The second in a series of short videos where we introduce the basic principles underpinning Appreciative Inquiry.
The Anticipatory Principle states that organisations (and people) tend to grow in the direction of their positive images of the future, like a sunflower or heliotrope grows towards the sun. Our expectations of the future – and therefore of what we believe is possible – are constantly shaped by our conversations.
In the video:
0.33 – Whatever we are anticipating, we are likely to get
0:42 – Positive visualisation is widely used in sports psychology
1:08 – Why ‘Towards’ motivation is better than ‘Away from’ for getting results
1:22 – ‘Towards’ is directed, so it keeps us on track – ‘Away’ is not a direction
1:42 – ‘Away from’ motivation leads to inconsistent results
2:21 – ‘Towards’ motivation puts us in a better and more resourceful emotional state
3:05 – Why it makes sense to focus on what’s already working and where we want to get to in the future
Book mentioned in this lesson: Conversations Worth Having by Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres
See below for the video transcript.
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Video Transcript – The Anticipatory Principle
“Organisations (and people) tend to grow in the direction of their positive images of the future, like a sunflower grows towards the sun. Our expectations of the future – and therefore of what we believe is possible – are constantly shaped by our conversations about it.
To put this more simply – whatever we are anticipating, we are likely to get. Our expectations can become a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Repeated studies in sports psychology have shown that athletes who mentally rehearse success do better than those who don’t have a clear image of success, or who psych themselves out by imagining all the things that could go wrong.
Having a clear, compelling image of the desired future creates “towards” motivation. Of course, we also tend to move away from our fears and bad experiences. Moving “towards” what we want has some significant advantages over moving “away from” what we don’t want.
“Towards” and “Away-From” motivation contrasted:
- If we know where we want to get to, we can correct our aim if circumstances knock us off course. “Away from”, by contrast, is not a direction and does not give us that “inner rudder”. If our main motivation for acting is to escape from unfavourable situations, we may end up further away from where we would really like to be.
- “Away from” motivation leads to inconsistent results. If our motivation is 100% “away from”, it gets weaker the further away we get from what we are trying to escape from. After we are clear of the undesirable situation, we may have no motivation at all until the next crisis comes along.
You may have worked in teams characterised by a reactive, “headless chicken” way of working, always fire-fighting some new crisis. “Towards” motivation, on the other hand, stays constant and may even get stronger the nearer we get to our compelling goal. - Finally, “away from” motivation is stressful, because our thinking and conversation is dominated by the unpleasant situations or possible outcomes that we want to escape. The more motivated we are, the more stressed we feel.
“Towards” motivation, by contrast, engenders positive emotions, because we are thinking and talking about where we want to get to.
Even if our objective circumstances are unpleasant, our intersubjective reality, focused on our desired futures and the evidence in the present of that future beginning to happen, will produce uplifting emotions like hope, gratitude and excitement – which will lead to better results.
What are the implications?
If are likely to get more of what we anticipate, and our expectations what we say, think, and do, it makes sense to look for and talk about what is already working well and where we want to get to in the future.
As Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres say in their great book Conversations Worth Having, it also makes sense to stay open, expect the best from others, and anticipate being pleasantly surprised.