Appreciative Inquiry is a method for driving positive change in organizations. It involves asking questions to identify what is working well currently and how to do more of it. The method was created in the 1980s and is based on the idea that organizations move in the direction of the questions they ask. There are five principles of Appreciative Inquiry: constructionist, simultaneity, poetic, anticipatory, and positive. The process involves four phases - Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny - where participants envision a positive future and develop plans to achieve it by building on current strengths. The goal is to stimulate new ideas and possibilities for action through positive dialogue.

1. Appreciative Inquiry
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2. What is Apreciative Inquiry?

6. Appreciative Inquiry
• Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is based on a deceptively
simple premise: that organizations grow in the
direction of what they repeatedly ask questions
about and focus their attention on.
• The method was created by Dr. David L. Cooperrider
and Dr. Suresh Srivastva at the Case Western
Reserve University in Ohio in the 1980’s.

7. Appreciative Inquiry
“ In every organization there is something which work
well and which constitutes its DNA.
The development of this organization depends on
doing more and better what already works well. ”

8. Appreciative Inquiry
• Research in sociology has shown that when people study
problems and conflicts, the number and severity of the
problems they identify actually increase.
• But when they study human ideals and achievements, peak
experiences, and best practices, these things — not the
conflicts — tend to flourish.

10. Problem Solving vs AI
Problem Solving
• What to fix
• Underlying grammar = problem,
symptoms, causes, solutions, action plan,
intervention
• Breaks things into pieces & specialties,
guaranteeing fragmented responses
• Slow! Takes a lot of positive emotion to
make real change.
• Assumes organizations are constellations
of problems to be overcome
Appreciative Inquiry
• What to grow
• New grammar of the true, good, better,
possible
• “Problem focus” implies that there is an
ideal. AI breaks open the box of what the
ideal is first.
• Expands vision of preferred future.
Creates new energy fast.
• Assumes organizations are sources of
infinite capacity and imagination

11. Appreciative Inquiry
• What’s going well
• Discover the best
• Why is the best the best?
• Amplify the best

12. Appreciative Inquiry Principles
• Constructionist Principle
We construct realities based on our previous experience,
so our knowledge and the destiny of the system are
interwoven.
• Principle of Simultaneity
Inquiry and change are simultaneous
• Poetic Principle
The system’s story is constantly co-authored, and is open
to infinite interpretations
• Anticipatory Principle
What we anticipate determines what we find
• Positive Principle
As an image of reality is enhanced, actions begin to align
with the positive image

13. Appreciative Inquiry Principles
• Constructionist Principle
We construct realities based on our previous experience,
so our knowledge and the destiny of the system are
interwoven.
• Principle of Simultaneity
Inquiry and change are simultaneous
• Poetic Principle
The system’s story is constantly co-authored, and is open
to infinite interpretations
• Anticipatory Principle
What we anticipate determines what we find
• Positive Principle
As an image of reality is enhanced, actions begin to align
with the positive image

14. The five principles of AI

15. The five principles of AI
• The constructionist principle
• The principle of simultaneity
• The poetic principle
• The anticipatory principle
• The positive principle
•

16. The five principles of AI
• The constructionist principle proposes that what we believe
to be true determines what we do, and thought and action
emerge from relationships.
• Through the language and discourse of day to day
interactions, people co-construct the organizations they
inhabit.
• The purpose of inquiry is to stimulate new ideas, stories and
images that generate new possibilities for action.

17. The five principles of AI
• The principle of simultaneity proposes that as we inquire into
human systems we change them and the seeds of change, the
things people think and talk about, what they discover and
learn, are implicit in the very first questions asked.
• Questions are never neutral, they are fateful, and social
systems move in the direction of the questions they most
persistently and passionately discuss.

18. The five principles of AI
• The poetic principle proposes that organizational life is
expressed in the stories people tell each other every day, and
the story of the organization is constantly being co-authored.
• The words and topics chosen for inquiry have an impact far
beyond just the words themselves.
• They invoke sentiments, understandings, and worlds of
meaning. In all phases of the inquiry effort is put into using
words that point to, enliven and inspire the best in people.

19. The five principles of AI
• The anticipatory principle posits that what we do today is
guided by our image of the future.
• Human systems are forever projecting ahead of themselves a
horizon of expectation that brings the future powerfully into
the present as a mobilizing agent.
• Appreciative inquiry uses artful creation of positive imagery
on a collective basis to refashion anticipatory reality.

20. The five principles of AI
• The positive principle proposes that momentum and
sustainable change requires positive affect and social
bonding.
• Sentiments like hope, excitement, inspiration, camaraderie
and joy increase creativity, openness to new ideas and
people, and cognitive flexibility.
• They also promote the strong connections and relationships
between people, particularly between groups in conflict,
required for collective inquiry and change.

21. Problem Solving vs AI

22. Appreciative Inquiry

23. DEFINITION
• This phase is arguably the most important one in the
AI cycle, because it establishes the initial focus and
scope of the inquiry.

24. 01 . DISCOVERY
• This practice represents a dramatic departure from
normal statistical “sampling.”
• AI operates on the premise that the act of asking
positive questions is as important as the data it elicits.
• For that reason, the more people interviewed, the
stronger the organization’s movement in the direction
of the inquiry.

25. 01 . DISCOVERY
• The Discovery phase is about appreciating the positive
core. During this phase, participants ask questions that
explore and identify strengths—of a team,
organization, group, or individual.
• The overarching question in this phase is:
“What gives life?”

26. 02 . DREAM
• Here, the goal is to envision what we want to happen.
• We ask questions about stories; then, we can ask questions of
those stories to elicit more in the way of rich detail around
themes. These may include dream dialogues, which look at
building out aspirations and wishes about the shared future.
• The overarching question of the Dream stage, is therefore:
“What might be?”

27. 03 . DESIGN
• The Design stage is about building the visions and ideas
with the greatest potential, together.
• In co-constructing ‘the ideal’, therefore, the questions
become slightly more specific and focused on clarifying.
• The overarching question of this phase is:
“What should be?”

28. 04 . DESTINY
• We now ideally have images of a shared, positive future
that leverages our organizational strengths. The Destiny
stage is about encouraging shared commitment and
discussing how teams and individuals will help bring
provocative propositions to life.
• The overarching question here, is:
“How to empower, learn, and improvise?”

31. Appreciative Inquiry Exercise
Identify a career or personal highpoint associated with
either leading change or introducing innovation:
1. Share the most memorable parts of the initiative including
challenges, innovations and changes with your support
network
2. Reflect on what were the ’root causes of success..’
3. What were your three best qualities or experienced strengths
Envisioning the future:
• You wake up and it is 2025. What do you see about you
that is new, different, changed, better…

32. Appreciative Inquiry Books