The seeds of change are planted with the questions we ask
— Transforming Organizations, Revitalizing Communities and Developing Human Potential
“The seeds of change are planted with the questions we ask.”
—David Cooperrider
Benchmarking is an attempt to discover the best of what is - in order to imitate it, Appreciative Benchmarking goes a step further - it’s an attempt to uncover the best of an experience in order to develop new shared meanings that inform new practices.
I was blessed this year to get to design a benchmarking effort for eXtension’s Impact Collaborative. We were able to leverage the work of David Cooperrider and Frank J. Barrett [check out An Exploration of the Spiritual Heart of Human Science Inquiry].
My favorite interview, I think, was with Brett. Brett is from Chicago. After being diagnosed with several learning disabilities in fifth grade, he “basically spent two decades feeling like an idiot.” He founded Remind [www.remind.com] with his brother in college because he wanted to do something so no other kids would have to have to feel like he had. But for a long time - the idea wasn’t really going anywhere - until Brett and brother David learned what might be “the most important lesson in building” pretty much anything.
↓ Listen to your clients, your customers – A LOT. Really Listen.
↓ Identify the problem and develop a simple solution hypothesis. Then go listen some more.
↓ Build a simple product to alleviate that pain. – Then make it simpler.
→ Rinse and Repeat.
I’m off to make some calls!