Question

1- Think of a problem situation you would like to change at work, at school, or at home and describe how you would frame the topic and approach the change using appreciative inquiry.

2-How could you increase the number of novel and useful solutions you come up with to solve this problem?

Answer 1

The employees at the office canteen are not following all the measures required to maintain cleanliness in the kitchen. This should be changed because thousands of people have food and even a lightest of mistake can lead to a disaster. So I would frame this topic as creating an awareness of cleanliness at the workplace. I would write a blog about how dedicated the employees that are working in the kitchen and how they struggle every day in prepare tasty for thousands of company employees. I would share this blog on the company communication platform so that it reaches everyone in the company. Then I will work with the company admin team and then take the initiative of creating an awareness among the employees of the cleanliness and create a checklist of the actions need to be taken by all the employees including the chefs. I will create a separate section for the kitchen and share the checklist with the head of the kitchen and request him to make his team members follow those steps for better safety. If the memo goes from the admin team, then they will not take it offensively and we can expect them to make the required changes after that.

I can increase the number of novel and useful solutions to solve this problem by brainstorming and thinking how I can approach this problem. Brainstorming with a group of people will be even more effective. The other option would be to write an email to the admin department of the company with observations made and request them to take the required actions to solve the problem. I can talk to the employees working in the kitchen and understand their mindset first. Identfiy the problems they are facing and what are the barriers to follow the best practices. Based on this analysis, I can find the solution that can help both the people working int he kitchen and also the company.