#appreciativeinquiry

A few days ago, it was my first time doing a guided appreciative inquiry exercise. It was an interesting experience because I found that it was easier for me to ask other people questions than it was to share about my own passions.

Talking about my passions and strengths was undoubtedly a little hard for me because I generally don’t really like to share much about myself – I don’t find myself that interesting and I was scared that I’d bore the people in our tiny group. So, I found that although I was happy to talk about my strengths, I was also watching the clock closely, making sure that I wasn’t oversharing to the point of being annoying.

Asking questions was much easier for me. I’m a naturally sociable and inquisitive person, so even in everyday life, I usually ask questions about my friends’ lives a lot. To illustrate, during the exercise, I discovered that one of my groupmates is passionate about dancing but recently quit. I asked him why he quit because I was genuinely curious to find out why; it doesn’t really make sense to quit something you like doing. He then thoroughly explained why he quit, which satisfied my curiosity, and also seemed to be liberating for him. It felt natural to me to ask him that question; even if I hadn’t been previously prompted to ask questions, I would’ve asked him it anyway. I guess you could say probing is kind of like breathing to me.

This for my HR fraternity. Folks, you just have to identify your corporate citizens and share this video with them. They will figure out and show you how to make your organisation a great place to work! Ask me whenever stuck. Dear Prasenjit Bhattacharya, I dedicate this piece to you. Absolutely loved your…