What is Appreciative Inquiry?

1. What is Appreciative Inquiry? • Theory and practice of organisational change and development • That grew out of a dissatisfaction with Action Research • That recognizes and foregrounds human systems of belief, meaning and action in organisations • That treats organisations as living human systems • And has been developed by David Cooperrider, Suresh Srivastva and others from Case Western University ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

2. The Appreciative Inquiry Challenge • How to work effectively with organisations when we recognize them as living human systems: emotion, language, beliefs, values • How to practice if theory and practice are co-existent and simultaneous • How to work with the symbolic nature of the human universe • How to work with an awareness of the systemic relationship between client and consultant • How to be life enhancing in our interventions, how to move away from deficit centered language and thinking ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

3. How is it different to other methodologies? Problem solving Science based research methodologies Planned change methodologies

4. Problem solving Identification of problem Analysis of causes Analysis of possible solutions Action planning (treatment) Basic assumption: organisation is a problem to be solved Appreciative inquiry Discovering the best of what is Envisioning what could be Designing what should be Innovating what will be Basic assumption: organisation is a mystery to be embraced. Appreciative Inquiry & Problem Solving ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk Hammond 1996

5. Scientific Method Objectivist: There is an objective universe more or less separate from and independent of the observer Positivist: Privileges the physically observable Reductionist: Reduce higher order phenomena to elements (the parts) Fixed accounts Appreciative inquiry Constructionist: The universe is socially constructed. We can never see the world ‘as it really is’ Holistic: Rejects dualistic understandings, gives credence to mental causality, social dynamics Connective: Interested in the connections between elements and complex patterns (the sum) Generative accounts Appreciative Inquiry &Scientific Method ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

6. How is it different to other change methodologies? Creative rather than curative Dynamic rather than procedural Language as a living process rather than as a tool Embraces rather than pathologies humanness Focus on possibility rather than certainty Many ways rather than one right way

7. Positivist Linear Causality Truth Static meaning Neutral Fixed time Objective universe Scientific method based interventions Constructionist Circular Causality Accounts Dynamic meaning Fateful Possibility time Socially constructed multiverse Appreciative Inquiry Interventions Different understanding of relation language and change ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

8. How does appreciative inquiry make a difference? • Through appreciating organisations as living systems • Through attending to the creative process as opposed to the curative • Through recognizing mental processes as causal • Though recognizing organisation as a miracle of cooperative human interaction • Through language • Through social innovation ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

9. Appreciative inquiry and change ‘The key to creating change in the organisation is creating new theories /ideas/images that enter the everyday language of system members’ (Bushe 2001) ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

10. Assumptions of appreciative inquiry • In every society, organisation or group, something works • Every living system has untapped and rich inspiring accounts of the positive • The act of asking a question influences in some way • What we focus on becomes our reality • The language we use creates our reality ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

11. Assumptions of appreciative inquiry • People have more confidence and comfort to journey to the future when they carry forward parts of the past • If we carry parts of the past forward, they should be what is best about the past • It is important to value difference • The way we know people, groups and organisations is fateful (Hammond 1996) ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

12. Appreciative inquiry: principles • The constructionist principle • The simultaneity principle • The poetic principle • The anticipatory principle • The positive principle ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

13. The four D model • Affirmative topics, always homegrown, can be on anything the people in the organisation feel gives life to the system’ • Discovery: Discover and disclose positive capacity • Dreaming: A sense of how things could be • Design: Creation of the ideal organisation • Destiny: An inspired movement ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

14. Appreciative Inquiry Discover and Value ‘the best of what is’ Affirmative Topic Choice Dreaming ‘What might be’ Destiny ‘What will be’ Design through Dialogue ‘What should be’ ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

15. The Constructionist principle • Reality is socially constructed • We create our realities in relationship and communication • We see what we talk about/we hear what we listen out for • Its a multi-verse not a universe • Meaning is context bound • We seek always to make sense and to go on • Organisations are networks of conversation • The future is socially constructed ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

16. Social Constructionist based methodologies • Working with metaphors • Strange loops of belief and paradoxical accounts • Coordinated management of meaning • Domains of conversation • Stories • Lego Serious Play • Appreciative Inquiry ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

17. Simultaneity principle • To ask a question is to intervene • Client and consultant, manager and team, organisation and environment are all in systemic relationship - each influencing the other • It is not possible in human terms to stand outside the system • The questions we ask are fateful and impactful • There is a moral element to our choice of inquiry • Practice can not be divorced from theory, diagnosis can not be divorced from intervention There is no before ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

