Appreciation (Situational)
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
A few months ago, Josh found out that a competitor was opening a new office in the same city as his organization.
He went over the implications of this, but even after he'd covered all of the bases, he still felt that he was missing something important.
Now, he has discovered that this competitor is headhunting his best managers.
And he doesn't have a plan in place to do anything about it.
Does this sound familiar?
Sometimes we're given a piece of information that seems straightforward, only to find out later that more was going on than we thought. As a result, we're then unprepared to deal with the consequences.
One way to deal with these situations is by using Appreciation. This is a simple but powerful technique for extracting the maximum amount of information possible from a simple fact or statement.
About Appreciation
Appreciation helps us uncover factors that we might have ordinarily missed, and it can be very useful for brainstorming solutions to problems.
It was originally developed by the military to help commanders gain a comprehensive understanding of any fact, problem or situation that it was faced with in battle. However, you can also apply it in the workplace.
Using Appreciation is easy. Starting with a fact, you first ask the question "So what?" – in other words, what are the implications of that fact? Why is this fact important?
You then continue asking that question until you have drawn all possible conclusions from it.
Uses
Appreciation is similar to the 5 Whys technique. The major difference is that it is often used to get the most information out of a simple fact or statement, while the 5 Whys is specifically designed to drill down to the root of a problem.
You can also use Appreciation in conjunction with Root Cause Analysis or Cause and Effect Analysis to help you gain a better understanding of the impact of possible solutions.
Note:
Bear in mind that Appreciation can restrict you to one line of thinking. For instance, once you've answered your first "So what?" question, you might follow a single line of inquiry to its conclusion. To avoid this, repeat the Appreciation process several times over to make sure that you've covered all bases.
Appreciation Example
You've just found out that your department's budget is going to be cut by 25 percent next year.
This is a huge cut, and you want to make sure that you've uncovered all the implications before you start to brainstorm possible solutions.
So, you use the Appreciation Process, as follows:
Statement: Our department's budget is going to be cut 25 percent starting January 1.
So what?
So the only way to accommodate that cut is to reduce our spending dramatically.
So what?
So we're probably going to have to cut staff, and we'll definitely have to cut spending on supplies, research, and staff parties.
So what?
So staff morale is probably going to drop, especially if I have to lay off members of our team.
So what?
So I'll need to come up with plenty of low-cost ways to boost morale without spending money.
So what?
So I'll need to start thinking about this tomorrow, since the new budget will go into effect in two months, and I want to be able to manage the consequences when I let the team know.
Key Points
Appreciation was originally developed by the military to give leaders a better understanding of a fact, statement or problem that they were faced with.
You use Appreciation by asking "So what?" repeatedly. This helps you to extract all important information implied by a fact.
Consider using other problem solving techniques with Appreciation, to make sure that you're not limited to one line of thinking.
Tip:
If you'd like to gain an in-depth understanding of your current problem solving skills, take our How Good Is Your Problem Solving? quiz. You might also want to go through our Bite-Sized Training Session on Problem Solving .
Tags:
Problem Solving, Skills
He went over the implications of this, but even after he'd covered all of the bases, he still felt that he was missing something important.
Now, he has discovered that this competitor is headhunting his best managers.
And he doesn't have a plan in place to do anything about it.
Does this sound familiar?
Sometimes we're given a piece of information that seems straightforward, only to find out later that more was going on than we thought. As a result, we're then unprepared to deal with the consequences.
One way to deal with these situations is by using Appreciation. This is a simple but powerful technique for extracting the maximum amount of information possible from a simple fact or statement.
About Appreciation
Appreciation helps us uncover factors that we might have ordinarily missed, and it can be very useful for brainstorming solutions to problems.
It was originally developed by the military to help commanders gain a comprehensive understanding of any fact, problem or situation that it was faced with in battle. However, you can also apply it in the workplace.
Using Appreciation is easy. Starting with a fact, you first ask the question "So what?" – in other words, what are the implications of that fact? Why is this fact important?
You then continue asking that question until you have drawn all possible conclusions from it.
Uses
Appreciation is similar to the 5 Whys technique. The major difference is that it is often used to get the most information out of a simple fact or statement, while the 5 Whys is specifically designed to drill down to the root of a problem.
You can also use Appreciation in conjunction with Root Cause Analysis or Cause and Effect Analysis to help you gain a better understanding of the impact of possible solutions.
Note:
Bear in mind that Appreciation can restrict you to one line of thinking. For instance, once you've answered your first "So what?" question, you might follow a single line of inquiry to its conclusion. To avoid this, repeat the Appreciation process several times over to make sure that you've covered all bases.
Appreciation Example
You've just found out that your department's budget is going to be cut by 25 percent next year.
This is a huge cut, and you want to make sure that you've uncovered all the implications before you start to brainstorm possible solutions.
So, you use the Appreciation Process, as follows:
Statement: Our department's budget is going to be cut 25 percent starting January 1.
So what?
So the only way to accommodate that cut is to reduce our spending dramatically.
So what?
So we're probably going to have to cut staff, and we'll definitely have to cut spending on supplies, research, and staff parties.
So what?
So staff morale is probably going to drop, especially if I have to lay off members of our team.
So what?
So I'll need to come up with plenty of low-cost ways to boost morale without spending money.
So what?
So I'll need to start thinking about this tomorrow, since the new budget will go into effect in two months, and I want to be able to manage the consequences when I let the team know.
Key Points
Appreciation was originally developed by the military to give leaders a better understanding of a fact, statement or problem that they were faced with.
You use Appreciation by asking "So what?" repeatedly. This helps you to extract all important information implied by a fact.
Consider using other problem solving techniques with Appreciation, to make sure that you're not limited to one line of thinking.
Tip:
If you'd like to gain an in-depth understanding of your current problem solving skills, take our How Good Is Your Problem Solving? quiz. You might also want to go through our Bite-Sized Training Session on Problem Solving .
