Caryn Vanstone Consulting

admin June 18th, 2007

I first came across Appreciative Inquiry in 97 whilst studying the Ashridge Masters in Organisation Consulting. Since then, it has become thoroughly embedded in my work with clients.

For me, Appreciative Inquiry is a philosophy more than a methodology - a way of thinking that makes the following assumptions about change:

• We get more of what we focus on and talk about with each other - which means that we should be careful when creating the central “topics” for our change programmes and experiments. Even with the best of intent, when we try to solve (for example) poor customer service through hosting increasingly in-depth meetings and analyses about the causes of poor customer service, we unintentionally further embed those practices as normal “ways of working round here”. By seeking improvement through the structured and disciplined inquiry into the best examples of customer service, we can (1) find and extend the causes of “getting it right” and (2) get more examples of great service out into the everyday dialogue of the organisation - which other people then absorb unconsciously. In this way we do not so much eradicate deficit and defect, instead we “crowd it out” by ever increasing experiences of great performance.

• We can only change in the living present by choosing to do, say or think something differently NOW. The result of this change can’t be predicted, but if the shift is positive then it opens up the possibility of a more positive future. Therefore change is not something that is designed in advance by the few and then communicated, “rolled out” or implemented onto the many, it is something that happens naturally as a result of incremental (sometimes radical incremental) shifts in language, stories, relationships and behaviours.

• Conversation and stories are the currencies of organisation culture - in fact it is the very essence of “organising”. From the minute we enter a community (family, organisation, club) we begin to adopt the ways of being that are communicated through the stories, metaphors and language around us. Therefore to affect change in culture, we need to work through the medium of language and stories, and through relationships.

So working with an AI approach means taking on two shifts in thinking:

• The move from “problem solving” to “appreciation”. This means that one of the key tasks at the start of any new project is to explore the presenting change issue (if there is one) and reframe it. This does not mean ignore it - it means working with people to articulate not just the opposite of the problem (reducing sickness reframed to increasing health, eliminating poor customer service reframed to increasing good customer service) but to create a compelling and exciting way of expressing what the client really wants to see more of (eliminating poor customer service reframed and uplifted to being the company that customers are proud to recommend to their friends). This then allows people to find positive examples of where the seeds of this are already happening, and to share these, adopt, extend and grow them.

• The move from “advocacy” to “inquiry”. This means giving up the idea that a few people at the top (or in the consultancy) can design the future in advance. We are used to the idea of journeying towards something. Inquiry not only works differently, but suggests that our tradition of seeing change as a journey towards a fixed destination is an unhelpful metaphor. When we are in “inquiry” mode, we are on a quest with others. We discover the seeds of change, and the application and growth of those ideas and practice in the present, as we go. In some applications of AI we may, at some times, choose to create collective “dreams” about the future, but these are not seen as definite destinations. They are additional, stretching and attractive stimulants that trigger new behaviour and experiments NOW.

AI is used in many different ways, from informal and viral forms of inquiry to structured projects with defined phases. Personally I use many different applications including the large group format often referred to as a “Summit”.

One of the most common structured methods of working with AI is the 5D cycle. This takes an individual, group or whole organisation through 5 steps:

• Definition - the reframing and agreement upon the “topic(s)” for change - the thing(s) that people want to expand, nurture and grow.
• Discovery - appreciative story based questions and inquiry which fosters new relationships, finds and disseminates real exemplars and stories and helps people to gain understanding of the circumstances that lead to these examples of peak performance. This stimulates change immediately, both formally and by “osmosis” as the stories spread.
• Dream - the collective imagination process when groups come together and start to extend the possibilities of their practice beyond even the current best practice examples
• Design - the process of choosing to change things in the present in such a way as to make their dreams and ideals more likely and more sustainable
• Destiny - a commitment to re-inquiry and reflection, to embed and sustain the change and to find new topics for change.

For more information about AI and how it might work for you, please contact me.

This page has the following sub pages.

• Appreciative Inquiry - A Brief Introduction

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