Appreciating Systems

I just stumbled on this PDF document from PeaceCorps of  An NGO Training Guide for Volunteers that features Appreciative Inquiry as a way to develop NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations).

You might be interested in their whole online library.

Other interesting resources include (check out because you might be interested in other stuff!)

• Participatory Analysis for Community Action (PACA) Training Manual (ICE M0053) (looks like a strength-based approach, no?)
• Promoting Powerful People: A Process for Change (ICE T0104) (how about relating this to Positive Deviance?)
• Roles of the Volunteer in Development: Toolkits for Building Capacity (ICE T0005) (teaching people to fish rather than giving them fish. Excellent! Also a way to avoid falling in the “Shifting the Burden” systems archetypes where people become addicted to help)

Aren’t these nice printouts for Christmas? )

Merry Christmas!

Go check this empowering video available here (and maybe the corresponding book also).

Simon greatly explains that people don’t buy what you do or how you do it, but why you do it.  He also explains that you need to have this in mind in order to cross the chasm to get the vast majority of your niche buy your product.

I’ve just found a list of Lean Accounting Books on Amazon.com that I’m passing around for those interested.

I have and read “Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization“ by Jean E. Cunningham which I found good, but, being an IT person, I’m not really versed in this stuff.

Besides, I came to know about “Direct Value Added”, a new way of doing accounting which seems promising when valuing a company with respect to continuous improvement initiatives. Unfortunately, information about this (“Valeur Ajoutée Directe“) seems to be only available in french (on www.vadway.com). Yet I found an english paper about DVA here (written by a french person), but it’s a paying paper.

There’s a wonderful list of Systems Thinking books on Pegasus Communications blog.

Go check if you haven’t yet!

10 Favorite Systems Thinking Books of the Past 10 Years (Or So).

(Thanks to Janice Molloy for putting up this list).