ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the experience of developing and implementing the pilot program that reveals implications for Positive Organizational Scholarship theory and research. Looking at the diversity training programs available to Council of Michigan Foundation's members in 2010, many antiracism curricula are focused on eradicating negative behaviors. One foundation went on to provide a grant to the state of Michigan to engage cabinet members and members of the governor's executive office in Intercultural Development Continuum (IDI) testing and customized training built on the Appreciative Inquiry approach. Milton Bennett's IDI plots five stages from denial to adaptation that reflect an increasingly complex understanding of cultural differences. Participants noted that Appreciative Inquiry and the developmental model offered by the IDI assessment provided a common method and language for discussing cultural differences. Day-long seminars brought participating teams from family, community, and private foundations across the state together to complete and discuss developmental exercises and report on their action learning projects.
