From Collective Intelligence to Collective Action: Unlocking the Power of the Whole System with Luc Verheijen

Who’s Inspiring Impacts today? Luc Verheijen! Luc Verheijen is a Partner at Kessels and Smit, The Learning Company in Belgium. In this episode, Luc speaks with host Dr. Lindsey Godwin about how to use Appreciative Inquiry and learning networks to address challenges, improve performance, and create energized workplace environments.

Luc emphasizes the power of storytelling and leading with questions instead of answers, noting how different questions can lead to different realities. He describes how to use appreciative inquiry in large groups and learning networks to foster collective intelligence and inspiring impacts.

Luc Verheijen is a Consultant and Partner at Kessels and Smit, where he focused on process guidance, appreciative inquiry, leadership, organizational and social development, and positive education. He believes that if we can change the conversations, then the organization changes.

Episode Highlights:

• How Luc utilizes an appreciative inquiry approach to work with large groups and bring diverse views together to tackle challenges head-on.
• Collective Intelligence: When people come together around a shared purpose, they can take on challenges and create positive impacts far beyond what they could do alone.
• The power of the question: “Whose voice do we need to hear at this moment?”
• AI learning networks to learn about and apply appreciative inquiry to a large group’s work around a shared topic.
• What does it look like for people participating in a tourism-focused appreciative inquiry learning network? What’s been the biggest impact of the learning network?
• How to bring feuding companies together through appreciative inquiry.
• Advice for using appreciative inquiry: AI itself is the learning. It’s a tool for continuous discovery.

Resources Mentioned:

Kessels and Smit: https://www.kessels-smit.com

AI Practitioner - International Journal of Appreciative Inquiry: https://aipractitioner.com

“Appreciative Inquiry as a Daily Leadership Practice” by Luc Verheijen, Saskia Tjempkema, & Joeri Kabalt: https://www.amazon.com/Appreciative-Inquiry-Daily-Leadership-Practice/dp/193855275X

Inspiring Quotes:

“Every participant who joins and learns about AI, we get tens and tens of projects using AI to support the mission of everyone deserves a holiday and we strengthen the interrelationships between all these network parts.”

“For me, the essence is a practice of inquiry, a practice of being curious every and each time, again and to see the wonder in everything you meet during a day.”

What is Appreciative Inquiry?

Appreciative Inquiry, sometimes referred to as “the other AI”, is one of the best kept secrets behind meaningful and lasting change at organizations. The AI approach is strength-based, meaning it focuses on identifying and leveraging successes to solve problems, rather than focusing on trying to fix individual failures.

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