This post introduces the Diary Method as researched by Penny Plowman (a UK/South African researcher) as a method of organisational analysis that can have great application as a step in an organisational change process.

South African enterprise platform FNB and U-start recently awarded an ‘Enterprise Elevator’ prize - meant for promising new social entrepeneurs. We were very proud that SpringAGE was one of the six nominees! The number of entries exceeded the organizer's expectations by far: “We received an overwhelming amount of entries for the pitch event and have been exposed to a number of exciting innovative entrepreneurs solving big social and environmental challenges” organiser of the event, Max Pichulik, said. “Our final selection was based on the strength of the applications and interviews – this was by no means an easy task.”

We can agree on that! As one of 17 entrees we were invited to a Skype session with the judges of the competition. In the conversation we had to pitch SpringAGE –talk about our vision, what we do and if someone would invest in SpringAGE how much would we need and what we would we do with it…. Big questions for an 18month old SpringAGE! But good ones, that forced us to stretch our thinking and go onto the drawing board about where we would like to see ourselves in 10 years from now. Apparently, the judges were convinced and much to our delight we made it to the final six. And were invited to the big end event in Cape Town.

In their book ‘Presence’, learning professionals Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Flowers discuss the power of doing ‘solos’ in nature. A length of time spent alone in nature; an ancient ritual that rediscovered for its transformative power. In this account, Jaworski...

Last week, from 13 until 17 August Joeri Kabalt and Pieterjan van Wijngaarden facilitated the South Caucasus Youth Parliament for Azerbaijani Delegates in Baku. Main objectives where to learn about democracy, to learn how to participate in your own environment, to take influence and to...

'Cultural duty': spending a year in a culture different than yours. It should be a compulsory part of life. Diving into the deep sea of habits, languages and beliefs that are new, confusing, interesting at the same time. In the last year I experienced how enriching it is to go out of my comfort zone and to be challenged in every thinkable area of life. When I look back at last year, I’m proud of how much I learned but even more of the fact that I took the chance and made the change.

“Appreciative Inquiry has the potential to unleash transformational change.” Professors Ron Fry and Gervase Bushe agree upon that. “It has been proven, in practice, but also by research. So the real challenge now is to figure out how to really make that potential come true.”

They delivered a keynote speech during the World Appreciative Inquiry Conference. In the first half they stressed the generative nature of AI, during the second part they explored different things we can do as AI practitioners, to increase the impact of any AI intervention.

Appreciative Inquiry is about engaging people in lively dialogue and reflections around powerful questions in order to foster development. 'A human system moves in the direction of its questions', is one of AI's core principles. So asking the right ones is key, those that bring energy and new ideas.

At the Fifth World Appreciative Inquiry Conference last April, prof. Ron Fry and prof. Gervase Bushe, held an interesting keynote on this generative nature of AI. As Ron Fry puts it: “The most amazing aspect of AI to me is that it always sets people in motion. Few begin an AI summit wanting more work to do; nearly all leave having volunteered to new cooperative action. Something happens: we call it generativity.”

As happens to so many travellers to India, after ten months, I got ill. Although I was in a beautiful spot with the Ganga at my feet, mountains around me and many inspiring people around who kept me company from time to time - India was not the place where I wanted to be at that point….
It was not the first time during my stay there that I was longing for home or felt that India was ‘too much’ for me, yet it had never been as it was now. It ran a little deeper than the occasional spell of homesickness.