Positive approach is best goal

IT HAPPENS in almost every newsroom in the country, in most sales offices and in many financial institutions. It's the "goal-keeper syndrome", where managers round on employees over some missed news story, sales deal or financial closure.

It's the same old tune: "How the hell could you have missed that?" or "are you going to keep letting the competition walk all over you?" or "do you even know how to spell incompetent?".

Good cheery stuff for a Monday morning. The loud-mouth originator usually knows nothing better than the "goal-keeper syndrome" because that is how he or she has learned to be a manager.

This approach basically involves always remembering the goals scored, but never the saves.

The manager is insecure and under pressure from the next tier up, so the culture of the organisation oozes negative, borderline harassment.

The grunts at the bottom learn defensive tactics. A harassed reporter will vainly try to recall a recent story where he or she scooped the competition, or will "rubbish" the story as a "reheat". The salesman will mention a recent success or emphasise other positive leads.

Few managers have the skill to make inquiries over successes. Rarely will you hear: "That was a hell of a good story - how did we get it ahead of the others?" or "let's analyse that sales deal from beginning to end to see how we pushed the market leaders aside".

Most managers, apart from the few seriously disturbed alpha males, know that such an approach is the best one, but it is not easy to do in pressurised organisations. This is where "appreciative inquiry" comes into play.

Basically, this is a means of organisational and management review and analysis which accentuates the positive.

Contrast the three recent inquiries into breast cancer services at Portlaoise hospital with a potential study of the X-ray department at St James's Hospital.

The first was arranged against a background of errors, blame, political point-scoring and weak organisation and resources. There is no similar study of the X-ray department at the State's biggest hospital, probably because it works efficiently and provides a good service.

The appreciative inquiry approach means that the same energies would be invested in finding out why one service is top quality while another is poor or "sub-optimal", to use health-manager jargon.

Appreciative inquiry was formally developed in 1985, when a business school consultancy team was working with the Cleveland Clinic, which was frequently ranked among the top medical centres in the US. When the clinic's staff were questioned about the positive aspects of their work, a wave of energy was unleashed and the factors that had contributed to the clinic's success were enhanced.

Appreciative inquiry involves a shift in mindset from problem-solving to building on existing strengths. It is not an easy shift to make, however, as I found last year when I met the head of a large private school at a human resources conference.

The principal told me that he wanted to learn some human-resources approaches to deal with four problem teachers. The school had more than 80 teaching staff and, from what I knew of the school, it had a good reputation for producing well-rounded teenagers blending involvement in sport, academic achievements and community activities.

It was clear that 19 out of 20 teachers were doing a good job. Later the principal introduced a teachers' initiative and involvement group, which showed up the four underperformers.

Of course, the principal was right to be concerned about the impact of the underperforming teachers on his students. His emphasis on the high standards of the majority of the teachers helped highlight the four weak teachers, though it did not lead to them showing immediate improvement or moving to another, more attractive career. But nobody guarantees that accentuating the positive will solve all performance problems.

What appreciative inquiry does is enhance morale and boost cross-functional respect and co-operation, as well as making management roles more productive and positive, rather than working through lists of problems.

To get to that stage requires an open culture and allocation of resources to facilitate diverse groups to get together and discuss what has worked well and led to organisational successes.

The downside is that the power position of being able to "kick ass" is sacrificed and those who have learned their management practices from pushing people around may never be able to make the transition to the appreciative inquiry approach. It takes real management talent to persuade employees to identify the organisational processes that are working well and come up with suggestions on how to adapt procedures to secure greater successes.

Appreciative inquiry puts the human back into human resources and can prove a powerful tool in facilitating ongoing flexibility and change.

Of course, organisations that have had decades of internal rivalry and a defensive management approach may find that the appreciative inquiry approach is too rich a mix. Moves to change the mindset may hit a wall of cynical disbelief which will have to be overcome before employees go for the "my boss is my buddy" approach.

Gerald Flynn is an employment specialist with Align Management Solutions in Dublin