Appreciative Inquiry
(Cooperrider)

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What is Appreciative Inquiry?

The following practice-oriented definition of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is provided by David L. Cooperrider:
Appreciative Inquiry is about the coevolutionary search for the best in people, their organizations, and the relevant world around them. In its broadest focus, it involves systematic discovery of what gives "life" to a living system when it is most alive, most effective, and most constructively capable in economic, ecological, and human terms. AI involves, in a central way, the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system's capacity to apprehend, anticipate, and heighten positive potential. It centrally involves the mobilization of inquiry through the crafting of the "unconditional positive question" often concerning hundreds or sometimes thousands of people.

In AI, the arduous task of intervention is replaced by the speed of imagination and innovation; instead of negation, criticism, and spiraling diagnosis, there is discovery, dream, and design. AI seeks, fundamentally, to build a constructive union between a whole people and the massive entirety of what people talk about as past and present capacities: achievements, assets, unexplored potentials, innovations, strengths, elevated thoughts, opportunities, benchmarks, high point moments, lived values, traditions, strategic competencies, stories, expressions of wisdom, insights into the deeper corporate spirit or soul - and visions of valued and possible futures. Taking all of these together as a gestalt, AI deliberately, in everything it does, seeks to work from accounts of this "positive change core" - and it assumes that every living system has many untapped and rich and inspiring accounts of the positive. Link the energy of this core directly to any change agenda and changes never thought possible are suddenly and democratically mobilized.

According to the AI philosophy, human systems grow in the direction of what they persistently ask questions about, and this propensity is the strongest and the most sustainable when the means and ends of inquiry are positively correlated. The most prolific thing a group can do, if its aims are to liberate the human spirit and consciously construct a better future, is to make the positive change core the common and explicit property of all.

Cooperrider mentions 5 basic principles of Appreciative Inquiry

1. Constructionist Principle. Simply stated: human knowledge and organizational destiny are interwoven. To be effective as executives, leaders, change agents, etc., we must be adept in the art of understanding, reading, and analyzing organizations as living, human constructions.
2. Principle of Simultaneity. Here it is recognized that inquiry and change are not truly separate moments, but are simultaneous. Inquiry is intervention. The seeds of change - that is, the things which people think and talk about, the things which people discover and learn, and the things that inform dialogue and inspire images of the future - are implicit in the very first questions we ask. Our questions are influencing what we "find". And what we "discover" (the data) becomes the linguistic material, the stories, out of which the future is conceived, conversed about, and constructed.
3. Poetic Principle. A metaphor here is that human organizations are much more like an open book than, say, a machine. An organization's story is constantly being co-authored. Moreover, the past, the present, or the future is an endless source of learning, inspiration, or interpretation. Precisely like, for example, the endless interpretive possibilities in a good piece of poetry or a biblical text. The important implication is that we can study virtually any topic related to human experience in any human system or organization. We can inquire into the nature of alienation or joy, enthusiasm or low morale, efficiency or excess, in any human organization.
4. Anticipatory Principle. The infinite human resource which we have for generating constructive organizational change is our collective imagination and discourse about the future. One of the basic theorems of the anticipatory view of organizational life is that it is the image of the future, which in fact guides what might be called the current behavior of any organism or organization. Much like a film projector on a screen, human systems are forever projecting ahead of themselves a horizon of expectation. In their talk, in the metaphors and language they use. This brings the future powerfully into the present as a mobilizing agent.
5. Positive Principle. This last principle is not so abstract. It grows out of years of experience with appreciative inquiry. Most simply, it is our experience that for building and for sustaining change momentum, large amounts of positive affect and social bonding are necessary. Things like hope, excitement, inspiration, caring, camaraderie, sense of urgent purpose, and sheer joy in creating something meaningful together. What we have found is that, the more positive the question we ask in our work, the more long lasting and successful the change effort will be. It does not help, we have found, to begin our inquiries from the standpoint of the world as a problem to be solved. We are more effective the longer we can retain the spirit of inquiry of the everlasting beginner. The major thing we do that makes the difference, is to craft and seed, in better and more catalytic ways, the unconditional positive question.

