Four stages of appreciative inquiry

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY APPROACH

Appreciative inquiry tries to break out of the problem-solving mentality of traditional change management practices by reframing relationships around the positive and possible. It searches for organizational (or team) strengths and capabilities and then applies or adapts that knowledge for further success and will-being. Appreciative inquiry is therefore deeply grounded in the emerging philosophy of positive organizational behavior , which suggests that focusing on the positive rather than the negative aspects of life will improve organizational success and individual well-being. In other words, this approach emphasizes building on strengths rather than trying to directly correct problems

Appreciative inquiry typically examines successful events, organizations, and work units. This focus becomes a form of behavioral modeling, but it also increases open dialogue by redirecting the group’s attention away from its own problems. Appreciative inquiry is especially useful when participants are aware of their problems or already suffer from negativity in their relationships. The positive orientation of appreciative inquiry enables groups to overcome these negative tensions and build a more hopeful perspective of their future by focusing on what is possible.

Appreciative inquiry’s positive focus is illustrated by the intervention conducted a few years ago by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Almost 40 percent of BBC’s workforce attended one of 200 appreciative inquiry meeting held over six months. Participants at each session were organized into pairs, where they asked each other three question: (1) What has been the most creative/valued experience in your time at the BBC? (2) What were the conditions that made that experience possible? (3) If those experiences were to become the norm, how would the BBC have to change? These questions focused participants on the positive and the possible rather than on problems. They also produced 98,000 ideas, which were distilled in 15,000 unique suggestions and ultimately 35 concrete initiatives.

Appreciative Inquiry Principles

Appreciative inquiry embraces fix key principles. One of these is the positive principle, which we described above. A second principle, called the constructionist principle , takes the position that conversations don’t’ describe reality; they shape that reality. In order words, how we come to understand something depends on the questions we ask and the language we use. Thus appreciative inquiry requires sensitivity to and proactive management of the words and language use, as well as the thoughts and feeling behind that communication. This relates to a third principle, called the simultaneity principle, which states that inquiry and change are simultaneous, not sequential. The moment we ask questions of others, we changing those people. Furthermore, the questions we ask determine the information we receive, which in turn affects which change intervention we choose. The key learning point from this principle is to be mindful of effects that the inquiry has on the direction of the change process.

A fourth principle, called the poetic principle , states that organizations are open books, so we have choices in how they may be perceived, framed, and described. The poetic principle is reflected in the notion that a glass of water can be viewed as half full or half empty. Thus appreciative inquiry actively frames reality in a way that provides constructive value for future development. The

anticipatory principle, the fifth principle of appreciative inquiry, emphasizes the importance of a positive collective vision of the future state. People are motivated and guided by the vision they see and believe in for the future. Images that are mundane or disempowering will affect current effort and behavior differently than will images that are inspiring and engaging. We noted the importance of visions earlier in this chapter and in our discussion of transformational leadership

Appreciative Inquiry Principle Description

Positive Principle Focusing on positive events and potential produces more positive, effective, and enduring change.

Constructionist Principle How we perceive and understand the change process depends on the questions we ask and language we use throughout that process.

Simultaneity Principle Inquiry and change are simultaneous, not sequential.

Poetic Principle Organizations are open books, so we have choices in how they may be perceived, framed, and described.

Anticipatory Principle People are motivated and guided by the vision they see and believe in for the future.

The Four-D Model of Appreciative Inquiry

Built on these five principles, appreciative inquiry generally follows the “Four-D” process (named after its four stages). Appreciative inquiry begins with discovery – identifying the positive elements of the observed events or organization. This might involve documenting positive customer experiences elsewhere in the organization. Or it might include interviewing members of another organization to discover its fundamental strengths. As participants discuss their findings, they shift into the dreaming stage by envisioning what might be possible in an ideal organization. By pointing out a hypothetical ideal organization or situation, participants feel safer revealing their hopes and aspirations than they would if they were discussing their own organization or predicament.

As participants make their private thoughts public to the group, the process shifts into the third stage, called designing . Designing involves dialogue in which participants listen with selfless receptivity to one another’s models and assumptions and eventually form a collective model for thinking within the team. In effect, they create a common image of what should be. As this model takes shape, group members shift the focus back to their own situation. In the final stage of appreciative inquiry, called delivering (also known as destiny ), participants establish specific objectives and direction for their own organization of the basis of their model of what will be.

1

Discovery

2

Dreaming

3

Designing

4

Delivering

Identifying the best of “what is:

Envisioning

“what might be”

Engaging in dialogue about “what should be”

Developing objectives about “what will be”

Appreciative inquiry was introduced more than two decades ago, but it really gained popularity only within the past few years. Several success stories of organizational change from appreciative inquiry have emerged in a variety of organizational setting, including the BBC, Castrol Marine, Canadian Tire, AVON, Mexico, American Express, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Hunter Douglas.

Although appreciative inquiry has much to offer, it is not always the best approach to changing teams or organizations, and, indeed, it has not always been successful. This approach depends on participants’ ability to let go of the problem-oriented approach, including the “blame game” of determining who may have been responsible for past failures. It also requires leaders who are willing to accept appreciative inquiry’s less structured process. Another concern is that research has not yet examined the contingencies of this approach. In other words, we don’t yet know under what conditions appreciative inquiry is a useful approach to organizational change and under what conditions it is less effective. Overall, appreciative inquiry can be an effective approach to organizational change, but we are just beginning to understand its potential and limitations.

Large Group Intervention Approach

Appreciative inquiry can occur in small teams, but it is often designed to involve a large number of people, such as the 10,000 employees who participated in the process at the BBC. As such, appreciative inquiry is often identified as one of several large group organizational change interventions. Another large group intervention, known as future search (and its variations – search conferences and open-space technology), “puts the entire system in the room,” meaning that the process tries to involve as many employees and other stakeholders as possible who are associated with the organizational system. Future search conferences are typically held over a few days and involve participants in the search for trends or issues that are emerging. These events also ask participants to develop strategic solutions for those future conditions.

For example, Emerson & Cuming’s chemical manufacturing facility in Canton, Massachusetts, relied on a future search conference in which managers, supervisors, and production employees were organized into five stakeholder teams to identify initiatives that would improve the plant’s safety, efficiency, and cooperation. Lawrence Public Schools in Kansas conducted a future search conference involving parents, teachers, students, community partners, and other stakeholders to help the board allocate resources more effectively. “The goals that were developed at the future search conference reflect what the community envisioned for its school district,” says Superintendent Randy Weseman. Those goals have since become the foundation of the board’s strategic decision making.

Future search meetings and similar large group change events potentially minimize resistance to change and assist the quality of the change process, but they also have limitations. One problem is that involving so many people invariably limits the opportunity to contribute and increases the risk that a few people will dominate the process. Another concern is that these events focus on finding common ground, which many prevent the participants from discovering substantive differences that interfere with future progress. A third issue is that these events generate high expectations about an ideal future state that are difficult to satisfy in practice. Employees become even more cynical and resistant to change if they do not see meaningful decisions and actions resulting from these meetings.