Positive Science Research
“The Appreciative approach is inclusive, innovative and visionary.”
Ann L. Clancy
I have contributed to a body of research and client work based on a science of positive human and organizational change. In contrast to problem-oriented, deficit based methods (concerned with what is wrong or limiting), an Appreciative approach is strengths-based and focuses on the generative and creative images that reside in the most positive core of every individual, team and organization. It builds on what is most alive, effective and successful about the people who work together.
This movement towards defining a science of positive change has emerged from a variety of fields such as Social Constructionism, Solution Focused Brief Therapy, Appreciative Inquiry, Positive Organizational Scholarship, Positive Psychology, the Science of Positive Emotions and the evolution of human consciousness.
The Science of Positive Human Change
The science of positive human change is best framed in the context of human evolution tracked by developmental and evolutionary change theorists (LaLoux, 2014; Wilbur, 2001, 1977; Wade, 1996; Graves, 1981; Beck & Cowan, 2006).
We are currently living through the shift from a Newtonian mechanistic worldview to a new generative, life-based paradigm which views humans as dynamic energy beings, vibrant, emotional and embedded in multiple systems. This current evolution has produced some exciting shifts in how we understand human change:
Shifting attention from what’s wrong and needs to be fixed to what is right, positive and what can be created.
Shifting away from problem solving to finding desired future and solutions.
From seeing organizations and people as machines to accepting organizations and people as living systems
From using problem focused language to applying solution/creation focused language
Moving from being externally driven to accessing our own inner process for guidance and accountability
From Newtonian/machine worldview to quantum energy, generative worldview
Every time humanity shifts, it invents a new way to collaborate and a new organizational model.
Frederic LaLoux
Historical Perspective of Worldview Evolution
There is a dedicated group of developmental and evolutionary change theorists (LaLoux, 2014; Wilbur, 2001, 1977; Wade, 1996; Graves, 1981; Beck & Cowan, 2006, et al) who have identified the emergence of varying stages of human consciousness over time.
They describe evolution as occurring in spiraling stages of sudden transformations, leaps in abilities and flowing waves of consciousness. These evolutionary movements are not rigid but overlap and interweave in a dynamic spiral of consciousness unfolding into higher order systems.
Each stage has a different worldview made up of values, needs, morals, ego structures, society types, and cultural networks. Each stage is not “better” but rather a broader and more complex way of dealing with life. Each stage transcends and includes the previous one in a nested ordering.
To simplify the understanding of these vast movements or shifts in consciousness, they have been assigned different colors.
Currently, five major stages of consciousness (simplified for this website) co-exist in today’s world. The first four stages have been described as “subsistence levels” with “first tier thinking,” focused on meeting humanity’s more basic needs. They operate out of a sense of lack, scarcity and deficiency and see their worldview as the only valid one. These are Tribal-Red, Conformist-Amber, Achievement-Orange, and Pluralistic-Green.
What is significant for the emergence of the science of positive human change is that it represents a new “second tier” consciousness that acts out of abundance and trust rather than fear. This newest stage, Evolutionary-Teal, appears to be a monumental leap in human evolution of meaning.
It brings a new focus on human “being” that is compelling for the fields of human and organizational change and is showing characteristics of the interplay of spirituality and science, respect for holistic living systems, and for the flow of nature.
Source LaLoux, 2014
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Model: Self-Organizing
Beliefs: Adaptive Consciousness, Integral perspective
Metaphor: Living Systems
Emerged 1980s
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Model: Information-based, Eco-based
Beliefs: Empowerment, Diversity
Metaphor: Family
Emerged 1960s
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Model: Scientific, Industrial
Beliefs: Science, Profit, Growth, Innovation
Metaphor: Machine
Emerged 1600s, 1800s-present
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Model: Hierarchical, Agrarian,
Formalized Structures
Beliefs: Mythology, Command & Control
Metaphor: Army, Empire
Emerged 4,000 years ago
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Model: Tribal, Chiefdoms
Beliefs: Magic, Power, Fear
Metaphor: Wolf Pack
Emerged 15,000 years ago
Diving Deeper: Evolutionary-Teal
The Evolutionary-Teal worldview is compelling because it describes life as a journey of unfolding which incorporates a shift from external to internal yardsticks and from a deficit to a strengths-based paradigm. It offers another scientific foundation for helping clients better access their inner wisdom and strive for wholeness with life and nature.
The new emerging holistic (Teal) worldview embodies the following perspectives:
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We are shifting from external to internal yardsticks in decision making:
Does this decision seem right?
Am I being true to myself?
Is this in line with whom I sense I’m called to become?
Am I being of service to the world?
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We look more gently and realistically at our limitations and are at peace with what we see.
Life is not asking us to become anything that isn’t already seeded in us.
We focus less on what is wrong or missing in people and situations around us and move our attention instead to what is there, to beauty and potential.
We trade in judgment for compassion, appreciation.
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We start with the premise that as humans we are not problems waiting to be solved, but potential waiting to unfold.
We build on our strengths.
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Obstacles are life’s way to teach us about ourselves and the world.
We embrace the possibility that we played a part in creating the problem and inquire what we can learn so as to grow from it.
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Less attached to outcomes, we can more easily accept unpleasant truths of reality and be more accurately informed by data.
Intuition honors the complex, ambiguous, paradoxical, non-linear nature of reality.
Unconsciously, we connect patterns that the rational mind cannot.
We have the capacity to transcend either-or thinking to more complex “both-and” thinking.
We are able to tap into all our domains of knowing (e.g., emotions, rational, intuition, insights).
Coaching Cycle to Trigger Positive Change
Because we are a living human system, we can effect change in our lives or help trigger others to change through accessing four main entry points:
By creating new thought and belief patterns
Be cultivating different feelings and emotions
By experimenting with a range of different actions and behaviors
By recognizing and building on what positive results and experience we want to generate.
As an Appreciative coach, I am attuned to the power of this cycle and support clients by engaging in any one or combination of the four main entry points to ignite clarity. Most people tend to be more open to 1 or 2 of the entry points. For example, I am more open to change if I am presented with different or new thoughts and beliefs that expand my perspective or if someone helps me shift away from negative emotions in a situation where I feel constricted. What do you think your most powerful entry points for change are?
