Appreciative inquiry is about the affirmative stories, memories and images we have of ourselves, others and our relationships.
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Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative inquiry is about the positive and affirming stories, memories and images that we have of ourselves, others and our relationships. In an appreciative inquiry approach, we make the assumption that great things happened at some point in time in any group or organization.
Appreciative inquiry builds upon the successes of the past to create a successful future. This simple philosophical shift of focusing peoples’ attention to the positive and the possible awakens enthusiasm for their work and the other members of their team.
Appreciative inquiry is a high-energy process with the potential for sustainable results. It is a process that has been used for organisational development for team building, diversity initiatives, envisioning and many other areas.
Here are the basic steps in an appreciative inquiry process:
1. Positive point of focus
Define the area of positive focus and inquiry. Is it for team building, enhancing interpersonal skills, leadership development or some other purpose? The area chosen becomes the basis for the remaining four steps of the inquiry.
2. Discovery
The appreciative inquiry discovery phase provides the opportunity for people to share their best past positive experiences and their energizing stories. Stories are the core of our identity, they reveal how we view ourselves. The appreciative inquiry interview experience provides an opportunity to recall times when we have excelled and enjoyed successes. From these positive past stories, teams share, discover and consolidate the organization’s “life-giving forces”. These values, believes, experiences, memories and ideas draw together the people on the team.
This phase begins to shift the typical conversations away from focus on problems and toward a broad positive focus on possibilities. Appreciative inquiry is about more than just the positive and the possibilities, it is about people’s wishes, hopes and dreams for a better future. By asking about wishes, hopes, expectations and dreams, people can express negative thoughts and emotions in a positive way without fear of retribution.
3. Dream
Based on the stories and examples of positive past experiences, people begin to dream and envision new possibilities for the future. By grounding the appreciative inquiry dream process in the realities of the successful positive past identified in the discovery phase, people now view dreams and hopes as more attainable. During the dream phase, peoples’ visions for the future are first represented metaphorically. Then, the dream may be formalized as verbal macro-level provocative propositions. They are provocative in that while based in reality, they are a stretch from the organization’s present state.
4. Design
Whereas the images and the macro-level propositions of the dream phase address the vision of the group, micro-level provocative propositions address the day-to-day realities of working together. This phase addresses various aspects such as leadership, culture, business processes and systems and shape them to align the dream with daily activities. Here are various aspects of creating the social architecture that you may want to examine:
How should we work and play together?
What are the leadership roles and functions and preferred behavior?
Who creates the agenda and how?
What should our relationship to the community be?
How can we best support each other?
What are the practices for continual improvement and rejuvenation, for bringing out the best in people and for creating meaningful work?
What should the spirit in the group be like? What support does the group need? Who else should be invited?
5. Destiny
In the destiny phase, the ideas produced in the dream phase provide vision and guidance. The processes, structures and relationships from the design phase are put into action. Abandoning fixed expectations of outcomes increases the chances for sustainable change. Instead, focus on monitoring progress, creating implementation strategies and building momentum.
The destiny phase is a time when the organization can look for ways to improve and expand the appreciative inquiry process.
Benefits and Results
By focusing on the positive, appreciative inquiry can improve employee morale, increase communication and productivity and increase the involvement of various stakeholders. Appreciation boosts passions and sense of responsibility and give people reason to feel hopeful for a bright future, one that they have a hand in creating.
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Systemic participation
When inviting people into a conversation that matters, it is helpful to have an overall question—one that itself embodies the purpose of the meeting.
Systemic participation
Knowledge must come through action – Sophocles
Open Space Technology
The goal of an Open Space Technology meeting is to create time and space for people to engage deeply and creatively around issues of concern to them. The agenda is set by people with the power and desire to see it through. Typically, Open Space meetings result in transformative experiences for the individuals and groups involved. It is a simple and powerful way to catalyse effective working conversations and introduces a way for organisations to thrive in times of tumultuous change.
