Caryn Vanstone Consulting

admin July 27th, 2007

“Appreciative Inquiry is, in my view, an exciting breakthrough, one that signals a change in the way we think about change. I’m intrigued by how rapidly it is emerging: but it is something substantive, conceptually strong, not like quick fads. In my view we are looking at something important – AI will be of enduring consequence and energizing innovation for the field. That’s my prediction.”

Richard Beckhard, US National Academy of Management, 1999

Appreciative Inquiry can be defined as the art of discovering and valuing those factors that “give life” to an organisation, group or individual – those things that support and enable the best examples of peak performance.

It is more than a method; it is a philosophy, or a way of thinking, which leads to a new way of working together – one which is not centred on eradicating the causes of deficit and problems.

It is possible to start from the position of a problem – an issue that an individual or company wishes to address (poor customer retention, absenteeism, lack of confidence are examples). Rather than avoiding or repressing the issue (as Positive Thinking might do for example) in AI we seek to improve the situation by finding, expanding and amplifying the real (potentially few) examples of “getting it right”, rather than attempting to solve the reasons underpinning the (potentially many and varied) occasions of “getting it wrong”. By inquiring into the conditions and relationships that enable “right” to happen, the group or individual can then start to imitate, adopt and expand those occasions. We don’t avoid the problem, we simply inquire into it from “the other side”.

From this process new possibilities for action and experimentation start to emerge in the present. The change isn’t put off until the perfect plan for the future is designed, it starts to happen as people change behaviours naturally.

AI works by “crowding out” poor experience with new stories and experiences of what the individual or group wish to have more of. In effect, we get more of whatever we inquire into and talk about (so let’s make it something we want more of, not what we want less of!!).

Working with AI

“AI involves, in a central way, the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to apprehend, anticipate and heighten positive potential. It centrally involves the mobilisation of inquiry through the crafting of the ’unconditional positive question’ often involving hundreds and sometimes thousands of people.”

In this quote, David Cooperrider refers to the two key shifts in AI:

• the shift from problem solving to appreciation (described above)

• and a shift from advocacy to inquiry.

This second shift is often just as challenging a change in our personal and organisational lives as is the change from problem solving to appreciation. In organisations, our ability to influence, articulate and present answers is generally more prized than our ability to listen and ask great questions.

To “live” AI well, we need to examine and challenge our own need to appear knowledgeable and in control and be prepared to share “power” (decision making, focus and experimentation) with others. We have to give up the idea that we can design the “destination” of our change, before we start. Rather we discover the potential of the future as it emerges in our practice in the present.

Methodology

Various methods and formal structures have developed over the last 20 years to support Barrett and Cooperrider’s original AI proposition. Perhaps the best known is the 5D cycle.

Whilst this process methodology is very helpful, in my experience AI is also very powerful when it is allowed to spread virally through ongoing iterations of inquiry, without the heavy infrastructure associated with many projects. By liberating people’s capacity to converse and spread real and positive stories, topics change and evolve and take on a life of their own, so very little intervention can lead to dramatic shifts over time.

As a consultant, I am working with many individuals and organisations around the world to apply AI philosophy to complex change initiatives. There is much still to learn and discover, as David Cooperrider himself acknowledges.. “we have only just begun..”

 

 

 

This introduction has been created using a wide variety of resources – drawing on the many published works of the following people:

Dr David Cooperrider Dr Frank Barrett Bernard Watkins

Jane Magruder-Watkins Diana Whitney Adrian McLean

Thank you to everyone for their generosity.

• Comments(0)