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= SOAR = SOAR is a strengths-based framework for strategic thinking, planning, conversations, and leading that focuses on Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results. The SOAR approach is also distinguished by the inclusion of a wide variety of stakeholders as a way to understand the whole system. SOAR creates the platform for those conversations to take place, which in turn nurtures the relationships while people discover how their joint efforts benefit themselves and other stakeholders - and ultimately the performance of the organization.

SOAR’s simple beginnings:
Discovering capacity to thrive and grow: In 1998, Dr. Stavros’ dissertation proposed a social handle for building an organization's future utilizing AI with the subtitle: Your Organizations Driving Force is People. This capacity-building system illustrates how organizations can have thankful and request based discussions to see where they are (mission), where they wish to go (vision), who they are (values) and how to construct capacity (at a person, organizational, multi-organizational or global levels) and power to flourish and develop. The organizations in the study were part of the Global Excellence in Management(GEM) Initiative. The nature of the capacity building is multilevel, There is no one formula for success - a framework must be flexible, dynamic, and able to integrate with other approaches, Capacity building is relational - dialogue and collaboration build trust and shared objectives, Capabilities must be identified to start and support the capacity building process, beginning with those in the system, Capacity building results in participatory learning processes for those involved, Appreciative Inquiry facilitates capacity building.

First Application of SOAR Framework:
In 2000, following the publication of Dr. Stavros's dissertation, the Capacity Building, and Capabilities framework was re-worked into the SOAR framework by David L. Cooperrider and Lynn Kelley. The SOAR framework was first applied by Lynn Kelley when she was vice-president of strategy for a large holding company overseeing manufacturing plants around the world. The key to guiding a strategic conversation was inviting stakeholders into the strategic planning process.

What is the SOAR Framework?
The SOAR framework improves strategic thinking, planning, conversations, and leadership by using a generative approach to elicit strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and measurable outcomes in order to shape a preferred future, allowing for positive changes in strategies, structures, business models, systems, people, and processes. SOAR has been compared to the traditional SWOT diagnostic study, which focuses on vulnerabilities and threats and diverts corporate resources away from strengths and opportunities. Rather, SOAR is a whole-system, conversation-based approach to OD that uses generative dialogue and interactive communication to focus energy on objectives and outcomes.

Through the use of generative questions meant to harness the ability for positive change through stories and dialogues about what works and organizational views from important stakeholders, the SOAR framework alters strategic thinking, planning, conversations, and leadership. SOAR-based generative questions encourage introspection and diverse thinking, active listening, and cooperation among stakeholders, allowing them to reinterpret reality in new and creative.

Positive organizational scholarship (POS):
Positive organizational scholarship (POS) has affected the social sciences since 2003. It is a corpus of studies that focuses on the positive states of persons in organizational life. This research places attention on enablers (e.g., strengths), motivators (e.g., aspirations and opportunities), and outcomes (e.g., results) found that the POS research is focused on describing, explaining, and predicting what types of thinking and behaving are associated with the best of what can be. Positive psychology, community psychology, Appreciative Inquiry (Al), and organizational development have all contributed to the creation of the POS branch of research. Positive psychology focuses on positive characteristics and experiences.

This branch of research tries to understand what human situations (strengths) and potential represent at their finest (opportunities). According to a recent McKinsey and Company research, capability development programs that focus on what individuals do well (strengths) and enable methods for them to learn more and perform even better (opportunities) may generate continuous improvement, productivity, and organizational change. This is accomplished through the use of a "well-designed program to encourage productive behavior and skills [that] may not only invigorate a company's staff but also become a key component of any successful organization change".

Positive emotions arising from a focus on strengths and possibilities increase the success of an individual's and a team's performance in organizations, according to research. According to a McKinsey Quarterly survey of 1,300 global executives, the greatest performing organizations have a defined purpose, a grasp of strengths, shared goals, and leaders who know how to release ideas (opportunities) through a result-driven process. Positive leadership enhances corporate success as well as individual physiological health and wellbeing, according to POS empirical research.

Organization development (OD):
Organization development (OD) is another subject that was built on behavioral elements of leading transformation and change, particularly with a focus on Al. Al is a strengths-based philosophy with an organizational transformation method that capitalizes on the strengths of the organization's positive core. It was founded in the late 1980s by Case Western Reserve University thought leaders David Cooperrider and Ron Fry. Al focuses on the finest in individuals, companies, and the world around them. Furthermore, it has evolved into an effective theory and practice for transformation and changes through the use of generative questions that may result in good images, positive behaviors, and positive results in human systems in companies.

A wide amount of empirical research has revealed that Al induces upward spirals of good feelings in people and organizations, increasing appreciative behaviors, psychological well-being, capital, and safety. All research indicates high-performing workers that are more cheerful and have natural strengths, ask appreciative questions, and are more focused on helping others

Appreciative Inquiry (AI):
SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results), a strengths-based framework for strategic thinking, planning, dialogues, and leadership that incorporates the theory and practice of POS, positive psychology, and Al, is a similar construct to Al. SOAR makes use of two Al practices: generating questioning and positive framing. SOAR has been used by practitioners in the past as a framework for developing strategic capacity, psychological capacity, and organizational resilience at the individual, team, and organizational levels; however, its use in empirical research has been limited due to the lack of a reliable and valid SOAR measure.

