Sarah Lewis is a consultant and facilitator who has been working with organisations (public and private) for almost twenty years as the head of Appreciating Change (formerly Jemstone Consultancy). She specialises in using Appreciative Inquiry and other positive psychology techniques to help organisations change to meet new challenges without developing ‘resistance to change’ from their employees. She is highly respected and well known in her field and is the author of two books in this area: ‘Appreciative Inquiry for Change Management’ and ‘Positive Psychology at Work’.

In January of this year Appreciating Change first began offering fellow change practitioners the chance to attend a series of one day masterclasses presented by Sarah on a variety of themes where they can draw on her vast practical experience and knowledge in the field of organisational change.

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Sarah Lewis is a consultant and facilitator who has been working with organisations (public and private) for almost twenty years as the head of Appreciating Change (formerly Jemstone Consultancy). She specialises in using Appreciative Inquiry and other positive psychology techniques to help organisations change to meet new challenges without developing ‘resistance to change’ from their employees. She is highly respected and well known in her field and is the author of two books in this area: ‘Appreciative Inquiry for Change Management’ and ‘Positive Psychology at Work’.

In January of this year Appreciating Change first began offering leaders in organisations the chance to attend a series of one day masterclasses presented by Sarah on a variety of themes where they can draw on her vast practical experience and knowledge in the field of organisational change.

Read on »

To be informed about future masterclasses for leaders in organisations, join the mailing list!

This learning experience is part of The Appreciative Inquiry Week that will take place in Milano, Italy, the first week of July.

It will show you how to increase the success, performance and productivity of your organization using positive psychology and Appreciative Inquiry.

Appreciative Inquiry is being used in many diverse types of organisations worldwide, achieving astonishing results in terms of speed of organizational effectiveness improvement, self sustaining change processes activation, employee engagement amplification and positive leadership development.

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At the WAIC I co-presented a symposium with four other people from three other countries: France, Denmark and Holland. We also originally had a sixth partner from Greece, but the economic situation there meant he had to drop out – another story. In preparing for our presentation across time and country borders, I learnt something about the realities of virtual team working!

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At the recent WAIC conference I fell into conversation with Stefan Cantore. Stefan is busy thinking about ‘our love affair with problems’ in preparation for writing a chapter for a forthcoming publication (details at end). We had a great discussion about this that stayed with me and caused me further thought.

 

How do we know when we encounter a problem? While completing a personality profile questionnaire recently I noticed that I have a problem with the word problem. As the questionnaire asked me variations on how I deal with problems, I struggled to answer: the questions just didn’t connect. It would seem that just don’t think in terms of problems and problem-solving: I don’t notice when I encounter them.

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At a conference attended by over 500 people from 42 nations, with 9 keynotes by names like David Cooperrider, Diane Whitney, Ken Gergen, Gervase Bushe and Ron Fry, and innumerable workshop sessions and poster presentations, my experience of the conference could only ever be partial. Here are some of the best bits for me.

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To be informed about future masterclasses for leaders in organisations, join the mailing list!

To be informed about future masterclasses for consultants and trainersjoin the mailing list!

Interested in learning about an approach to organisational change that really puts people at the heart of the change process? Heard about Appreciative Inquiry and curious to learn more?

This one day introductory workshop is designed specifically for people who are new to this approach. It will equip you with a full understanding of all the essential concepts and basic skills for understanding and using this approach in your daily work as coach, manager, consultant or organisational leader.

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Research over the last twenty years that confirmed that two of the most important predictors of success in life are intelligence and willpower (or self control). We now know a number of important things about willpower:

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The plan is not the change

All too often those involved in creating the plan for change believe this to be the most essential part of the process, worthy of extended time and effort, while implementation is seen as ‘just’ a matter of communicating and rolling out the plan. Plans are a story of hope. Change happens when people change their habitual patterns of communication and intervention in a meaningful and sustainable way.

 

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Charles Smith, an experienced project manager turned organisational psychologist, has performed a fantastic analysis of how successful project managers actually do project management compared to how they tell us they do it. In the process he has discovered some very useful ways of thinking about projects and the role they perform in organisational life. In particular he notes that successful project managers have an unrecognised project-craft that they call on to aid the delivery of the ‘formal plan’.

 

I highly recommend this very readable book which is currently on special offer from the Gower website (details at end), and meanwhile have picked out 10 juicy gems of insight and wisdom that resonated with my experience:

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