Appreciative Inquiry

Appreciative Inquiry

The aim is to identify what works well in an organization and enhance it.

1. The teacher writes 4 phases on the whiteboard that students will use in the activity:

• Discover – what works well?
• Dream – imagine what might be
• Design – plan what might be
• Destiny – creating what can be

2. DISCOVER: The groups conduct structured interviews with stakeholders to ask what works well in their organisation. 
3. DREAM: Groups review the results from the interviews and select examples of best practice.  The students, in discussion with the clients, create a statement of what would work well in an organisation of the future.  This statement should be posted on the whiteboard.
4. DESIGN: Groups review the statement and, with the organisation, plan to implement the ‘Dream’ changes
5. DESTINY: Groups decide roles and responsibilities and implement the changes to the organisation.  Groups review the changes to organisational processes and feedback to stakeholders. This will generate new appreciative inquiries which will restart the DISCOVER cycle ‘What can be’.
    

Appreciative Inquiry is an Organizational Development strategy that identifies what works well within an organisation and uses this to develop the organisation. For the DESIGN phase strategies such as innovation canvas could be used here.
The activity could be done using online tools such as Padlet, Miro, Mural, virtual whiteboard and breakout rooms in Teams/Zoom.

Inspired by: Cooperrider, D. L., Sorensen, P. F., Yaeger, T. F., & Whitney, D. (Eds.). (2001).
Appreciative inquiry: An emerging direction for organization development. Champaign, IL: Stipes