Improbable Pairs Vital to Strengths Network Success

The “improbable pairs” that are integral to the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach certainly drove a Belgian AI network’s success, says co-facilitator Luc Verheijen.

Luc Verheijen

The network saw surprising results in terms of depth of connection and scale, which Luc links to several factors, including the level of familiarity amongst the network of 80 people.

In other words, there was no “cold selling or marketing.”

He also notes we’re in a time when people are hungry for new ways of learning, developing and creating change, and they see compelling transformation potential in AI.

But it was the pairing of people who wouldn’t typically connect that Luc says he believes was most responsible for the network’s significant outcomes.

As an example of what this pairing can generate, Luc recalls representatives of a multi-national business working through the AI methodology with members of a group supporting youth who’ve been taken out of the regular school system because of behaviour issues.

The school group evidently inspired the business reps, Luc says, as they reflected on what’s the best possible future for these students, despite their history.

Coming from an environment where giving up on and excluding is almost an approved business practice, the business officials found themselves confronted with a whole different paradigm on “difficult people.”

“It’s something people say constantly, how much they learn from contexts they don’t normally connect with,” says Luc.

As co-organizer of the World AI Conference slated for April 25-28 in Ghent, Belgium, Luc is reflecting much these days on what’s needed to scale up the impact AI has been having in the 25 years since thought leaders David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva first brought it to the world.

He notes there are now thousands of examples worldwide of AI being used very successfully as an individual, team, organization and system development tool.

To take this “collective and generative power” to the next level will be a question for the conference delegates to dig into deeply, but in the meantime Luc proposes something of the answer is to be found in this improbable pairs principle.

“How can we look for forms where we make these unusual combinations, where we combine systems, where we combine organizations of a larger scale, I think that is what we need the most today,” says Luc.

For the full story on the Belgian AI network, and results it saw, click here.

For more on the World AI Conference, and to register, click here.

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