The deficit approach is destructive. It discourages innovation and depresses employee morale. It imprisons people, who yearn for liberty. De Soto proposes that poverty doesn’t eliminate the accumulation of capital, it only eliminates the capacity of poor people to make use of the capital they have accumulated. Similarly, a deficit approach to human resource management doesn’t eliminate the knowledge, skills and aptitude of an organization’s employees; it only eliminates the capacity and willingness of these employees to reveal and make use of these competencies on behalf of the organization. An employee who is released from the prison of negativity and deficits will be released on her own recognizance. She will be free to make choices and be appreciated for distinctive contributions she makes to her organization.
A third meaning of the word release suggests yet another dimension of the appreciative organization. Release describes expansion and the act of giving out to the world. We feel a sense of release after a session of yoga or after listening to a Bach fugue. We are released from our sense of ego and self when we meditate or when we participate in an ancient ritual. We are released from our personal concerns and our preoccupation when we attend to another person, when we understand how members of another department in our organization perceive a particular event or when we can empathize with the complex challenges facing a leader in the Twenty First Century. This act of recognition and compassion resides at the heart of any act of appreciation. We see. We understand. We honor. This is the implicit credo of any appreciative organization.
There is a fourth meaning that comes from breaking the word into two parts: re and lease. When we examine the word from this perspective, it reveals a fundamental principle of appreciation. To re-lease is to reclaim or re-establish a trusting relationship. We take a new lease on life or renew our lease on a home or office. In appreciative organizations, we are mindful of the value inherent in rituals of re-commitment and renewal. We honor the work already done and acknowledge the contributions made by all members of the organization to its distinctive character and achievements. Appreciative perspectives always involve re-cycling through phases of reflection and action in an enterprise.
