Appreciative Inquiry and Coaching:AI Is Not About the Positive:
An Interview with Gervase Bushe
Authors: Interview conducted by Suzan Guest, PSY.D.
This article first appeared in the International Journal of Coaching in Organizations, 2007, 4, 17-24
Reprinted with permission of IJCO and Professional Coaching Publications, Inc.
ABSTRACT: appreciative Inquiry (AI) has swept the coaching world and we are now seeing a specialty, ‘appreciative coaching’, emerge as a new form of practice. In their 2007 book, Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process for Change, Orem, Binkert and Clancy describe how this approach came out of a "two-year coaching research and writing project where the four stages and five principles of aI were applied to personal and professional development within coaching relationships." with this tidal wave of excitement seeming to have such an all-encompassing impact, I was intrigued when I came across Gervase bushe’s article, "A.I. Is Not (Just) About the Positive". could he be about to dispute this highly acclaimed approach to personal and organizational transformation?
Gervase is one of its most highly respected researcher/practitioners in the aI community. He is known internationally for his innovative work on appreciative inquiry and leadership. He has coached numerous executives and worked extensively with concepts in the field. In 2002 the a.I. commons chose him as one of the ten leading appreciative inquiry practitioners worldwide. His 1995 paper, "advances in aI as an organization development Intervention," was selected as one of the best papers published in the OD Journal in the 20th century. In 2007 he received a best paper award from the organization development and change division within the academy of Management for a paper called "revisioning OD: a Postmodern Perspective." His popular book, Clear Leadership: How Outstanding Leaders Make Themselves Understood, Cut Through the Mush, and Help Everyone Get Real at Work is about to come out in a second edition.