| Appreciative
Inquiry
A discpline for positive change.
Appreciative inquiry is based on a reverence for life. It is
an inquiry process that draws out the factors that give life to
our lives and is a way of articulating possibilities that can
lead to a better future. The appreciative mode of inquiry is a
means of taking us deeper in to the essentials of life-generating
potentials.
"Appreciative inquiry is a form of action research that
attempts to create new theories/ideas/images that aid in the
developmental change of a system"
Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987
 The
key innovation of appreciative inquiry is the collection of people's
stories of something at its best. If we are interested in team
development, we collect stories of people's best team experiences.
If we are interested in the development of an organization we
ask about their peak experience in that organization. If enhanced
leadership is our goal, we collect stories of leadership at its
best. These stories are collectively discussed in order to create
new, generative ideas or images that aid in developmental change
of the group discussing them.
A word in favour of Appreciative Inquiry
and stories about what is working:
The opposite of paranoia, Pronoia
is the unshakable conviction that life is a conspiracy to liberate
you from suffering, fill you with joy, and make you really smart
As sweet and exalted as pronoia feels in our bodies, however,
it is not meant to become a force of repression. Pronoia thrives
on an engagement with difficult emotions and challenging events,
not by ignoring them.
Rob Brezsny, Free Will Astrology
Appreciative inquiry provides us with an opportunity to put our
intention and our attention on acknowledging the reality of our
situations and environments and focusing on their positive and
creative possibilities.
For more information on Appreciative Inquiry as a tool for organizational
change and expanded leadership opportunities contact us here.
"I have found that an appreciative inquiry, where people
listen to each other's stories about micro moments in (organizational)
life where the best in us is touched, can create a unique climate
for collective dreaming where the forces of ridicule and repression
are momentarily suspended. There is something about telling
one's story of "peak" organizational experiences,
and listening to others, that can make a group ready to be open
about deeply held desires and yearnings. I am sure that there
are other factors, beside the AI technique, that are necessary
to make this happen (e.g., quality of leadership) but the technique
is astounding in the speed with which it can create such a climate
in the right place at the right time. Into this climate, then,
a different kind of conversation can take place and from that,
a different social reality can evolve."
Gervase R. Bushe Ph.D. from presentation
at the 18th Annual World Congress of Organization Development,
Dublin, Ireland, July 14-18, 1998.
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