February is known as the month of love. In reflecting on what we love, Company of Experts' President, Kathy Becker, was interviewed and asked what she loved the most about her job. 

"What I love the most about our work is hearing from people who have taken the time to write or call us to tell us how we have helped change their personal or professional lives. In ways that we had not even considered. Listening to their stories of how the skills they have learned from our workshops or trainings then applied these skills in their day-to-day living. How this has helped them make a difference in their communities. These are the  stories that give you goose bumps and leave you yearning for more!"   

We thank each of you for sharing your stories of success - seeking the high points to learn, adapt and thrive. Your stories bring such light into our office and to our work.

~ Yours friends at the Company of Experts

Company of Experts is pleased to introduce its newest Certified Appreciative Inquiry Facilitators (CAIF) to its growing AI family. 

The individual(s) listed below participated in our 4-day Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Training (AIFT) program and submitted a practicum demonstrating their knowledge and application of Appreciative Inquiry. In reading their practicums, we are able to celebrate in their achievements and observe how Appreciative Inquiry has positively influenced their lives - personally and professionally.

• Brenda Rodriquez, Promoting Inclusion to Inspire Innovation & Mission Success
• Chris Charteris Wright, The Deer Industry - Future Vision
• Manuela Glasbrenner, A Safe Structure for Collaboration
• Glenn Gustafson and Fiona Slessor, Environmental Education as a Catalyst for Change 
• Peter Powis, Innovative and Sustainable Services and Support to People with Addictions
• Shinko Tano, Creating Community After the Great East Japan Earthquake
• Vera Wojna,Team Building and Visioning: The Generative Approach 

New practicums are frequently posted to our website, so check back often to see what new stories have been posted. Click here for more practicums.  

Negativity costs $300 billion dollars a year in lost productivity.  Disengaged workers lose customers, drive up healthcare costs, and contribute to absenteeism and turnover rates.  In contrast, positivity at work is associated with better relationships, higher productivity, and better customer service.  So happiness doesn't just feel good - it is good for you and the organization's bottom line.

The goal of positive leadership is to create workplaces that foster high satisfaction and high productivity.  How can you become a more positive leader?  These 4 strategies will help you transform your organization from the inside out:

To use the word "hidden" may not be quite accurate because often, strengths are hidden by lack of opportunity to display them. Too often, when students are in school, they are not looked at in terms of their strengths; rather, there is a focus on remediating their deficits. This is rarely a source of inspiration for anyone. What ends up happening is that kids' strengths and passions are either hidden from their educators or worse, they become hidden from themselves because they do not get encouraged. So what can educators do? Read Full Article>> 

Creativity is key to innovation. So how do you expand your own creative capacity and that of your business? Through social engagement, argues Bruce Nussbaum.

The huge national policy storm brewing over "dwindling innovation" and an "innovation shortfall" also gives creativity an even greater agency. Creativity is the key to generating economic value and getting the U.S. economy to grow fast again.

So here are four specific ways to lead a more creative life and boost your creative capacities. Creativity is not about blue rooms and brain waves but about social engagement and mining the existential. Here's what you can do. Read Full Article>> 

Our world is pretty messed up. With all the violence, pollution and crazy things people do, it would be easy to turn into a grouchy old man without being either elderly or male. There's certainly no shortage of justification for disappointment and cynicism.

But consider this: Negative attitudes are bad for you. And gratitude, it turns out, makes you happier and healthier. If you invest in a way of seeing the world that is mean and frustrated, you're going to get a world that is, well, more mean and frustrating. But if you can find any authentic reason to give thanks, anything that is going right with the world or your life, and put your attention there, then statistics say you're going to be better off. Read Full Article>> 

We all enjoy a good story, whether it's a novel, a movie, or simply something one of our friends is explaining to us. But why do we feel so much more engaged when we hear a narrative about events?

It's in fact quite simple. If we listen to a powerpoint presentation with boring bullet points, a certain part in the brain gets activated. Scientists call this Broca's area and Wernicke's area. Overall, it hits our language processing parts in the brain, where we decode words into meaning. And that's it, nothing else happens.