Origin of the Appreciative Inquiry method. History

AI has been described by observers in a myriad of ways: as a paradigm of conscious evolution geared for the realities of the new century (Hubbard, 1998); as a methodology that takes the idea of the social construction of reality to its positive extreme - especially with its emphasis on metaphor and narrative, relational ways of knowing, on language, and on its potential as a source of generative theory (Gergen, 1996); as the most important advance in Action Research in the past decade (Bushe, 1991); as offspring and "heir" to Maslow's vision of a positive social science (Chin, 1998; Curran, 1991); as a powerful second generation OD practice (French and Bell, 1995; Porrras, 1995; Mirvis, 1993); as model of a much needed participatory science, a "new yoga of inquiry" (Harman, 1991); as a radically affirmative approach to change, which completely lets go of problem-based management, and in so doing vitally transforms strategic planning, survey methods, culture change, merger integration methods, approaches to TQM, measurement systems, sociotechnical systems, etc. (White, 1997); and lastly, as OD's philosopher's stone (Sorenson, et. al 1996).

Steps in the Appreciative Inquiry. Process

1. Discovery. Mobilizing a whole system inquiry into the positive change core;
2. Dream. Creating a clear results-oriented vision in relation to discovered potential and in relation to questions of higher purpose, i.e., "What is the world calling us to become?"
3. Design. Creating possibility propositions of the ideal organization, an organization design which people feel is capable of magnifying or eclipsing the positive core and realizing the articulated new dream; and
4. Destiny. Strengthening the affirmative capability of the whole system enabling it to build hope and momentum around a deep purpose and creating processes for learning, adjustment, and improvisation like a jazz group over time

Organizations, says AI theory, are centers of human relatedness, first and foremost, and relationships thrive where there is an appreciative eye. When people see the best in one another, when they share their dreams and ultimate concerns in affirming ways, and when they are connected in full voice to create not just new worlds but better worlds. The velocity and largely informal spread of the appreciative learnings suggests, we believe, a growing sense of disenchantment with exhausted theories of change. Especially with those wedded to vocabularies of human deficit. AI suggests a corresponding urge to work with people, groups, and organizations in more constructive, positive, life-affirming, even spiritual ways.

Book: David L. Cooperrider - Constructive Discourse and Human Organization

Book: David L. Cooperrider - Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: The first in a series of ... 

Forum Forum discussions about Appreciative Inquiry. Appreciative Inquiry: Methodology, Set of Principles and Philosophy As a long standing practitioner in AI (since 1994/1995) I would like to say that AI is a 'both and' rather than an 'either-or' approach. From that perspective AI can be seen as a methodology (the 4 ... 14   5 comments AI for Community Group Mobilization In what ways can we use appreciative inquiry for community group mobilization? Can someone give examples of successful community group mobilization using AI?... 9   1 comments Appreciative Inquiry - Positive Change in My Life Last October, I decided to make a positive change in my own life. I had a successful career in both the private sector at the executive level in human resources and quality systems and in implementing... 8   1 comments Appreciative Inquiry Application in IT Project Management & Change Management I have a long experience in IT project management. Usually the difficulty remains in application deployment. Conducting change management with AI makes it successful and the people more enthousiastic... 7   Alternative Steps in Appreciative Inquiry An alternative version recently presented to me had 5 steps, the first being 'Define' i.e. set the context for the application of AI. 'Destiny' was also re-named 'Deliver'. The context was its use in ... 6   2 comments AI in Leadership Program at University We have used AI in a leadership program at the university - after discovering their authentic leadership qualities, ai was utilized for research topics and projects on campus. Amazing results: nationa... 5   2 comments Suggestions on Inspired Action Activities/ Hi I am putting together a large scale summit and am looking for activties to help prioritize the various inspired actions and to facilitate people to commit to moving the actions forward. Does anyone... 5   AI for coaching and teambuilding I use Appreciative Inquiry a lot, for team-building, individual coaching, and group facilitation. My experience has been that most people love it, and appreciate the opportunity to look at what's work... 4   3 comments Implementing Appreciative Inquiry in an R&D Setting We used AI as an OD intervention on developing a culture of organisational excellence in a defence R&D organisation. People at various levels committed themselves as a result of AI for an improvement... 4   AI and Seeing the Good in Others As I look at the reactions to the comments, I'm struck by the ratio of thumbs up to thumbs down. Is this common in an AI community?... 4   2 comments Appreciative Inquiry - 6D Cyclus So good to hear that AI is used more and more! Very interesting also how AI is doing in other countries. A book that helped me to comprehend AI is the one by Jane Magruder Watkins: Appreciative Inquir... 4   1 comments AI in the public sector in the UK? We would like to interview you if you are using AI in the public sector in the UK. We are looking for case studies for a forthcoming book.... 3   🔥 When Would Appreciative Inquiry not Work? And Why? I have been part of the corporate world for 13 years and was subject to many change initiatives. None of which really ever worked. I have seen people see through the facilitation process and give the... 3   2 comments Appreciative Inquiry in Mental Health A psychiatrist works in a rehabilitation hospital for men with mental health problem (longstanding). It is a low secure unit and her interest is in the possibility of introducing AI type approaches wi... 3   2 comments AI to Change Team Culture AI is pretty new to me too. There is one dysfunctional team in particular that I am working with that would benefit greatly from the positive culture change that AI would allow. Again though I am fa... -2   4 comments Start a new topic about Appreciative Inquiry Sign up for free

