Imagine an anxious leader scanning the Internet for solutions to the problems she faces. Revenue is down and cuts are looming. Morale is low, backbiting is high. Meetings seem pointless when promises are made yet rarely kept. And to top it off, she keeps losing her Internet connection.

What’s a leader to do amid so many problems? The answer may seem counterintuitive: Pay attention to what’s working.

Appreciative practices are habits, rituals and exercises that help leaders focus on resources near at hand for individual and organizational growth. Appreciative practices reframe challenging situations by inviting questions of a different sort than the standard “How do we fix it?”

Appreciative practices include:

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY: The basic question in this practice is “What’s working?” The practice invites reflection on peak moments, then taps the knowledge and energy embedded in these moments to elicit further commitment and improvement. The practice can be used in large-scale system work and strategic planning; it can provide the framework for a staff meeting or serve as the hand-off in a shift change; it is also suited to one-on-one coaching and performance review.

Example: A team wants to improve its communications. Appreciative Inquiry invites the team to reflect first on when it has communicated well. Then the team uses that knowledge to challenge itself to communicate even better.

PIGGYBACK: The basic question in this practice is “What’s already moving?” The practice is about identifying and riding the momentum of a separate yet related initiative, trend, or idea in order to accomplish your objective. The practice is integral to smart marketing and good program development. It’s almost always wisest to use energy already moving in your direction.

Example: A retirement community wants to increase its Internet presence, but it’s short on staff. However, a number of residents use the Internet for research and to share stories and photos with family and friends. Piggybacking would be to ride this resident enthusiasm for the Internet.

PARLAY: The basic question in this practice is “What do we have that can attract what we need?” The practice is about identifying your assets that others require in order to attract those resources which you need. The practice is useful for planning, resource development, and partnership development.

Example: A residential treatment facility has a stage and small auditorium that it rarely uses AND it wants to increase special programming for its youth. A local theater company needs space AND it has the skills to teach acting. Voila! A perfect partnership.

THE BIG PICTURE: The basic question in this practice is “What’s stirring in here and out there?” The practice invites participants to sketch pictures or symbols that capture the context for their organization. By requesting pictures of “things that energize you” and “things that concern you,” the practice elicits key issues on the minds of participants and measures the emotional weight they give to these things. The practice is useful to kick off a planning session or to get a team to lift its eyes toward the larger horizon of the organization, community or market.

Example: The senior leaders of an organization have been extremely busy in recent months, buried in detail, putting out fires in their departments, revising budgets, and preparing reports for the upcoming board meeting. It’s hard to see the forest for the trees. At its next meeting, the management team uses the Big Picture practice for 15 minutes to pause and catch its breath. (Drawing with crayons has this effect!) The leaders show each other what larger forces are driving all their busyness and discern where they really want to invest energy. The simple pictures are powerful: they demystify issues and capture the spirit of opportunities. And the pictures become important interpretive keys. The leaders refer to these shared images as their meeting progresses, for the pictures on the wall are now handy hooks for mutual understanding.

EXAMEN: The basic question in this practice is “What energizes us and what drains us?” The practice, developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola in the 16th century, is useful for closing a meeting. Participants are invited to reflect on their time together, to note when they felt energized and when they were drained, then to reflect on what this flow of energy suggests about the group and about them personally. The practice is also useful for one-on-one coaching and performance review.

Example: A team comes to the end of a long but important meeting. Something has transpired here that is as critical as the list of next steps. There were moments when people seem engaged and other moments when the energy left the room. If the team could name this, it might leave with another level of learning, with greater appreciation for each other and deeper awareness of themselves. A leader takes five minutes before closing to ask the participants to recall the meeting, to notice when they were energized, to notice when they were drained, and to consider what this flow of energy suggests about the group and about them personally. The leader invites brief responses from those willing to share, then closes with a word of thanks for participants’ investment of energy.

It goes without saying that appreciative practices take practice. That’s because these are not the habits typically cultivated by leaders. Amid so many challenges, leaders feel the urgency and the weight of expectations that they will “fix things” or “make things happen.” It takes effort to resist these pressures and lead another way.

But the time and intention required to develop these new habits is well worth it. Leaders will come upon good work that’s already underway. And they will discover energy not of their own making, energy that’s essential to sustain individual and organizational growth.