What is AI?
Appreciative inquiry (AI) is a method for involving stakeholders in self-directed transformation. "The appreciative inquiry model". In E.H. Kessler, (ed.) Encyclopedia of Management Theory, Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a method for studying and changing social systems (groups, organizations, and communities) that advocates collective inquiry into the best of what is in order to imagine what could be, followed by the collective design of a compelling desired future state that does not require the use of incentives, coercion, or persuasion.

How AI is different from SOAR?
AI is a strengths-based philosophy with an organizational change approach that builds on the strengths of what is giving life to the organization—its positive core. It was co-created by its thought-leaders David Cooperrider and Ron Fry from Case Western Reserve University in the late 1980s. The finest in individuals, their organizations, and the relevant environment around them is the focus of AI. Additionally, via the use of generative questions that may lead to good images, positive behaviors, and positive results in human systems and companies, it has become an effective theory and practice for transformation and change. AI promotes upward spirals of good feelings in individuals and organizations, increasing appreciative behaviors, psychological wellness, capital, and safety, according to a substantial body of empirical data. High-performing employees, according to an AI study, are more positive and strengths-based in nature, ask appreciative questions and are more focused on helping others.

SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results) is a strengths-based framework for strategic thinking, planning, discussions, and leadership that incorporates POS, positive psychology, and AI theory and practice. SOAR leverages the two AI practices of generative questions and positive framing. While SOAR has been used by practitioners for over two decades as a framework for developing strategic capacity, psychological capacity, and resilience at the individual, team, and organizational level, its application in empirical research has been limited due to the lack of a reliable and valid SOAR measure. SOAR enhances strategic thinking, planning, conversations, and leading through a generative approach to inquire into strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and measurable results to shape a preferred future allowing for positive changes in strategies, structures, business models, systems, people, and processes.

Measurement
A measuring tool's measurement invariance is a logical condition for evaluating substantive hypotheses such as the mean difference between groups or effects across groups. In the ESEM best-fitting model, we investigated the measurement invariance of the SOAR Scale across gender, age, and education groups. While the SOAR Scale was not age-invariant, scalar invariance was shown across gender and was totally invariant between education groups. Thus, the SOAR Scale may be used to investigate relevant variations in SOAR components across individuals with varying levels of education, but more study is needed to investigate the SOAR Scale's measurement invariance across gender and age.

The SOAR framework has been implemented in a variety of settings:
To implement SOAR many things took place within, a classic example is the VISA corporation. David Cooperrider observed that the success of VISA was due to strategic conversations that were "accomplished one conversation at a time with persons, teams, both small and large systems meetings, every organization and every life's destiny is a series of defining moments" while working with Dee Hock, the founder of VISA corporation. Cooperrider said, "our organizational life and the lives of others grow or flounder one interaction at a time". Dee Hock was regarded as the "six-trillion-dollar guy" during his time as VISA's CEO. Today, VISA handles about $11 trillion in transactions. At the age of 91, he is still researching and writing on [http://www.deewhock.com/#as-i-see-it. "How to take care of stakeholders while building a successful organization.”]

The United States Army — Team Detroit Arsenal, comprised of eighteen separate capability teams and over 1,800 engineers, program managers, and technical professionals, envisioned engineers and technical professionals working more cooperatively.

In June 2009, an initial team of 120 stakeholders came together to ask the following questions:


 * What are the strengths of Team Detroit Arsenal (those capabilities that can be shared and built upon)?
 * What are opportunities for collaboration for the whole organization and within each capability team?
 * What does Team Detroit Arsenal care deeply about? What does your capability team care deeply about (aspirations)?
 * What does a collaborative culture look like? How do we know we are succeeding at collaboration (results)?

The Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ: SOAR was initially intended to be used in conjunction with the Al 5D cycle (Define, Discover, Dream, Design, and Destiny) or the 51 cycles (Initiate, Inquire, Imagine, Innovate and Implement). It is only a matter of preference whether we use 5Ds or 51s. We've seen how scalable and adaptable the framework is over time; there is no one proper way to use SOAR.

The constant in employing SOAR is to start from a position of strength. This allows individuals to interact with others while also creating new opportunities and pictures of the future. Inclusion and the use of generative questions promote forward movement and have a positive impact on the well-being of stakeholders and the health of the organization.

As a result, SOAR's continuous aim is to steer a strategic dialogue for change or innovation or to build a strategic plan. For example, in March 2020, Reverend Dr. Bill Lyons, Conference Minister and CEO of the Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ, and his leadership team planned a strategic planning workshop for 70 laypeople and clergy from 46 congregations and two faith communities' organizations.

Implementing a Quick SOAR: Over the last 10 years, they've discovered that SOAR can function independently of a 5D or 51 methods. Authors presented Quick SOAR in the 2009 Thin Book of SOAR: strategic dialogues that may be arranged for sixty minutes to four hours to establish a strategy to handle an issue, challenge, or opportunity.

If a person searches the term "strategic," they will find 484,000,000+ results. Strategic, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, "is an adjective that indicates 'helping to realize a strategy, such as in business or politics.'" Sue Barrett has investigated many meanings of the term "strategic" that are compatible with SOAR. She discovered four requirements for strategic thinking.


 * The organization looks at how things are and should be done from the outside (in other words, they base their techniques and operations on outside observations of what buyers desire).
 * The organization is proactive: rather than waiting for events to compel them to change, strategic organizations make things happen.
 * Everything is in sync: the entire company, not just one or two departments, is on board with the trip.
 * Everyone involved is committed to an inspiring vision and purpose.

Doctoral Research on SOAR: