Organizations around the world are engaging in a new conversation aimed at unleashing the best in people, in business, and the world.  Leaders are breaking the mold of conventional business wisdom and choosing innovative approaches to building extraordinary organizations.  Many are adopting Appreciative Inquiry – a strength-based, holistic approach to change.

Appreciative Inquiry, or AI, is based on the deceptively simple premise: that organizations grow in the direction of what they repeatedly ask questions about and focus their attention on. Therefore, becoming a strong organization, one that moves in a positive direction, requires that people focus their collective energies on their positive core – the sum of their unique strengths, best practices and greatest aspirations.

“Real change begins with people talking about what they care about.”
Margaret J Wheatley

AI is both a philosophy and methodology, the consistent inquiry of what gives “life” to, innovates, and sustains organizations from a generative and strengths-based perspective.  It is a cooperative search for the best in people, their processes, structures, and the technology systems that support their organization and the world around them.

If you want a different “what,” you need a different “how”.  An AI approach, in contrast to traditional problem-solving and deficit-based approaches, involves the identification of strengths and internal best practices (collectively, the organization’s positive core).  The goal is to not only identify the positive core, but to leverage it in creating the most desired future.  This enables envisioning what could be, designing and co-constructing what should be, and innovating and sustaining what will be—based on the best of what already exists today.  This paradigm shift enables individuals and organizations to discover and live out those core strengths and values that are most enriching while moving into their desired future.  More importantly, this shift compels people toward action, turning visions into measurable, sustainable results.

 “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Gandhi

Shown in the following figure is the Appreciative Inquiry 5-D model that highlights the five phases of AI – Define, Discover, Dream, Design, and Deliver. 

The goal of the first phase, Define, is to identify the affirmative and strategic topic(s) to inquire into and learn more about.  Regardless of the application—strategic planning, business process innovation, organization design, capacity building, partnership/collaboration, or many others—this initial phase is key to identifying and reframing the key issues to be explored.   Additionally, during this phase, key guidance structures are put in place to steer the overall change effort.

The focus of the Discover phase (appreciating the best of what is) is to inquire into highpoint stories of success—what we look like when we’re performing at our best, what is valued most, and hopes for the future. 

The Dream phase (envisioning what might be, results and impact), involves co-creating a shared vision of the future based on the group/organization’s positive core—key assets, strengths, values, and hopes identified during the Discovery phase. 

During the Design phase (co-constructing the future, what should be), the outputs from the previous phases are brought together to inform the co-creation of design elements (structures, roles, initiatives, and processes) that will unleash and leverage those strengths, values, internal best practices (positive core) and assist in the achievement of the shared vision or dream. 

The last phase, Deliver (innovating what will be), focuses on igniting the vision and strategies through action and by bringing the full strengths of the organization to bear.  Key to the success of the Deliver phase is the marriage of two opposing forces, sustainability and innovation—turning vision into action in a manner that preserves the positive core while simultaneously cultivating a culture of continuous learning, renewal, and inquiry into “the way work gets done around here”.

An AI Summit methodology makes an ideal approach for accelerating large scale positive change in any organization—from the corporate office, to the local church group, to villages in East Africa.  It accomplishes this by involving the entire system and inspiring participants to commit, collaborate, and ignite action with intention.  Further, when people are encouraged to build on their collective strengths, values, and successes, relationships are improved and individuals move much faster into their desired future. 

AI Summits are more effective than traditional approaches to strategy development for at least six reasons. 

• First, they are quicker. AI Summits speed up the change process by directly engaging the entire system in envisioning, designing, and implementing the change. A strategy development process that normally takes 12-18 months can be done in one or two month’s time.  
  
• Second, they produce commitment. During AI Summits everyone is involved at some level in developing the strategy, so that when it is implemented there is less resistance, and it is not necessary to tell, sell, or force the strategy onto members of the system.  
  
• Third, AI Summits provide immediate and broad access to information and innovation.  In any organization, knowledge and innovation are widely distributed, and people at multiple levels have the information most critical to success. AI Summits offer immediate access to this knowledge by involving the “whole system.”
  
• Fourth, they promote a “total system mindset.” By giving participants a clear understanding of how their individual contribution fits into the big picture, AI Summits enable more flexible modes of organizing and collaborating around shared images of the most desired path ahead.
  
• Fifth, they strengthen the organizational culture. An AI Summit brings the entire system together face-to-face (or virtually, using collaborative technology) to reaffirm its mission and core values, while inviting inquiry and exploration of a new vision and direction.
  
• Finally, they result in inspired action. AI Summits enable positive, sustainable change by unifying participants behind a common strategy, creating a clear blueprint for individual and collective action.