Appreciating Appreciative Inquiry
If you’re looking for a training tool to keep in the “top drawer” of your Training Tool Kit, I’d have to recommend Appreciative Inquiry. I continue to marvel at the power of a relatively simple technique which, when appropriately applied, can not only ensure that we focus on those things that have been most effective in generating positive results in the past, but also allow us to draw upon the energy of those powerful experiences to build even more success in the future!
In a nutshell, Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is built on the deeply held belief that in every group or organization, something works. By identifying that something (or those “somethings”) clearly and doing MORE OF THAT, we can increase our chances of creating meaningful, productive, and positive-oriented change. Practitioners of AI see it as a generative process (Hammond, page 5), ever changing through the use of each person who uses it. That may indeed be the case, but what I can say for sure is that it’s a process that leads groups to powerful POSITIVE information on which to build future action.
Here’s an example of how I’ve recently applied this tool — an application that reinforced for me the value of this resource to each of us who love to train and/or facilitate. My story comes from our gathering of Search Institute trainers last summer. We wanted to delve into what we’ve all experienced in communities across North America in the past year and what evidence we saw of key elements that drove successful application of the Developmental Assets. To get there, I posed the AI question:
“Of all the signs you’ve seen that change is happening in places where you’ve worked, what is one organization/community where you’ve seen Developmental Assets integrated at the deepest levels . . . where you were left saying ‘Wow! It’s really WORKING here!’?”
The richness of our ensuing dialogue was, I believe, far beyond where we’d have gotten had we used another technique — especially had we gone down the deficit road of “What’s getting in the way?” or “What obstacles are people encountering?” Story after story of powerful testimony from our collective experience poured forth, all based on what works . . . it was a wonderful experience.
There are many resources on Appreciative Inquiry, but one of my favorites is the simple guidebook The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry by Sue Annis Hammond. The book is published by Thin Book Publishing Company, which you can find at www.thinbook.com. So, if you’d like to tap this resource for your work with groups, click here for further information on where to access a simple guide of how to integrate this resource into your workshops and meetings.
Go forth and learn good things that work!
Tim Duffey
President, Vision Training Associates
