Appreciative Inquiry. What is it & how can it help me with change?

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) was developed by Professor David Cooperider and involves a process of questioning to make long lasting change in our lives.  He believes that "Every action we take is preceded ny a question." Questions that look for the true, the good and the possible are what enable us and others to consistently flourish.

I have used AI in individual Coaching with great success! Recently I took a client, who was in a period of transition and struggling with motivation, through the appreciate inquiry 5 D’s process. Through the other end now, he is motivated, has a clear path forward with a clear purpose and is excited for the future. Now an AI fan, he is keen to share with others.  I thought it was time to also share this knowledge and method with you all.  It’s definitely a winner!

Our brains are wired for survival and without such our ancestors would have been exterminated, consumed or destroyed by dinosaurs, bears or any other creature that passed us by during the neanderthal era! We are well equipped for identifying what is wrong and to set about fixing things.  Which is awesome for our ultimate survival back in the caveman days, however these days it doesn’t help us to see the true, the good or the possible.  Scientific researchers tells us that we spend up to 80% of our time focussing on trying to fix what is wrong and only 20% on trying to build on what we are good at, our strengths.

The problem with this approach is that our strengths are what provides us with our best opportunities for growth and achievement. Strengths are what gives us confidence, keeps us engaged, allows for creativity and makes us happy, which in turn makes it easier to stick with the changes we are creating. 

Cooperider wanted to help people to move away from focussing on the deficits and developed a strengths-approach to creating lasting, positive change for ourselves and the world. Appreciative Inquiry was born.

After a great deal of research and testing, he and his colleagues came up with the Appreciative Inquiry framework, which includes (and is called) The 5 D’s.

Each of the D’s have questions to consider.

Define an Appreciative Inquiry Topic

What do you want to grow? What is the positive change you want to create? What do you want to see, hear, feel or do more of? What will success look like? The topic should encourage people to be engaged in the change process and should be compelling, energising and motivating. Be clear about the problem and then make the topic positive, using only a few, well-chosen words.. Eg Change a topic of “I eat too much” to “I want food that energizes me”. Or “Low Morale” to “Electrified Engagement”.

Discover the Best of the Past

Questions that discover what’s working well.  These aim to help people learn from the best of the past, uncover what they feel authentically proud of, and generate confidence to create positive change by stories, information, insights, strengths and resources to build on.   “Tell me about your best experience of (topic)? What happened? What made this possible? Why is this so memorable? Tell me about a time when you’ve felt most alive, engaged, and proud of the work that you’ve done. These can provide some huge insights and A-Ha! Moments. You may be very surprised at what you will reveal!

Dream of what’s possible

Considering what you’re sharing, if everything went as well as possible, what might success look like for you? Why is this important for you?  Get as clear as possible what the future would feel like, what they would be doing, what they would be hearing people say and what they would be feeling proud of achieving. “If there was one want-to goal, what would it be?” “What is your greatest hope”? “If everything went as well as it could and you had all the resources and time in the world, what would you do?”

Design what might be

Questions that explore how we might bring this image of the future to life. They help people generate multiple pathways to move from where they are to where they want to be in ways that align with their strengths and resources, create energy, and facilitate movement towards the desired positive change. “What would it take to move from where we are right now, to where we want to be?”  “If we could improve on where we are today by 5%, what are seven different steps you think we should take?”

Deliver what will be

Questions that will establish a place to start. They aim to prompt small actions that have impact, promote self-organisation, invite improvisation and experimentation, and help people stay accountable as they make process towards their chosen goals. “If there is one action you could take, where would you be willing to start?” “If there was one small exercise habit you could start this week, what would you be excited to try?” “If there was one action you could take right now to create a happy connection with someone, where would you start?” “What’s the first thing you’d like to do to help electrify engagement in your team?”

So, does it work?

Researchers have suggested that 75% of change efforts fail.

An independent review found that 90% of appreciative inquiry change approaches succeed!

Appreciative Inquiry is a strengths-focussed, generative approach to creating systemic change that has been used by workplaces around the world and has shown to:

·      Heighten creativity

·      Boost engagement

·      Strengthen relationships

·      Increase revenues

·      Reduce costs 

·      Improve profitability

·      Enhance sustainability.

Why does it work? It is strength focussed, people discover the stories of what’s working well and the shared hopes for what might be possible if these strengths were built upon to realise a higher purpose. It creates diverse connections that bring voices together from across the system and connect them in surprising, inspiring, genuine conversations that fuel trust, build psychological safety and ignite collaboration. It builds generative actions that invite people to design prototype and self-organise around the changes they want to create so they can continue learning, growing and thriving together as they work towards their desired results.

If you would like more information about appreciative inquiry, check out www.thechangelabs.com or get in touch jo@josephineopie.com.au

Thanks to Michelle McQuaid and her Change Lab team for the information and resources!