A common misconception that has damaged Ai’s reputation is that the problem-solving approach dismisses important problems by solely focusing on the positive.
However, and as it was previously emphasized, traditional approaches to problem-solving often fail to bear productive results.
What Ai offers is a possibility to approach systemic issues from a different angle. This has been shown to tackle issues at their root and enable people to be creative in resolving these.
The generation of internal knowledge and new ideas specific to the person or organization is what is sought after in the Ai process. The aim is not to apply externally sourced and predetermined ideas, thereby stripping their sense of agency and personal perspective.
Ai is, therefore, most useful in team building, participatory methods, and giving a clear and positive future direction to the present that was sketched out by all parties involved.
In a case study conducted by Scerri, Innes, and Scerri (2015) among 35 care workers and family members of patients with dementia, for instance, Appreciative Inquiry generated an enhanced understanding of what works best for people whose perspective on the matter would have otherwise not been actively considered.
This exploration of positive care experiences facilitated factors that improved the quality of dementia care services. It also gave outlines for the hospital management for how to improve the way hospital staff incorporate such care methods in their work.
An Ai Case Study
A major success in the implementation’s history of Ai involved the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, which at one point suffered from a culture of excessive competition, mistrust and individualism among its 5,000 employee journalists (Mishra & Bhatnagar, 2012).
While such a culture fostered high creativity levels individually, the non-existent collaborative spirit was having a crippling effect on the profits of the broadcasting service.
In 2002, the director-general, Greg Dyke, decided that it was time for a change and turned to the Appreciative Inquiry approach for guidance.
Through a program entitled “Making It Happen”, which lasted six months and involved 200 meetings at which over 10,000 employees attended around the world, the dysfunctional dynamics were tackled.
In those meetings, employees were teamed up in pairs and told they would take turns in interviewing each other about their respective positive and successful experiences and moments they felt proud of themselves during their time at the BBC.
The questions that formed part of the interview were:
- What have been the most creative/valued experiences in your time at the BBC?
- What were the conditions that made the experience possible?
- If those experiences were to become the norm, how would the BBC have to change?
Following, each pair was placed in smaller groups of ten colleagues, so that the group could discuss and filter out which story they agreed to be most touching and powerful.
The shortlisted stories were then shared with the whole group.
The results were fruitful, as about 98,000 ideas were generated, analyzed and sent to the pan-BBC change team to be evaluated and considered for implementation.
Part of these ideas also included suggestions and observations carried out on the BBC’s value system. These were synthesized and standardized into six aspirational values:
- Trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest.
- Audiences are at the heart of everything we do.
- We take pride in delivering quality and value for money.
- Creativity is the lifeblood of our organization.
- We respect each other and celebrate our diversity so that everyone can give their best.
- We are one BBC: great things happen when we work together.
The framing and implementation of these new values enabled the BBC to develop a new culture and foster a sense of togetherness among its employees.
Appreciative Inquiry Facilitation Guide
Inspired by a training guide for COMPASS (Community Partnerships for Sustainable Resource Management in Malawi, 2003), the following guide outlines how to facilitate social change using Ai.
The person orchestrating the application of Ai is expected to be a facilitator to give direction to the group’s thinking and decision-making processes.
The method used here can also be transposed into other contexts, whether clinical, organizational or else and is likely to bear similar positive results.
- Start off by asking the people present what they would like to discuss and learn about themselves as a collective.
- Encourage them to settle on a topic they are interested in and find important and not something they feel obliged to focus on.
- The choice should be a careful one as once the Ai process has begun, it’s difficult to put aside a given topic from the group’s agenda. Encouraged the group to consider, within a reasonable range, a few ideas.
- Clarity and precision of the topic in question is what should be ultimately strived for.
- The exploration of the choice of focus can be in itself subject to an Ai intervention.
The effectiveness of the Ai process is contingent on the nature of the questions asked- whether they are “fateful”, that is, evocative and generating, or not.
We will cover specific questions in the Appreciative Inquiry Interview Template section of this article. However, here are some points to remember while asking them to substantiate the quality of the answers and improve the chance of positive outcomes.
- Develop tailored positive questions to the group’s desired focus.
- Prolong the conversation by asking “probing questions” to encourage them to get into more detail, inquiry about the different actors involved, the temporality, the reason, and the whys, etc.
- Then, ask the group to frame their successes as a collective, then allow participants to evoke their individual successes.
- Encourage people to verbally relive and share their experiences with the group. The driving idea is to give a central role to storytelling. Open-ended questions will likely prove themselves effective in sparking animated conversation, dialogue, and stories. By contrast, dead-end questions eliciting “yes” or “no” as a response should be avoided.
- The nature of the asked questions should point towards strengthening group cohesion. For instance, ask participants to recall an instance in which the group collaborated and succeeded in achieving something that worked in the interest and benefit of all.
