3.3 Hoping
Bushe (2007) draws a direct relationship between hope and the ability to generate a different future, commenting that ‘it is impossible to get people to collectively act to change the future if they don’t have hope [which] to some extent … is born out of discovering … share[d] common images of a better team, organisation or world’ (p. 3). McGowan and Felten (2021), writing about hope in Higher Education, propose that hope is reliant on:
- a sense of personal agency (‘I can change in meaningful ways despite the systems and structures constraining me’)
- a vision of possible pathways (‘I see specific and purposeful steps I can take’).
This hope, they argue, isn’t naïve or fanciful, but it is ‘critical hope’, which Bozalek et al. define as ‘an action-oriented response to contemporary despair’ (in McGowan and Felten, 2021, p. 2). It is worth noting again here the role of emotional responses. Despair is a powerful emotion, but here it is being used to instigate positive action through being hopeful.
Bushe, McGowan and Felten’s arguments not only ask us to be hopeful in inquiry but also are a persuasive argument as to why we, as inquirers, need to develop powerful stories of transformation to bring colleagues and peers along with us. This is something we will explore in Sessions 4 and 5.
Activity 4 Being hopeful
Consider your inquiry topic and respond to the following statements:
a. I can change in meaningful ways despite the systems and structures constraining me. Yes or No?
b. I see specific and purposeful steps I can take. Yes or No?
Comment
If you answered no to either of these questions, spend some time either individually or as a group identifying what would need to change to allow you to be hopeful for the future. Remember, if there is one thing blocking your way that you cannot change, this may involve being imaginative about the steps you can take to build on your positive, existing practices.
In the next section you consider the role of courage and being encouraging within appreciative inquiry.