Appreciative Inquiry (AI)
A strengths-based organizational development model that facilitates self-determined change by focusing on an organization's 'positive core.' Rather than identifying and fixing problems, it uses collective inquiry to imagine and design a desired future state based on what is already working effectively.
When a few voices dominate or quieter people don't contribute
Your group discussions aren't balanced, you need better ways to include everyone, or conversations go in circles.
Ideal for organizational transformation, strategic visioning, culture shifts, and situations where traditional problem-solving has led to stagnation or low morale.
Define
Discover
Dream
Design
Destiny (or Deploy)
Ensures every voice is heard and the group's collective intelligence is unlocked.
Facilitators can use this framework to structure large-scale summits or strategic planning sessions. By replacing traditional 'gap analysis' with appreciative interviews and generative storytelling, designers can move a group from shared discovery to autonomous, self-organized action.
- 1Use structured turn-taking to balance voices
- 2Start with individual reflection before group discussion
- 3Create safe spaces for minority opinions
- 4Summarize and synthesize regularly
- Organizational Development
- Strategic Planning
- Culture Transformation
- Community Building
- Constructionist Principle: Language and discourse co-construct the reality of the organization.
- Principle of Simultaneity: Inquiry and change happen at the same time; the first questions asked set the direction for change.
- Poetic Principle: Organizations are like open books; we can choose which stories to study and amplify.
- Anticipatory Principle: Collective images of the future act as a mobilizing agent for current behavior.
- Positive Principle: Sustainable change requires positive affect, such as hope, joy, and social bonding, to increase creativity and cognitive flexibility.
- Must focus on 'generativity' (creating new ideas) rather than just 'positivity' to ensure transformational change.
- Requires a high degree of stakeholder engagement and a willingness to move away from deficiency-based thinking.
- The 'Generative' approach to the Destiny phase (allowing action without waiting for permission) is more transformational than traditional top-down management.