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 processen kunnen leiden tot transformatieve verandering.” Daarover zijn hoogleraren Ron Fry en Gervase Bushe het eens. “Dat is bewezen, zowel in de praktijk als met onderzoek. De uitdaging is hoe we die potentie ook daadwerkelijk realiseren. Hoe zorgen we ervoor dat AI interventies echt generatief zijn?”

In de eerste helft van hun keynote speech tijdens de World Appreciative Inquiry Conference gingen ze vooral in op het generatieve karakter van AI. In het vervolg krijgt met name de vraag aandacht wat je als facilitator kunt doen om je AI interventies zo impactvol mogelijk te maken.

Appreciative Inquiry is een ontwikkelaanpak met dialoog en reflectie rond krachtige vragen als belangrijke interventievorm. 'A human system moves in the direction of its questions', is een van de kernprincipes van AI. Het gaat dus om het stellen van de juiste vragen - die energie en nieuwe ideeën genereren.

Tijdens de vijfde World Appreciative Inquiry Conference eind april, verzorgden prof. Ron Fry and prof. Gervase Bushe, een interessante keynote rond dit generatieve karakter van AI. Zoals Ron Fry het uitdrukt: "Wat me het meest aanspreekt aan AI is dat je met deze manier van werken mensen altijd in beweging zet. Weinig deelnemers komen naar een AI bijeenkomst met de wens om nog meer werk op hun bordje te stapelen; maar bijna iedereen pakt aan het eind activiteiten op. Er gebeurt iets tijdens die ontmoetingen. AI is generatief van aard."

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.