Consultant Working for the ‘Little Miracles' of Appreciative Inquiry

While Appreciative Inquiry (AI) has proven a powerful tool to reshape government and business proceedings in the Brazilian state of Parana over the last 15 years, João Candido Pereira de Castro Neto says he mostly works for what he calls the “little miracles” it also yields.

A professor with the Parana Social Studies Foundation (FESP), João received training in AI when Case Western Reserve University professor Ronald Fry facilitated several courses and summits for the Parana State Industrial League (FIEP) in the late ‘90s. As one of FIEP’s partners, the university and its staff, including João, were invited to attend.

Now a certified AI consultant, João has since hosted AI summits and workshops at the university and in several Brazilian businesses. He's also worked with others to introduce AI to two African companies, Sonangol STP and ENCO, located in Sao Tome and Principe.

	João facilitated an Appreciative Inquiry summit with Alkcom, a Brazilian engineering  company. In the picture, group members represent their commitment and support to the company, to each other and to their common ways of being.

João remembers meeting “very humble workers” and “dedicated leaders” with great courage on assignment in Africa in particular, and feeling thrilled at the opportunity to hear their dreams and offer a tool to help them bring those into being.

In all of this there’s an insight guiding his work that keeps him moving forward — and that's to be deliberate and open to appreciating what seem to be small outcomes just as much as the major transformations AI fosters.

Things like an employee being inspired through the AI process to offer her own time to clean the company office, or when “people gather joyfully to support and implement a new idea that blooms from an unexpected worker.”

“The smiles on their faces when they realize that (a different) future is possible, and they can give their share to build it are the highlights I’m working for,” João tells Axiom News.

He proposes that in making the most of apparently smaller achievements like this, “we must adjust our expectation to each specific environment we work with.”

“Sometimes our expectations are too high or mis-focused and we just throw away little jewels that may have little meaning to us but can modify individual lives and drive those changes we're looking for,” says the consultant.

“We must create the best environment possible, dedicate ourselves to conducting the experiment carefully and be open to receive contributions without judging them by our own terms, but letting the people's values and culture prevail,” he adds.

Asked what it is about AI he considers its greatest strengths, João suggests it’s the approach’s ability to engage people and overcome natural caution about large-group efforts.

“When you say you will not search for failures, but you will search for successes and histories, people get relaxed and ready to contribute,” he notes.

To learn more about the Brazilian business, Nutrimental and its president Rodrigo Loures, who first introduced AI, since spawning an AI revolution of sorts in the state of Parana, click this link.

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