Shannon Polly to Present “Change Is Not A Dirty Word,” a look at how Appreciative Inquiry is used to evaluate past and present capacities to amplify organizational strengths, achievements, assets, unexplored potentials, and innovations.
April 10—Positive Business DC today announced that Shannon Polly will share the methodology associated with positive organizational change known as Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as well as recent insights from AI Summits in Cleveland and Cincinnati. Polly, a Co-founder of Positive Business DC, holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, a rather rare degree that only about 300 people have earned to-date. Polly’s presentation, Change Is Not A Dirty Word, is the third in Positive Business DC’s Well-being in the Workplace Series, and is being held at at Canvas on April 24.
Shannon Polly, MAPP
Polly has been an assistant instructor in the MAPP program at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a contributor to the book, Positive Psychology at Work, has developed curriculum for the higher education version of the movie, Happy and has been a facilitator for the Master Resiliency Training (MRT) program for the U.S. Army. The Army is the largest consumer of positive psychology in the world today and has plans to train all 1.1 million soldiers in resilience.
“When planning the April Meetup, we polled the Positive Business DC members to determine which topic offered the most interest for them,” says Donna Hemmert, a second co-founder of the group. “It’s incredibly important to us that the programming and materials offered through meetings, Webinars and social media provide the tools and information members need to increase well-being in the workplace. We’re excited about this month’s topic, not only because it can be used as a vehicle for positive organizational change, but also because it can be extremely motivating.”
Much like strengths-based leadership, Appreciative Inquiry looks to amplify what’s right with an organization rather than trying to identify and shore up weaknesses. It is used to evaluate past and present capacities related to achievements, assets, unexplored potentials, innovations, strengths, opportunities, lived values, traditions, strategic competencies, and visions of valued and possible futures. Taking all of these together (and more) as a gestalt, Appreciative Inquiry deliberately seeks to work from accounts of this “positive change core” and assumes that every living system has many untapped and rich and inspiring accounts of the positive. Link the energy of this core directly to any change agenda and changes never thought possible are suddenly and democratically mobilized.
Positive Business DC will continue to conduct its speaker series across the Metro DC area. If you are interested in hosting a future event, please DM @PositiveBizDC. The April 24 Meetup will be held at Canvas 1203 19th St. NW, Washington, DC and includes refreshments. Space is limited, so please register early.