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Best Practices The best, top-rated topics about Appreciative Inquiry. Here you will find the most valuable ideas and practical suggestions. 🥇 The Mechanism Behind Appreciative Inquiry For me, AI is about helping systems and players therein to re-align their neural networks in the direction of 'what works here' rather than 'what does not work'. The unconscious is such a powerful f... 23   5 comments 🥈 Advantages of Appreciative Inquiry What value / benefits do you see from using this tool? Please give examples of the value that came from AI. Thanks...... 19   5 comments 🥉 We Move in the Direction We Inquire... We move in the direction we inquire. While the appreciative inquiry helps us enrich our lives and institutions and on the other hand depreciative inquiry leads us to the depreciative path. It is like ... 15   2 comments Liberal or Formal Appreciative Inquiry? Great discussions all! Here is a question for you: do you use AI typically in its strict format with protocols etc., or more often in a let's say more liberal or loose format?... 11   6 comments Implementing Appreciative Inquiry in a Pragmatic Way Who can give some advice or tips on a pragmatic "how to" implement AI..?... 11   4 comments Transformation Vision in Change Management I am involved with change management in public organizations and a common way to start the process is to create a transformation vision. The first aspect that this document addresses is "the need for ... 6   3 comments

Expert Tips Advanced insights about Appreciative Inquiry. Here you will find professional advices by experts. Consultancy Tips Teaching Tips Practical Implementation Tips Addressing Concerns Against Change and their Remedies Change Management, Organizational Change, Turnaround Management According to Ken Blanchard in the article “Mastering the Art of Change” (Training Journal, January 2010), it is importan... Understanding Why Employee Appreciation is Important Acknowledging the Power of Employees The concept of bases of social power is very important for organizations in the context of change initiatives. The sour... Key Success Factors when you're Designing your Change Management Program Best Practices, Change Management, Organizational Change In their article "Making Change Happen, and Making It Stick" (published in the online edition of strategy+business, Dece... Innovating Bottom-up or Top-down Corporate Innovation Approaches I just read an interesting article by professor Deschamps on encouraging innovation within large organizations. Deschamp... The Ideas Factory Appreciative Inquiry Process This is wonderful. All along we were instinctively using many of these principals. We created an absolutely unique proce... Phases of Appreciative Inquiry Implementing Appreciative Inquiry A typical Appreciative Inquiry process includes following three phases: 1. Commitment by Leadership: The first phase is... Six Crucial Mind Shifts for Strategy Execution / Implementation Change Management, Strategic Change, Resistance to CHange, Strategy Implementation Speculand (2009) suggests six mind shifts that people should consider when they're implementing new strategies in organi... Using Appreciative Inquiry to Improve Business Processes Organizational Development Organizations focusing on developing their processes may use the appreciative process to improve them. They can apply ... A Closer Look at How Change and Innovation Decisions are Made Decision-making on Organizational Change, Innovation Decision-making, Contingent, Participative Decision-making Kim, T (2015) elaborates on decision making on "non-routines" or innovations. According to him, non-routines can be seen... Appreciative Inquiry at a Hospital Best Practice: Applying AI in Medical Sector As Chief Medical Officer, I was involved in the change management of the Ghent university hospital. What and how we did ... Wonderful AI Community AI-community with lots of sources Lots and lots of questions on AI are discussed on the AI discussion lsit. Participants are willing to share their vast e...

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