Lesson 6: What is Appreciative Inquiry?

Appreciative Inquiry

by Joanna Ng

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is the study of what gives life to human systems when they are at their best. It is an organization development methodology based on the assumption that inquiry into and dialogue about strengths, successes, values, hopes and dreams is itself transformational. David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivstva developed Appreciative Inquiry in the 1980s as a variation of action research.

As its name suggests, putting Appreciative Inquiry into practice involves "appreciating" and "inquiring." The "appreciating" component involves creating and keeping a positive mind-set of valuing, affirming, and building on strengths throughout the organization. The "inquiring" component involves asking questions to explore, study, discover and build on new possibilities. Together, they create powerful new relationships and modify organizational transformation. They are integrated in a variety of ways throughout the process.

· The first integration is in choosing a focus—what you want to accomplish. The very first choice in implementing AI is fateful if you apply the AI principle that organizations move toward what they focus on. So whatever you want to accomplish needs to be expressed in an "appreciating" and "inquiring" way so it creates the results you want.

· Appreciative Interviews- These are opportunities for people to tell stories about past high point experiences at work and their dreams for the organization's future. They serve the "appreciating" function because sharing stories builds positive connections between people. They serve the "inquiring" function because they invite exploration of what's working well in the organization and people's hopes for the future. They provide rich data for analysis throughout the rest of the inquiry.

Appreciative Inquiry and Positive Thinking

• Because of its focus on finding that which is life-giving in human systems, AI is often confused with positive thinking
• Positive Thinking is in the mind of the individual
• Ai is rooted in social consrtructionsinm which claims that reality is constructed during the social interactions of people

Appreciative Inquiry: Beyond Problem Solving

Difference between the Traditional OD Process and AI

Traditional OD Process

• Define the problem
• Fix what’s broken
• Work incrementally
• Focus on delay
• What problems are we having?

Appreciative Inquiry

• Search the best practices that already exist
• Amplify what’s working
• Full system, fast cycle change
• Focus on life-giving forces
• What is working well?
• A major component of any AI initiative is making the "mental shift" from focusing on problems to focusing on strengths

Four guiding principles

Describes why making this shift generates more successful and sustainable change.

• Principle 1: Words create worlds—"Reality" is not an objective fact—it is a subjective experience. When we use language in conversations, we are engaging in a process of creating meaning—creating our reality—with others. For example, whether the talk around the water cooler is negative or positive, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• Strategy 1: Identifying your "positive core"—creating a clear image of your strengths and assets as an organization and individually.
  
• Principle 2: Positive images lead to positive action—humans (both organizations and individuals) move toward their images of the future.
• Strategy 2: Dreaming about the future you want to create together—When people see what they want for their own futures in an organizational vision, they are tireless about pursuing it.
  
• Principle 3: Quality relationships are essential to organizational success—more and more, organizational success depends on effective teamwork, honest and clear communication, creativity and innovation, and appropriate leadership among all the relevant players, not just the management team. In short, success depends on quality relationships. Organizations can move mountains when people create quality relationships at and across all levels.
• Strategy 3: Sharing stories to create quality relationships—Hearing someone's story transforms your relationship with him/her. When people talk with others about high points or challenges in their lives, they naturally build empathy, mutuality, respect, trust, and genuineness. In short, they build quality relationships.
  
• Principle 4: Previously hidden possibilities emerge when the entire organization engages in conversations that matter. When all key players (all levels of staff, clients, funders, and other stakeholders) talk in meaningful ways across organizational boundaries, they build quality relationships. As they understand each others' perspectives, alternatives they had never before considered become real possibilities.
• Strategy 4: Bringing all the stakeholders (or representatives) together, face-to-face—Getting everyone in the room at the same time enables people to develop a clear understanding of the whole organizational picture. They make sense of each other's differing perspectives.

Participant

The one consistent principle is that the more stakeholders (including staff, Board, members/clients, relevant community organizations, etc.) participate, the better. This ensures the broadest array of input and the best buy-in to the outcomes. And AI has been successfully implemented with groups ranging in size from 2 to thousands—so no organization is too small or too large!

Why Does Appreciative Inquiry Work?

Appreciative Inquiry works because it treats people like people, and not like machines. People are social. We create our identities and our knowledge in relation to one another. We are curious. We like to tell stories and listen to stories. We pass on our values, beliefs and wisdom in stories. We like to learn and to use what we learn to be our best. And we delight in doing well in the eyes of those we care about and respect. Appreciative Inquiry enables leaders to create natural human organizations – knowledge rich, strength based, adaptable, learning organizations.