This month we welcome David Cooperrider as he shares thoughts on.....  

Relational Leading - An Idea from the Field  

"One of the things we have discovered that is the most important route to leadership development is simply doing inquiries -- EVERY DAY. There are several published books of positive questions that have hundreds of appreciative questions in them. What we are doing in our work is encouraging leaders to take at least one question every day and find a meeting, a coaching opportunity, or an ad hoc interview in which to ask the positive question. We are asking leaders to choose a different question each day. The responses have been exciting; leaders are connecting with people in ways that open them to stories they might never have heard otherwise, and spontaneously it has shifted, for some, how they open every meeting.

Relationships are transformed.  

One organizational president has gotten into the learning process by using positive questions so much that he in fact now starts every meeting with a new positive question.....So much of the fun of this work is also creating the questions. It is the best leadership strengthening tool I know.  

Once when I was at an Images and Voices of Hope conference where AI was being used, I participated in the interview at the beginning, a lengthy interview guide. I got paired up with someone that I had a strong negative reaction to....I thought 'how did I get paired up with him?' I went into the interview with low energy. But the questions, prepared by Danielle Zandee, Marge Schiller and Judy Rodgers were powerful. Within a half hour I was learning new things that inspired me for weeks. I felt so privileged to have had the opportunity to enter into worlds of experience and wisdom that I never would have touched without those questions. The questions were the tool that drew me into new realities. This man's stories will stay with me forever. As will the relationship. I was humbled.  

Imagine leadership development where we do this every day!!!!! To me, this is the essence of leadership and it might well be a way to make Peter Drucker's comments come alive in practical ways when he says: 'Leadership is about creating an alignment of strengths making people's weaknesses irrelevant.' This, it seems, would require an appreciative eye --and there may be no better way of developing it than by trying the powerful, unconditionally positive question each and every day."

Note: This excerpt was taken from David Cooperrider's posting on the AI Listserv in May of 2001. This is still so relevant today, almost 14 years later. David points to a new book by Warren Berger that features some of David's thinking. It's called A More Beautiful Question and David also recently wrote a "contemporary commentary on AI" for a recent book, the 4th in a series called Advances in Appreciative Inquiry. That contemporary commentary can be found on the website at Champlain College's new center-it's called the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry at

 Friends of the Taos Institute Workshops

  - Contact the presenters to register for these workshops:


•  Collaborative-Dialogue Coaching: A Workshop for Mental Health Professionals who want to Expand and Revitalize their Practice and Income  in Houston, TX | Feb. 5-6, 2015,  with Harlene Anderson and Diana Carleton 
 
Workshops sponsored by the Evanston Family Therapy Center  
• Level 1 Narrative Therapy Intensive in Evanston, Illinois | Feb. 18-22, with Jill Freedman and Gene Combs
• Level 2 Narrative Therapy Intensive in Evanston, Illinois | May 9-13, with Jill Freedman and Gene Combs
• Advanced Narrative Therapy Intensive in Tuscany, Italy | May 25-29, with Jill Freedman and Gene Combs
 
Workshops sponsored by the Corporation for Positive Change
 
The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: Theory and Practice
• April 13-16, West Coast Center for Positive Change, Orange County, CA, with Ralph Weickel and Tenny Poole
• May 26-29,  European Center for Positive Change, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, with Ralph Weickel
• June 8-12, 2015 - Rocky Mountain Center for Positive Change, Golden, CO, with Amanda Trosten-Bloom and Barbara Lewis
• August, 2015 - Hong Kong Center for Positive Change, Hong Kong, with Dorothy Tsui
• Oct. 19-22, 2015 - Virgina Beach, Virginia, Linda Berardi
 
Applications of Appreciative Inquiry
• January 26, 2015 - West Coast Center for Positive Change, Orange County, CO, with Tenny Poole and Ralph Weickel
 
Appreciative Inquiry Summit (On-line) 
• September 24, 2015 through November 12, 2015 (8:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m. MDT) - Rocky Mountain Center for Positive Change, with Amanda Trosten-Bloom and Barbara Lewis
 
Appreciative Leadership Development Program 
• April 21-24, 2015 - Rocky Mountain Center for Positive Change, Golden, CO, with Amanda Trosten-Bloom and Barbara Lewis
• July, 2015 - West Coast Center for Positive Change, Orange County, CA, with Tenny Poole and Ralph Weickel
• September, 2015 - Hong Kong Center for Positive Change, Hong Kong, with Dorothy Tsui
 
Appreciative Alchemy
- March 9-12, with Diana Whitney in Chapel Hill, NC  
 
 
Appreciative Coaching
- March 12-13, with Ralph Weickel in Amsterdam, The Netherlands  
 
 
For details and registration information see:  
www.taosinstitute.net/friends-of-taos-institute-workshops  
 
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Sponsored by the International Certificate Program in Collaborative Practices, TI is a co-sponsor:
• Second Latin American Conference: Collaborative and Dialogic Practices, Tucuman, Argentina, April 22-25, 2015
  http://colaborativotuc2015.com.ar/en
 
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Conferences: www.taosinstitute.net/upcoming-conferences  

The Taos Institute is a co-sponsor of these events:
• 7th Annual Summer Institute with Attractor/Ramboll  - July 1-3, Copenhagen, Denmark
 
The Taos Institute is a Friend of the Conference at:  
• 2015 World Appreciative Inquiry Conference - Building Flourishing Societies Together: Elevating, Aligning and Reflecting our Best to Create a Prosperous World for All, South Africa, July 6-10, 2015. www.2015waic.com/ 

For details, registration and more workshop listings, visit our website.
www.taosinstitute.net/friends-of-taos-institute-workshops

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Taos Institute Europe Workshops and Events:
 
For details visit: www.taosinstitute.net/europe-events

Also visit the Taos Institute Europe website at

www.taosinstituteeurope.com

International Certificate Collaborative Practices is an international learning community and network. 

Sponsored by Taos Institute and Houston Galveston Institute

To find a program in your part of the world, take a look at: