SOAR, Appreciative Inquiry, and Strengths-Based approaches to Organization Development: A Conversation with Jackie Stavros‪.‬ Chatting About Change with Dr. Jim Maddox

My guest this episode is Jackie Stavros, keynote speaker, professor, consultant, author, and creator of the SOAR methodology. Dr. Stavros shares how she developed the SOAR methodology, which has revolutionized strategic planning and organization development, by bringing to the forefront a strengths-based approach to guiding strategy and organizational change.  Jackie offers practical tips on how to successfully use the SOAR approach and how to facilitate conversations that create the space for organizations to create their own futures and grow and improve.  She also shares ideas from her latest book, “Conversations Worth Having:  Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement”.  We discuss the key distinctions between mechanistic systems and human systems and the crucial role that engaging people in conversations plays in addressing human centered challenges.  At the heart of this is the notion of dialogue and dialogic organization development.