We all need to take some time to develop and refine our skills in order to meet the needs of the world in which we operate and invest in ourselves. A few months ago, we attended two days of Appreciative Inquiry – which sits beautifully with my own cultural beliefs on how we should operate. These two days gave me an insight into how we can all make slight adjustments or blend new skills into how we currently operate. The opportunity presented itself to attend a further three days with likeminded people to allow this practice to become more ingrained into my DNA.

All my life I have felt like the proverbial fish, swimming against the tide, as my thoughts are often at odds with other people – but that does not make me wrong. It makes me different or maybe a pioneer, but one thing is for sure, I am resilient and believe passionately about how we should act and how business should operate. My philosophy has always been that people should be your number one priority and the environment you create to allow people to flourish is critical. These three days were going to energise me and confirm my philosophy is correct and that I am on the right track, but we can all learn from each other and see new ways to deliver the message.

There is so much learning and I owe a great debt of gratitude to my colleagues at AQuA for the invitation to join them, along with my new friends Jane, Ann, Gemma and tutors Suzanne, Tim and David. There was so much exciting information and new ways of approaching situations to bring about much improved results when we open our eyes to new opportunities and allow ourselves to dream. The philosophy is so simple yet so many people find it difficult to implement; we need to create a safe place to trust our instincts and be allowed to make great things happen every day. We all know happy people deliver better results, so why do we drown people with negativity when we could focus on the positive and create the aspirations to deliver the dream?

Allow yourself the luxury to see things with new eyes and a clear focus on the positive and what could be achieved if we dared to dream, creating the vision and values to achieve the dream. What can you do now to make a positive difference? Learn from excellence and build on it; real change begins with the first question we ask, so choose the question carefully. People, Teams and Organisations move in the direction of the questions they ask, the stories they tell and the images of the future they create. Where does your story start and end? Take baby steps, ask yourself what is working well and why? Create spaces of fresh thinking, uplift your individuals, your team, your organisation and generate different, exciting ways to act.