Editorial

With the rapid globalization of commerce and communications this generation has been swept up in the largesse of it all. Yet, as Philippe Belien suggests, the concept of globalization is so big that we can lose footing in what we can actually do and control.

We can have our eyes set on global issues and feel compelled to respond, but the sheer immensity of the system we are dealing with disempowers our ability to act and to understand.

‘We are working on it,’ we can say and yet still search in vain for tangible feedback that our specific work is bringing anything new and desirable into being.

Belien speaks of the danger of putting too much stock in the justification of our work by invoking the unknown and the uncontrollable.

A practical response to this thought is to look to what we do know and what we do control. Our intentions and actions in our immediate setting and relationships are under our control and we can assess clearly if we have made progress in the direction of our intentions.

What is required are ways of interacting with those in our midst and with shared interest to co-create artifacts and actions we can call our own. How do we interact, aspire, organize, and achieve?

The practices of Appreciative Inquiry are one set of tools for interaction that serve well. With an increasing focus on connecting individuals, strengths and systems, and whole system engagement (which is inherently democratic), AI practices move from principles that create generative, progressive interactions.

To manage by design is in many ways to design the ways people interact in order to create opportunities for the co-creation of aspirations and action.

If we are to move beyond economic globalization and evolve further to social globalization it will be the manner in which we interact to achieve our ends that will create the pathways.

Some organizations are already designed this way. Co-operatives, for example, are a nexus arena of social and economic sentiments and as such are one of those ‘institutions’ to promote.

With 2012 being the International Year of Co-operatives, this is one organization design type top of mind as a practical response to our higher intentions.

Appreciative Inquiry and co-operative practices are two sets of design for connection and interaction. There are, of course, others.

These two movements both invoke a better society in general terms. Possibly more importantly, they enable people to enact their principles in their immediate arenas, ones in which they are resident and can know and act in tangible, specific ways.

The World Appreciative Inquiry Conference in Ghent, Belgium this April presents an opportunity for members of these two movements to meet. Only good can come of connecting.

What if AI practitioners actively reached out to their friends and colleagues in co-operatives and encouraged them to attend the conference? If you are a member of a co-operative why not check out the World Appreciative Inquiry Conference and consider attending?