An appreciative perspective is always leaning into the future. There is consistent and frequent attention to what will happen (anticipation) and what should happen (aspirations) in the days and years ahead. Rather than focusing conversations on reconstructed narrative of the past, the conversations are directed toward construction of a new narrative concerning the future. While we appreciate that which has been successful in the past, we don’t dwell with nostalgia on the past, but instead continually trace out the implications of shared expertise, acquired wisdom and past successes regarding our vision of the future. We will have much more to say about this appreciative perspective in the next section of this chapter—for it provides the foundation for an expertise-enhancing attitude as well as being a key to expertise-enhancing processes.
Recognizing Distinctive Sources of Expertise: Appreciation in a collaborative setting also refers to recognition of the distinctive expertise and potentials of people working within this setting. Even in a context of potential competition, appreciation transforms envy regarding the other person’s expertise into learning from this expertise. Personal achievement and individual contribution of expertise is transformed into a sense of overall purpose and the collective valuing of this expertise. The remarkable essayist Roger Rosenblatt (1997) revealed just such a process in candidly describing his sense of competition with other writers. He suggests that the sense of admiration for the work of other writers can play a critical role in his own life:
“Part of the satisfaction in becoming an admirer of the competition is that it allows you to wonder how someone else did something well, so that you might imitate it—steal it, to be blunt. But the best part is that it shows you that there are things you will never learn to do, skills and tricks that are out of your range, an entire imagination that is out of your range. The news may be disappointing on a personal level, but in terms of the cosmos, it is strangely gratifying. One sits among the works of one’s contemporaries as in a planetarium, head all the way back, eyes gazing up at heavenly matter that is all the more beautiful for being unreachable. Am I growing up?”
An appreciative culture is forged when an emphasis is placed on the realization of inherent potential and the uncovering of latent strengths rather than on the identification of weaknesses or deficits. People and organizations “do not need to be fixed. They need constant reaffirmation.” (Cooperrider, 1990)
Acknowledging the Value of Diversity: A final mode of appreciation is evident in a collaborative setting when efforts are made to form complementary relationships and recognize the mutual benefits that can be derived from the cooperation of differing constituencies and the valuing of varying sources of expertise. This appreciative strategy requires not only the recognition of diverse perspectives and differing backgrounds, but also the engagement in processes (such as Bohm-based dialogue) that brings about a search for common understanding, non-judgmental acceptance, and potential integration of diverse perspective and accompanying practices.
Yet another paradox is found in the engagement of this appreciative strategy. A culture of appreciative diversity actually provides collective integration (the glue that holds a system together) while the organization is growing and differentiating into many distinctive units of responsibility (division of labor) and geography. (Durkheim, 1933; Lawrence and Lorsch, 1969) The appreciative perspective is particularly important in the era of diversity, when there are significant differences in vision, values or culture among people participating in a collective venture. (Rosinski, 2010)
