APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY IN PRACTICE:

IMAGINING A BRIGHT FUTURE

Pepperdine University
Graziadio School of Business & Management
 Workshop Agenda
• Learn about the theory and practice of
Appreciative Inquiry (AI).
• Experience an Appreciative Inquiry (AI)
process.
• Design a process for using AI in your
organization.
“Noproblem can be solved from the
same consciousness that created it.
We must learn to see the world
anew.”

Einstein
 WHY
APPRECIATIVE
INQUIRY?
 Processes for Organization Change
Deficit Based “Traditional” Strengths Based “AI”
Identification of Problems Appreciating
“Valuing the Best of what is”

Analysis of Causes
Envisioning
“What might be”
Analysis of Possible
Solutions
Dialoguing
“What should be”
Action Planning
Innovating
“What will be”

Organizations are problems Organizations are possibilities

to be solved to be embraced
 THEORY:
THE FIVE PRINCIPLES OF
APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY
Constructionist Principle
• We look at the world through our own filters.

• We create our reality through the conversations we have.

• What we believe to be true about an organization will affect

the way we act and approach change in that system.
Anticipatory Principle
• We will create what we imagine. We get more of what we look
for.

• The image of a positive future inspires action.

Simultaneity Principle
• Inquiry and change are not separate, but simultaneous.

• The questions we ask set the stage for the things that we find.
The seeds of change are implicit in the very first questions we
ask. Our questions are fateful.
Poetic Principal
• An organization’s story is an open book and is continually being
co-authored by those within and those outside that interact with
it.
• Organizations and communities are full of stories to be
interpreted.
• What seems like a constraint can be the source of resilience and
innovation.
Positive Principle
• We naturally move towards what is inspiring and life giving.
• People, organizations and communities move in the direction of
what we most frequently and systematically ask questions about!
• The more positive the questions the greater and longer lasting the
change.
 PRACTICE:
THE FIVE D CYCLE OF
APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY
The “5-D Cycle” of AI
Discover
“What gives life?”
(The best of what is)
Appreciating

Deliver Define Dream

“How to empower, learn, “What might be?”
“What to learn about; create
and adjust/improvise?” (What is the world calling for)
Sustaining the inquiry process.” Envisioning Results

Design
“What should be - the ideal?”
Co-constructing
DEFINE:
Choose The Positive as the Focus of Inquiry
Healthy organizations begin the process of change
by inquiring about and building upon the positive
aspects of its people and their experience.

Building on the positive leads the organization to

focus on what it does well and to create an image
of a future based on its own best practices and
highest values.
DISCOVER:
Uncover Meaning & Purpose Through Story Telling
Appreciative Inquiry begins with a conversation in
which people share stories about those things within
the organization that they value – things they want to
expand and extend in the future.

People identify the themes that connect with their

most deeply held beliefs and values.
DREAM:
Create Shared Images of a Preferred Future
Building on the themes that emerge through these
conversations, people in the organization create both
a visual image and a written statement describing
how the organization would look and feel at its best.

These shared images act as a guide for creating the

organization’s preferred future.
DESIGN:
Innovate Ways to Create That Preferred Future
Organizations identify specific action steps to take
individually or in groups.

These action steps are specific, concrete, and do-able,

designed to move the organization toward its
preferred future.

The steps may be small and incremental, building on

each other, or link to larger, more encompassing
actions.
DELIVER:
Find Ways to Align to the Desired Future
To complete the circle, the whole organization begins to
innovate to align the organization’s structure with the
proposed socio-technical architecture that came out of
the Dream and the Design phases.

At the same time, this phase focuses on building AI

learning competencies into the system so that the AI
process is imbedded in the fabric of the organization and
becomes “the way we do our work.”
Ready to Practice?