5.10
APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY:
BUILDING CHANGE ON SUCCESS
Inspired by Suresh Srivastva, David Cooperrider, Martin Seligman, Tom Pitman, and Gervase Bushe.Effective leadership has become synonymous with the ability to facilitate strategic and lasting
change in organizations (i.e., improvements that stick). Appreciative inquiry is a process for
doing this. However, it entails a shift away from traditional management thinking and, as
such, it is often defined in contrast to problem solving (see table). Because appreciative inquiry
is such a departure from the assumptions of traditional management processes, it can be a chal-
lenging concept to grasp fully. Yet this is a learning curve with a potentially huge payoff.
Those who use appreciative inquiry claim it helps them achieve extraordinary results,
while detractors claim it’s somewhat naive and overly optimistic about human nature.
Appreciative inquiry is not for everyone. It tends to resonate with leaders who think laterally
as well as linearly, who have a generally positive and hopeful view of human nature, and who
are able to tolerate a degree of ambiguity as the process unfolds. The columns and examples in
this table will help you determine whether appreciative inquiry fits with your leadership style.
Key assumptions and strategies of appreciative inquiry include:
✔ Many things are currently working well in most organizations. Change and future suc-
cess is best built on these positive foundations. You cannot “fix” your way to success;
you have to build success on success.
✔ People will support change when they feel understood and valued, when they under-
stand the need for the change, and when they feel able to influence the direction and
pace of the change.
✔ Multiple realities exist within organizations and workgroups. Different stakeholders
can see the organization and the recommended change in remarkably different ways.166 SECTION 5 TOOLS FORLEADINGCHANGE
- Improvement is not sought unless a problem is
identified. - Problems are defined. (The focus is on what’s not
working.) - Possible causes are analyzed (based on how the
problem has been defined). - Data collection seeks to discover what has gone
wrong and where people have failed. - Solutions are defined (to fix the problem).
- Action plans are outlined.
- A “possibility blueprint” is developed outlining what
might, should, and will be in the future. - Success is defined. (The focus is on what is already
working well.) - Possible futures are envisioned (based on current
successes). - Data collection seeks to confirm and value past
successes, and takes place within a climate of mutual
inquiry (a learning community). - An ideal future is defined (what should be).
- Innovation is encouraged to achieve the defined
ideal future.
- A “possibility blueprint” is developed outlining what
Problem solving Appreciative inquiry