Relevant: 4 Appreciative Inquiry Tools, Exercises and Activities
5 More Tips
1. Provocative propositions
As Cooperrider writes (n.d.) bridging the best of “what is” and “what might be” can be formulated as “provocative propositions”.
It stretches out what is considered possible, implicitly questions taken for granted routines and ways of operating and helps in framing new and desired possibilities for a community to move forward. For this reason, conceptualizing the constructing of provocative propositions as architecture.
The goal is to build something new upon the most solid foundations of your building, in order to enhance its design, functioning, and display.
2. Encouraging phrases
Lewis (2017) highlights the importance of being generous in the emotional interaction with the people Ai is conducted with.
Since the interaction is meant to revolve around them, the way a person emotionally responds to their stories can have a tremendous impact on what they decide to do next or feel about their own ideas.
According to Lewis, “praise and appreciation are an investment, not a cost”, which facilitates a positive psychological disposition that will “boost morale, assist learning, bolster confidence, and improve performance”.
She recommends a ratio of at least 3-1 positive to critical comment will probably improve a person’s sense of wellbeing, his or her engagement, innovation, and creative insights.
Do not hesitate to use encouraging phrases, such as “that’s so interesting! What a good story! That’s a very inspiring experience. Is there anything else you can tell me about this?”.
3. Active listening and engagement
Your interpersonal skills, therefore, play a key role in the Ai process: don’t think of applying Ai interviews as a script- good interviews involve active listening and engagement. Improvising is permitted as long as depth and detail are sought for.
4. Practice
Before applying Ai professionally, Fitzgerald, Murrell, and Newman (2001) advise to start applying the Ai method to yourself and to practice being appreciative of yourself and others.
You may also consider attending an Ai workshop and enrolling in a training program. Study the method in-depth and go back to its foundational works and its most famous applications in the domain you intend to apply it.
Then, come up with personalized questions for Ai interview and try to informally conduct interviews with your family, friends, and co-workers.
5. Consistency and enthusiasm
While conducting Ai, Fitzgerald, Murrell, and Newman (2001) further advice to “let your light shine” and “share your enthusiasm” during the process. Practicing what you preach will therefore also show that you are consistent with Ai principles.
What our readers think
This was indeed helpful.
Hi, Nicole! Can I ask how can we implement AI approach to foster innovation for the small groups of plantation workers?
Hi BA,
Depending on the specifics of what you’re looking to accomplish, there are many different ways you could apply an appreciative inquiry approach to this. It’s hard to advise without knowledge of these specifics (you might want to seek out a consultant to help with this), but the approach will follow all or some of the steps outlines. For example, you may want to begin at the ‘Define’ stage by working with the workers to develop a set of ideals that would reflect the best possible outcome from an intervention aimed at innovation (i.e., how do we collectively ‘define’ innovation so that we know when we’ve achieved it?). You might then use some exercises to explore individual strengths within the team that may lead to this reality (check out our Workplace Strength Cards for a material that could help with this).
You may also find some useful resources by searching for facilitation materials on the AI Commons website.
Hope this helps a little!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Nicole
Can you guide me in responding this assignment ”Create context to apply appreciative inquiry in your dream project or transformation you want to engage actors in your neighbourhood. Make a one-page document of this endeavour creativity”
Hi Trazias,
I’m afraid I don’t quite understand the instruction. What is meant by “create context” in this instruction?
Let me know!
– Nicole | Community Manager
What is the best way to combine AI and the GROW model in coaching for leadership development?
Hi Gwen,
That’s a great question! It would honestly depend on the nature of the intervention. For starters, you’ll notice that several of the steps in the Appreciative Inquiry model of the same or similar to those in the GROW model. For instance, both begin with a step that involves defining the ideal situation or target. Likewise, both include steps that involve scoping out options for action, and taking those actions.
Given that appreciative inquiry is typically an approach used at the organizational level (or with teams), you might structure the sequence of actions in your intervention using the GROW model (possibly better suited to coaching individual leaders) but apply specific coaching techniques that invoke the five principles of AI. The five principles of AI actually have parallels with key lines of thought in psychology. For instance, the Constructionist principle mirrors ideas in various mindfulness-based approaches to cognitive behavioral therapy, which encourage people to explore the internal narratives driving their actions.
In other words, I think you’ll find that you could design the specific activities in the training such that they invoke the five principles of AI one-on-one basis with leaders, but you could structure the program around the sequence of steps in the GROW model.
I think that’s the approach I’d take anyway! Hope this gives you some food for thought.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello! Can Appreciative Inquiry be used in a quantitative study? thank you!
Hi Hannah,
Yes, absolutely it can. For instance, you might conduct a pre- and post-test in the field using appreciative inquiry as an intervention. Then, you can look at the differences in these quantitative indices between the two tests to determine whether the intervention has worked. These indices could be things like KPIs, subjective reports about an organization’s culture, job satisfaction, etc.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi,
It is very useful article for my persoanl as well as my professional life. I appreciate your exepertise.
Thank you so much.
Rupendra