The Circle Practice
A meeting becomes a circle when the people participating shift from informal socialising or opinionated discussion to a receptive attitude. Then, thoughtful speaking and deep listening take place and the process can begin.
What is Circle good for?
One of the beautiful things about Circle is its adaptability to a variety of groups, issues and timeframes. Circle can be the process used for the duration of a gathering, particularly if the group is relatively small and deep reflection is a primary aim. Circle can also be used for “checking in” and “checking out” or a way to make decisions together, particularly those based on consensus. Be creative with Circle and be ready for the deep wisdom it can reveal!
The World Café
The World Café is a method for creating a living network of collaborative dialogue around questions that matter in real life situations. It is a provocative metaphor. As we create our lives, our organisations and our communities, we are, in effect, moving among ‘table conversations’ at the World Café.
Operating principles of World Café:
Create hospitable space
Explore questions that matter
Encourage each person’s contribution
Connect diverse people and ideas
Listen together for patterns, insights and deeper questions
Make collective knowledge visible
What is World Café good for?
World Café is a great way to foster interaction and dialogue in large and small groups. It is particularly effective for surfacing the collective wisdom of large groups of diverse people. The café format is flexible and adapts to many different purposes—information sharing, relationship building, deep reflection, exploration and action planning.
Powerful Questions
While answers tend to bring us to closure, questions open up exploration.
Asking the Right Question
Asking the right question is the most effective way to open up a conversation and keep it engaging. A high-quality question focuses on what is meaningful for the participants, triggers our curiosity and invites us to explore further.
When inviting people into a conversation that matters, it is helpful to have an overall question—one that itself embodies the purpose of the meeting. This is the key question or the calling question for the conversation. The calling question is best formulated together with key stakeholders.
The conversation can include questions other than the calling question. The questions chosen or discovered during conversation are critical.
Some guidelines for choosing questions:
A well-crafted question attracts energy and focuses attention on what matters. Experienced hosts recommend asking open-ended questions rather than yes/no questions.
Good questions invite inquiry and curiosity. They do not need to promote action or problem solving immediately.
You’ll know a good question when it continues to surface good ideas and possibilities.
Check possible questions with key people who will be taking part in a conversation. Does it hold their attention and energy?
A powerful question:
Is simple and clear
Is thought provoking
Generates energy
Focuses inquiry
Challenges assumptions
Opens new possibilities
Evokes more questions
A powerful question focuses Attention, Intention and Energy.
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Working with Vision
Your vision statement is your inspiration, the framework for all your strategic planning.
Working with Vision
Having a clear vision and/or purpose is the first step in bringing order to complexity.
Vision
Where do we want to go? What is our ideal future?
A vision statement is sometimes called the picture of an organisation in the future but it’s so much more than that. Your vision statement is your inspiration and the framework for all your strategic planning.
A vision statement may apply to an entire company or organization or to a division or group. The vision statement answers the question, “Where do we want to go?”
In creating a vision statement you articulate your dreams and hopes. It reminds you of what you are trying to build.
Purpose
It is not what the vision is but what it what it does that is important – Peter Senge
The purpose of purpose: A group discovery
When you discover purpose you discover why something exists. We often hurry towards action before we really understand the reason. Gaining clarity of purpose sets you on the right path. Purpose becomes a navigational tool helping to reveal the direction for a course of action.
Purpose can also been described as ‘the glue’ that brings people’s contribution and efforts together. This is because it defines why we work towards something and why it is worth working together. In fact, purpose becomes an invisible leader as it connects actions taken and shows the value of the contributions and contributors to everyone involved.
In order to be a useful navigational tool, purpose should contain:
Higher intent
Why action is needed for the greater good.
Statement of purpose
What effort is needed and what’s being pursued? This does not define the destination but instead invites and inspires others to participate with clarity.
Intention
There needs to be a will to ground the higher intent through action regardless of the challenges that might arise.
