Green Party candidate runs campaign from Appreciative Inquiry approach

Hunter says she looks to bring forward some of the best elements to mobilize human potential in her campaign. Hunter is the founder of The Learning Catalyst and works with organizations to develop leadership capacity.

She says the use of AI — an organizational development tool that builds on what’s working instead of working to fix what doesn’t — has been proven to be effective.

“I’m very committed to being one of the first Green MP’s, so I am both interested in winning and interested in politics not making people sad,” she says. “It seems like we can do both.”

Though by nature politics tends to include tension, Hunter says an adversarial attitude is a choice too — and she plans to have a different experience.

“I really think that the decline in voter turnout and the increased cynicism is at epic proportions,” she says. “People really need to be able to vote for something (instead of) against.”

She says if Parliament included both dialogue and discussion it would be powerful and profound.

“We have so much capacity, knowledge, insight in this world that we choose to ignore,” she says. There is often a stance on what’s wrong and a lack of intentional engagement, she adds.

This dynamic needs to shift because it is not healthy or sustainable, Hunter says. “It’s human energy being for something rather than always against.”

Hunter says her personal campaign objectives — to win; to run an inspiring, engaging, innovative and fun campaign; and run a campaign that demonstrates it’s easy to be green — are consistent with the Green Party’s ethos.

Hunter says she is optimistic that using an AI approach is going to be elemental in the campaign’s success.

“It certainly is very useful in terms of keeping me energized, because it’s not actually about me,” she says. “I am here in service of something so much bigger than me.”

So far, she says the campaign has been fun.

“My personal motto is how can I play with politics in a way that breathes life into it, so that keeps me pretty clear,” says Hunter.

Hunter says while traditional problem solving can be effective and useful, “Appreciative Inquiry is a complement that allows us to move further forward together with longer term solutions.”

— Part one of a two-part series

Read part two:
Candidate’s AI approach promotes collegial focus, community engagement

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