18. Appreciative inquiry: affirmative topic choice • Talk as a medium to achieve change • The placing of attention • The ‘sense’ created by talk • The ‘research question’ is the intervention and is fateful and impactful ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

19. Discovery • Identifying the best of what is, what works • Creating and amplifying accounts of the good, of peak experiences • Affirming good things (by paying attention, appreciating) • Creating data • Creating a launch pad for the future • Creating strategic possibilities • Generating hope and other good emotions ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

20. The anticipatory principle • Human systems are essentially heliotropic • They grow towards positive anticipatory futures • These futures are socially constructed • All behaviour in the present points towards the future • When a future is sufficiently meaningful and attractive, behaviour will become oriented towards achieving that future • The greater the self organisation, the greater the energy that goes into growth and the less that goes into creating order The power of the positive image ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

21. The poetic principle An organisation is more like a text than a machine An organisation has many authors The many authors create, co-create, and recreate the organisation Changing different authors’ stories will change the organisation Stories don’t reflect what is happening they are what is happening The future is co-created by many authors

22. Dreaming • Imagining possible futures, in detail (positive anticipatory images) • Using discovery launch pad • Creative not deductive • Creating possibility, creating data, creating change • Shared positive experience • Exploring strategic possibilities ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

23. Design • Linking future and present • Creating paths or accounts of connection • What are we doing now that points towards that future? • If we were like that, how would we be organized? • What can we do now, what can I do now? • Generating strategic intent • Positive energy for change: excitement, hope, affirmation ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

24. Positive principle • Change takes energy • Positive energy is a powerful source for change • Positive energy can be created by re-experiencing positive experiences and • By experiencing positive images of the future ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

25. Destiny • Releasing, channeling, facilitating energy into forward actions • Appreciating social nature of change, working with energy and flow - creative messiness • Achieving coherence and co-ordination (not control and constriction) • Appropriate processes of coherence (story, story board, action plan, provocative propositions) • Appropriate processes of co-ordination (communication, relationship, working parties, meetings) • Living strategy ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

26. Research into AI: What matters most? • The power of positive questions • The appreciative inquiry interview • Story telling • Future vision/ provocative propositions • Positive image • Collaboration/co-constructing/common ground • Anticipatory principle • Continuity • Replacing deficit discourse • (Yaeger and Sorensen 2001) ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

27. Benedictine University • Traditional academic culture • Ill equipped to respond to demands for change • Strategic planning - culture change • Decision to use Faculty meeting/ AI All 86 staff new and returning High level of participation Pursuit of an ideal Grounded in research • Mutual interviewing ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

28. Benedictine University • Recorded • Shaped in core values • Learning Speed at which able to capture data from all faculty Focus on positive & possible produced upbeat tone Cynicism set aside, transcending problems, celebrating strengths • Process on going ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

29. Quantitative research • Fortune 500, 94 fast food restaurants, one area • Problem retention salaried restaurant staff • 3 groups AI, normal problem solving, nothing • One year collecting base line data - turnover • 18 months intervention. One AI meeting a month each restaurant Three meeting each general manager One ‘roundtable’ wash-up ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

30. Results • AI group 30% higher retention than ‘normal’ group • AI group 32% higher retention than ‘nothing’ group • Al group less inclined to leave • $103,320 savings in hard training dollars • Confounding factor - leadership ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

31. Role of consultant • Creative not curative • Focusing on what works, seeking the best • Working with stories, language, words, emotions, images • Affecting relationship and belief systems of meaning and action • Generous, curious, appreciative, systemic: helping create useful accounts in the present about the past to enhance the future ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

32. Implications for managers and leaders • What you look for is what you will find • What you talk about is what you will create • More than one account can exist, none is the truth, all may be true • Conversation/communication contains moral order • Affect action through communication • Pull is more powerful than push • Emotion, belief and values are the bedrock of motivation • ‘ I want’ (desire) is more generative than ‘I must’ (compulsion) ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

33. Appreciative Process • Discovering the best of • Understanding what creates the best of • Amplifying the people and processes who best exemplify the best of • Giving attention to what is working well • Watching for what you want to see • Amplifying it when you see it ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

34. AI processes: Amplification Amplifying the data • Quality of stories told (new telling, new insight) • Recording of stories told - rich in detail, own voice • Sharing of stories told Thematic feedback documents Video Amplifying the findings/outcomes proposals • Surveys • Feedback on surveys ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

35. Creating Change • Creating, playing with, connecting accounts • Playing with voices • Playing with positions • Explorations of meaning and purpose • Separation of domains of conversation • Exploration of systemic connections • Articulating context ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk

36. Thank you ++44 (0)20 8293 0017 sarahlewis@jemstoneconsultancy.co.uk