When these three elements are aligned and collectively understood, purpose becomes a powerful attractor. It allows people to combine their individual efforts to work together on making a difference for all.
In an organisation or a community, many purposes co-exist such as the purpose of:
- stakeholders serving and served by the organization
- the community or organisation as a whole
- the core group
- each member of the core team
Asking questions of a group can help to clarify:
What is our collective purpose?
What is the purpose of our role, team or project?
How does my purpose align with the purpose we are all here to accomplish?
What is the purpose at the heart of this work that will align us?
Overlooking the step to gain clarity and, particularly, collective clarity of purpose usually ends up in entanglements, confusion and even conflicts. Seeking purpose is an ongoing process for a group. As action is taken and more is discovered as a result, coming back to check in with purpose – “Are we still on course or do we have a new purpose arising?” – helps a group stay focused with purposeful action.
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Appreciative Inquiry principles
People perform better and are more committed when they have the freedom to choose how and what they contribute.
Appreciative inquiry principles
Core principles
The Constructionist Principle
Words Create Worlds
Reality as we know it is socially created through language and conversations.
The Simultaneity Principle
Inquiry Creates Change
Inquiry is an intervention. The moment we ask a question, we begin to create a change. “The questions we ask are fateful.”
The Poetic Principle
We Can Choose What We Study
Teams and organizations, like open books, are limitless sources for study and learning. What we choose to focus on to study makes a difference. It describes – even creates – the world as we know it.
The Anticipatory Principle
Image Inspires Action
Human systems move in the direction of their images of the future. The more positive and hopeful the image of the future, the more positive the present-day action.
The Positive Principle
Positive Questions Lead to Positive Change
Momentum for small or large-scale change requires large amounts of positive affect and social bonding. This momentum is best generated through positive questions that amplify the positive core.
Emergent principles
The Wholeness Principle
Wholeness Brings Out the Best
Wholeness brings out the best in people and organizations. Bringing all stakeholders together in large group forums stimulates creativity and builds collective capacity.
The Enactment Principle
Acting “As If” is Self-Fulfilling
To really make a change, we must “be the change we want.”
Positive change occurs when the process used to create the change is a living model of the ideal future.
The Free Choice Principle
Free Choice Liberates Power
People perform better and are more committed when they have the freedom to choose how and what they contribute. Free choice stimulates organizational excellence and positive change.
The Narrative Principle
Stories are Transformative
We construct stories about our lives (personal and professional) and live into them.
The Awareness Principle
Be Conscious of Underlying Assumptions
Having awareness and understanding of our underlying assumptions are important for the development and cultivation of good relationships. Practicing cycles of action and reflection can build one’s self-awareness.
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Simple leadership by delegation
Some people are afraid to delegate.
Simple leadership by delegation
Delegation of tasks and responsibilities is an important skill for you to have as a leader. People believe in what they help to create. Sharing responsibilities keeps members interested and enthusiastic about the group and it lightens your workload! Some people don’t delegate afraid the work won’t get done to their satisfaction. This is understandable but there are several good reasons to delegate.
1. The group benefits because:
- members become more involved and committed.
- more projects and activities are undertaken overall.
- there is a greater chance that projects will be completed.
- it increases opportunities for members to develop leadership skills.
- it cultivates leadership talent to fill roles that require such experience.
- the organization runs more smoothly.
2. The leader benefits because:
- delegation lightens the workload.
- there is satisfaction in seeing members grow and develop.
- staff and the organization gains more experience in executive functions.
3. When to delegate
It may be a good time to delegate when:
- there is a lot of work.
- a member has qualifications for or interest in a particular task.
- someone can benefit from taking on responsibility.
- details take up too much time and should be divided.
4. When not to delegate
It may be better not to delegate when:
- you just want to avoid doing certain work.
- someone is under-qualified or overqualified for the task.
- the work is your own specified responsibility.
- the task is too much for one person or is controversial.
Four basic delegation strategies
Giving – the leader designs a job and then delegates it to a member.
