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You know you've got the best state associations and that the WASFAA conference is the best regional conference ever! |
WASFAA - You Make It Wonderful! For a long time I thought the best approach to self improvement was in assessing those areas of weakness and striving to correct them. This was a somewhat depressing method because it caused me to focus on the flaws of my performance and struggle with areas that I did not naturally do well. Not long ago, it was suggested to me that if I concentrated on my strengths and did more of what I enjoyed, the expansion of my successes would make my failures far less relevant. It would also give me some energy and encouragement to learn and grow in the weak areas, as opposed to the despair I had previously felt. This concept of "accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative" (as the cheery song goes) was given a theoretical name at a collaborative customer service workshop I attended last month. It is called Appreciative Inquiry. A concept that was developed by David Cooperrider and his colleagues at Case Western Reserve University in the mid-seventies, Appreciative Inquiry "suggests that we look for what works in an organization,"1 or our relationships, or our job performance, or ourselves. In order to gather more information about this theory, I reviewed a summary written by Sue Annis Hammond called The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry. With the launching of a new WASFAA Executive Council and with the spring time flurry of aid processing occurring in our financial aid offices, it seems a good time to discuss the tenets of Appreciative Inquiry. It is a particularly useful tool for working across departments to improve processes and services. In fact, the workshop I attended that applied Appreciative Inquiry was a joint session for financial aid and student accounts. A general outline of the theory is offered below: Appreciative Inquiry Focus of the Theory: Doing more of what works Assumptions of the Theory:
It is quite true that the quality of an organization is directly related to the contributions and participation of its people. The individual members of WASFAA are what make the organization work. Now is a time when we can celebrate this. We can each look for the things that we do well personally and professionally and be willing to contribute more of these to WASFAA. We can also take a collective look at WASFAA to honor and recognize the especially commendable elements of our association. One of the things WASFAA does well is the annual conference; site selection particularly well! Just take a glance at these upcoming WASFAA Conference locations: 2003 Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, HI 2004 Doubletree Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, AZ 2005 Doubletree Lloyd Center, Portland, OR Reviewing the list of locations for future WASFAA
Conferences made you feel just a little bit more allegiance for
the organization, didn't it? Feeling just a bit more eager to be
involved? Are you thinking that 2003 would be a great year
to do some volunteering? Maybe you'll even help out with
registration at the conference! Yeah, you know you're working
in the best region. You know you've got the best state
associations and that the WASFAA conference is the best
regional conference ever! Well, you can make it even better.
Take a look at what you like in WASFAA and do more of it!
For more information on Appreciative Inquiry or The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry, visit these sites on the web: www.appreciative-inquiry.org and www.thinbook.com. "Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." ~Frank Outlaw 1 Hammond, Sue Annis. The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry. Thin Book Publishing Company, Plano, TX, 1998. [ISBN 0-9665373-1-9] |
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