What is Appreciative Inquiry

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is both an organizational change model and an action learning practice that generates positive organizational change, employee engagement, and innovation at the speed of imagination.  AI derives from the social constructionist paradigm, which says: we co-create our cultures and organizational systems through conversation and shared meaning-making. With this in mind, the practice of AI generates collaborative learning at many levels within an organization.

Practitioners of AI are guided by the following principles:

1.  The Constructionist Principle: we co-construct our worlds through langugage and shared meaning-making

2. The Principle of Simultaneity: Change happens the moment we ask the question or make the statement.

3. The Anticipatory Principle: We move in the direction of the images we carry and the questions we ask.  We create what we anticipate.

4.  The Poetic Principle: There are many stories in any organization. The cultural story we tell depends upon where we place our focus of attention and on the questions we ask.

5.  The Generative Principle: The more positive and generative the question and the more positive the image, the more positive the action.

Significant research to date in positive psychology and bio-psycho-social-neurophysiology (the interplay between the brain and nervous system and behavior and culture) indicates that we move in the direction of the questions we ask and where we place our focus and attention. AI, advises us to study and focus on what is of value and what will generate value in relationship to our shared visions and strategic objectives. Given the significant importance of “the question”, carefully crafted inquiry designed to surface knowledge that will help organizations achieve their goals is a hallmark of AI.

There is a wealth of information on the internet about AI. For practical information:

Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination by Jane McGruder Watkin and Bernard Mohr

Dynamic Relationships: Unleashing the Power of AI in Daily Living, by Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres

The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change, by Diana Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom

The Appreciative Inquiry Commons This is the main AI website at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University