Sharing – the leader identifies a job that two (or more) members could do together and then makes sure that works for them.
Involving – the leader involves members in developing a project and encourages them to help.
Entrusting – the leader gives a member a need and then trusts them to figure out how best to accomplish it.
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Achieve your Goals
Goals should be specific and precise not abstract and general.
Achieve your Goals
1. Goals should be set high but not so high that they’re unachievable. At the same time, easy goals that don’t move us out of our comfort zone don’t contribute to our development.
2. Goals should be specific and precise not abstract and general.
3. The goals we set for ourselves motivate us much more than the goals others set for us.
4. Set achievable goals and realistic expectations.
5. Create a realistic schedule and follow it.
6. Define your vision. Set your goals and create an action plan.
7. Apply changes to attain unique results.
Eleven steps to goal achievement
1. I οutline and set high goals
2. I evaluate my goals according to my priorities
3. I make a list of all possible benefits
4. I find out WHY I want to achieve my goal
5. I analyse my current situation
6. I acknowledge possible risks
7. I recognize the advantages and the disadvantages of my goal
8. I recognize the knowledge important for achieving my goal
9. I define my vision
10. I create an action plan
11. I apply changes in order to attain unique results
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Resolution to reality
When you feel like throwing in the towel or putting off what needs to be done, it’s important to have someone there to hold you accountable.
Resolution to reality
To turn your resolutions into reality:
1 Make your resolutions positive
You’re more likely to accomplish your goals if you feel good about them so define your resolutions in the most positive way that you can.
2 Make them measurable
It’s easier to stay on course and motivated when you have a clear vision of what progress looks like so define what you’ll measure progress against.
3 Build a plan
“A dream without a plan is a wish.” Decide how you’re going to get to your goal. Map out a plan with details that challenge and inspire you.
4 Factor in accountability
When you feel like throwing in the towel or putting off what needs to be done, it’s important to have someone there to hold you accountable. If you tend to be very self-disciplined, you can do this for yourself; however, most people find it extremely valuable to have an accountability partner.
Make sure that the person you choose for this role is someone who will be understanding yet firm when you come up with excuses for giving up.
5 Use checks and balances
Your big goal is to turn your life around in ways that matter to you so choose several dates throughout the year to note tiny increments of improvement. These dates will be your checkpoints. You can see how far you’ve come and make necessary adjustments to the plan.
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Interview Tips
If asked about your interpersonal skills give examples of times where you’ve worked with diverse groups of people.
Interview Tips
Here are common areas of knowledge and experience employers want to find out about in an interview:
Teamwork
Q. How do I showcase teamwork skills in an interview?
A. Tell about experiences working with others in professional and social situations. Talk about previous positions in which collaboration on specific objectives was a regular part of the job. Prepare and practice! Recruiters and employers want candidates to show clear understanding of what makes an effective team.
Time Management
Q. In an interview, how do I explain that I have time management skills?
A. Talk about times when you successfully managed tasks and duties that seemed to require your attention simultaneously. What tools did you use and/or what did you do to successfully fulfill your obligations in the expected time?
Interpersonal Skills
Q. How do I show that I have interpersonal skills?
A. Give examples of times where you’ve worked with diverse groups of people. Talk about public or customer-facing roles you’ve had and experiences that gave you the chance to learn about communicating, helping and serving others.
Commercial Awareness
Q. What is commercial awareness? And how does an employer ask about it?
A. Commercial Awareness means knowledge about trends in the industry. An employer may ask you direct questions about what’s currently going on in the industry or ask your opinions about certain topics. Make time to research the current state of the industry you‘re being interviewed for. Prepare to be able to carry on a conversation about the industry.
Time Management Skills
Q. Time management is kind of a broad skill how can I give good examples?
A. Identify day-to-day and longer term situations that require you to be flexible while staying productive. Describe your methods for staying organized. Do you use any particular tools or techniques? The objective is to explain how you prioritize and execute successfully.
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