Asset Based Thinking

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Asset Based Thinking

• A concept closely aligned with
• Appreciative Inquiry

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Two Approaches to Change/Innovation

• PROBLEM BASED
• identify problem
• conduct analysis
• brainstorm solutions
• develop action plan

• ASSET BASED
• appreciate What is
• imagine What might be
• determine What should be
• create What will be

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Just think what could be possible if people
focused their attention on

• Opportunities rather than problems
• Strengths more than weaknesses
• What can be done instead of what cant

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• When you decrease your focus on what is wrong
  (deficit-based thinking) and increase your focus
  on what is right (asset-based thinking), you
  build enthusiasm and energy, strengthen
  relationships, and move people and productivity
  to the next level.

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What Asset-Based Thinking Is

• A concrete, cognitive process aimed at
  identifying the assets that are immediately
  available in yourself, other people, and any
  situation
• In the light of opportunity, it blocks out
  distractions and creates a focal point of
  concentration and high energy that keeps you
  alert and inspired

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What Asset-Based Thinking Is Not

• Not blind optimism or magical thinking
• Not a quick fix
• Not based on theory alone..but on direct
  observation of a growing minority of highly
  effective and satisfied people
• Not just positive thinking or attitude . but a
  call for positive action

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What Deficit-Based Thinking Is

• A concentration on personal gaps and weaknesses,
  what is bothersome and irritating about others,
  and what is not working, problematic and holding
  us back
• It shows us the problem from a negative angle so
  we are able to solve or eliminate whatever
  impedes success

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• Deficit-based thinking comes naturally because
  the human nervous system is hard wired to be more
  sensitive to signals of impending danger than to
  signals of opportunity
• Even though deficit-based thinking protects us
  under dire circumstances, it may begin to
  dominate our thinking

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• A steady diet of defict-based thinking may lead
  to depletion in energy, and expectations of
  problems and disappointment
• Defict-based thinking may begin to cloud or
  perceptions, blind us to possibilities, and limit
  our options

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Asset-Based Thinking

• Calls for small shifts in the way we absorb,
  perceive, filter, and interpret
• Changes the way we see things, leading to
  improvement in the way we live
• Zeros in on whats working rather than whats not
  and favors inspiration and aspiration over
  desperationand it is infectious

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• Find your fall partner. Have a conversation
  
• What might a healthy balance of
• Deficit-Based and Asset-Based
• Thinking look like?

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• You are invited to plan for your personal
  professional growth from a positive perspective
• consider your strengths, not
• just your weaknesses
• identify your curiosities and your
• passions

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• You are invited to consider developing a
  joint Professional Growth Plan, where you work
  with a partner
• meaning is socially constructed
• learning with a partner can challenge
  thinking,
• and extend and deepen understanding
• partner work can increase motivation and
• accountability

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• Joint Professional Growth Plans
• are co-authored by two partners
• have partners who share the same
• goals, rationale, objectives, and
• resources
• may have individual differences in
• strategy and evaluation

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Vision

• Values, vision, and purpose are the foundation
  of the schools culture and are crucial to the
  kind of purposeful optimism that characterizes
  hope.
• (Hulley Dier, 2005)

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• Organizations without a view of reality may
  stumble along for a while but will never succeed.
  Organizations without vision remain mere
  organizations, surviving but not living, hitting
  temporary targets but not moving toward
  potential.
• (DePree, 2003)

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• We can teach ourselves to see things they way
  they are. Only with vision can we begin to see
  things the way they can be.
• (DePree, 2003)

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• Effective educational leaders play a critical
  role. They connect with others in ways that
  enrich and energize, demonstrate clarity of
  thought regarding values and beliefs, commitment
  to a compelling purpose, the magnet-like force of
  richly detailed vision of that which we desire to
  create, and sustain motivation by an expanded
  set of possibilities.
• (Sparks, 2005)

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Crafting a Personal Vision Statement

• 1. Clarify your core professional values.
• 2. Imagine what our schools would look
• like if they were living these values.
• 3. Draft your vision statement.

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• Find your winter partner. Walk and talk.
• Share your personal vision statement.

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• How different our lives are when we really know
  what is deeply important to us, and, keeping that
  picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to
  be and do what really matters.
• (Steven Covey)