It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.
This sets the stage for adaptive (new approaches for new issues) solutions as opposed to technical solutions (we’ll do what we’ve always done, but do it better, faster, stronger). But first, the community must be on board, not divided. Then the focus becomes how to improve what has worked in the past and take it into future endeavors, while setting new directions and dreams. This is step pattern of Appreciative Inquiry –
Discovery-mobilizing an entire system towards positive change
Dream-creating a clear results-oriented vision in relation to discovered potential and in relation to questions of higher purpose, i.e., “What is the world calling us to become?”
Design-creating possibility propositions of the ideal organization, an organization design which people feel is capable of magnifying or eclipsing the positive core and realizing the articulated new dream.
Destiny-strengthening the affirmative capability of the whole system enabling it to build hope and momentum around a deep purpose and creating processes for learning, adjustment, and improvisation. (http://www.12manage.com/methods_cooperrider_appreciative_inquiry.html)
Granted, this is an ambitious approach for use with an organizational structure as big and ossified as a federal government, but the approach we’ve been using hasn’t actually been working so well lately. Capital Hill runs like a well-rusted machine in terms of serving the needs of people on the ground back home in Realworldville, so if this is in fact in any way the conscious approach Obama is taking, it wouldn’t just be refreshing, it would be progressive beyond the progressives’ dreams.
