Appreciative inquiry (AI) is a tested, efficient and effective process, providing leaders and managers with the means needed to bring about change, transformation and growth.
AI benefits for managers and leaders
“The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths, making our weaknesses irrelevant” Peter Drucker
- Ai enables leaders to maximize strengths in order to excel in reaching company objectives
- As appreciation builds hope, Ai provides a much needed buffer against recessional burn out and organizational depression
- AI empowers individual employees to work at their optimal capacity and strengthen their identification with company vision and values, underpinning the work of management
AI benefits to organistions
- AI is like a search engine, searching for the “positive core”–the strengths and successes–of the human system (organization, group, community, etc.)
under study - Rapid, sustainable and transformational change becomes possible when the “positive core” is linked to an agenda for change
- AI taps the inherent wisdom already present in the organization to build the capacity which finds radical possibilities beyond the boundaries of problems as they present themselves in conventional terms
How does AI work?
Ai builds on the principles of:
- Evolution: organizations grow in the direction of what they repeatedly ask questions about and focus their attention on
- Generativity: within each organization there already exists knowledge and capacity needed to be function well in its environment. Ai calls this capacity the ‘positive core’, strives to expose it and make the positive energy available to the whole system.
- Dominant Discourse: sometimes the life giving force of the positive core is shadowed by stories of incompetence, burn out and a hostile economic environment. Ai does not ignore stories of challenges, but reframe them into expected possibilities. It further inquires about stories which magnify success and capacity, transforming these into the story most attended to.
A 5-D appreciative to Appreciative Inquiry
An Appreciative Inquiry exercise typically begins with a series of carefully planned conversations conducted with an ever widening, inclusive number of employees. These conversations follow a typical ‘5-D’ pattern in order to:
- Define the area of inquiry (what is it we want to become more of?)
- Discover the positive core (share stories to identify life-giving forces)
- Dream (create a shared preferred future)
- Design and Destiny / Delivery (innovate and improvise ways to create that future)
Depending on the system under investigation, an Appreciative Inquiry will last between five hours (e.g individuals and pairs) to six months (e.g the US Navy).
Amongst others, the following companies and organizations have used AI with satisfaction; ProCare Automotive Service, SAB Miller, Old Mutual, Imagine Hout Bay, MWeb and British Airways. In 2010, the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA), with an annual grant giving budget of $ 3 million, has adopted AI as its standard strategic process for all the business in which it engages.