When we are being told a story, things change dramatically. Not only are the language processing parts in our brain activated, but any other area in our brain that we would use when experiencing the events of the story are too. Read Full Article>> 

We are constantly impacting the brain states in other people. In my EI model, "Managing Relationships" means, at this level, that we're responsible for how we shape the feelings of those we interact with - for better or for worse. In this sense, relationship skills have to do with managing brain states in other people.

This raises a question. Who sends the emotions that pass between people, and who receives them? One answer, for groups of peers, is that the sender tends to be the most emotionally expressive person in the group. But in groups where there are power differences - in the classroom, at work, in organizations generally - it is the most powerful person who is the emotional sender, setting the emotional state for the rest of the group. Read Full Article>> 

We all have values. They represent what's important to us. Are you ignoring or using the power of your values?

We all have values. They represent what is important to us. Values are powerful because they supply our work (and everything else in our lives) with meaning.  They govern our behavior and guide our choices. Values are powerful motivators. They determine the decisions you make in your life. You're either moving toward things that satisfy your values, or moving away from things that contradict your values.

Values are contextually driven.  For example, I might value autonomy in my choice of job but intimacy when it comes to forming non-work relationships. While context changes some values -  some we often call "core," may be important to us in every situation, like trust, authenticity and respect. Read Full Article>>

Whether you realize it or not, you're on a path. You can look back and see exactly how you got to where you stand today. The path ahead is far more nebulous, of course, but it's still a path. Your actions and decisions help to define it, as do all sorts of factors both in and out of your control.

If you think of your path as a physical entity, you can easily see that it has certain properties. And understanding those properties can lead to surprising and profound insights into how something as simple as awareness of what's going on inside and around you can help you to visualize and influence your future. Read Full Article>> 

My parents, like most trying to communicate with a distracted child, would sometimes say,  "Well... it's in one ear and out the other."  Little did they know that their message literally  "went in one ear" and stayed there, encoding information throughout my brain's neural circuitry and body.

Interesting things happen when we articulate our thoughts and the words leave our lips and enter the ears of the listener. The actual words and the way they're spoken - inflection, tonality, volume, etc. - leave a lasting impression on the brains of those with whom we speak. Our words shape the experiences of others.

Looking at the power of words to shape experience from a neuroscience perspective leads us into very interesting territory. Just as all of life is composed of matter and molecules, so are the words that travel from our lips to the ears of the listener. Each word we speak has its own molecular structure and vibratory field. (For example, the words 'trust me' vibrate at a different frequency than the words 'you should'). Read Full Article>>

Do you have questions about Appreciative Inquiry and its applications? The Center for Appreciative Inquiry invites you to participate in their monthly tweet chats where Appreciative Inquiry Practitioners will be online and available to answer your questions, suggest readings, and provide additional resources to help you as you continue your AI journey. 

Upcoming #AIChat Information:

Topic: Defining the Affirmative Topic    

Don't ask questions just to ask questions. Make sure they are the right questions http://fb.me/1xCAmgWUP  

Slow down & enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you'll miss, but also the sense of where you are going & why. --Eddie Cantor  

Did you know there's More to Life Than Being Happy? Like finding meaning, purpose and passion http://fb.me/1TgtAEoQb  

POEM: What makes a genius? http://fb.me/1RMqrTrpm  

Mindfulness: an antidote for workplace A.D.D. -- written by Daniel Goleman, EQ researcher http://fb.me/YpySUEpl  

Whole Systems Healing - Interview with Diana Whitney  

Description: An interview with Diana Whitney about Whole Systems Healing and Appreciative Inquiry.

Appreciative Inquiry in the Working Place 

Description: Prof. John Hayes discusses Appreciative Inquiry and its use in the workplace.  

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Description: An interesting look at what motivates us as told through a short animated drawing.

Using AI with Young Employees with High Staff Turnover

I'm working with a department where they have young and non-college degree (high school mainly) employees. The company is struggling about the high turnover about this level employees and they need help about this. Help! 

We invite you to join our LinkedIn Group called "Discovering Appreciative Inquiry". It is an open group that allows participants to ask questions and share stories in regards to AI. All are welcome!

To view a list of our webinar recordings, please click here.