The Appreciative Inquiry Approach

Anne Radford outlines a management approach which originated in the US, and is being used with considerable success in the UK

Appreciative Inquiry is an approach for discovering, understanding, and supporting change in individuals, teams and organisations.

It is a partnership between Appreciation and Inquiry:

Appreciation:

Act of recognizing the best in people or the world around us.

Affirming past or present strengths, successes and potential

Perceiving those things that give life to an organisation

Inquiry:

Act of exploration and discovery.

To ask questions to understand

To be open to new potentials and possibilities

Appreciative Inquiry works from a set of assumptions. These include:

In every society, organisation or group, something works. The tendency at turning points or crises is to look at what is not working and start problem solving. At these times, people become demoralised. By recognising the current difficulty and learning from previous successes, people feel competent again and become willing to address the issue.

The act of asking questions of an organisation, or group influences the group in some way. Asking questions about how they see a situation and how they would like to see the future, helps people build up a picture of that future. It also help them focus is on the possibilities of the future rather than trying to right the wrongs of the past.

People have more confidence to journey to the unknown future when they discover and carry forward the best of the past. By doing this, they know how to repeat their successes.

Appreciative Inquiry has been used successfully in business settings to address issues such as management improvements, customer service and client

relations. It has also been used in commercial and not-for-profit organisations to improve team effectiveness, communications and commitment to a new future.

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to www.aradford.co.uk/AInewsletter.htm

or contact Anne Radford, editor of the newsletter on tel 07000 077 011, fax

07000 077 012 or email AnneLondon@aol.com

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Updated 18^th November 1999