Appreciative Inquiry in Business

Appreciative Inquiry is based on the idea of discovering what works and gives life to an organization and building the organization on these life giving properties.  David Cooperrider, the founder or Appreciative Inquiry describes it this way:

"More than a method or technique, the appreciative mode of inquiry is a means of living with, being with and directly participating in the life of a human system in a way that compels one to inquire into the deeper life-generating essentials and potentials of organizational existence."
David Cooperrider

GTE was one of the early major corporations to use Appreciative Inquiry in its organizational development. Tom White, GTE's President described the relationship between AI and problem solving:
"Appreciative Inquiry gets much better results than seeking out and solving problems. We often concentrate enormous resources on correcting problems. But when used continually over a long time, this approach leads to a negative culture.... or a slip into a paralyzing sense of hopelessness. Don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating mindless happy talk. AI is a complex science designed to make things better. We can't ignore problems - we just need to approach them from the other side."
Tom White, President of GTE Telephone Operations

Appreciative Inquiry 5D Spiral of Development

 
Appreciative Inquiry is an iterative, generative, process that uses collaborative inquiry and strategic visioning to unleash the positive energy within an Organization to enable a preferred sustainable future to be achieved.

The Five Phases of the
Appreciative Process

1: Define: Awareness of the need for development.
Preparing for an appreciative process.
Committing to the Positive

2: Discover: What is the best you've been?
Interview process and gathering of life-giving experience within congregation.
Valuing the Best of What Is

3: Dream: What is the world and the community calling us to be?
What could our organization look like in 5 years time?
Developing common images of the future.
Visioning the Ideal

4: Design: Aligning ideals, values, structures and mission
Developing achievable plans and steps to make the vision a reality.
Dialoguing What Should Be

5: Deliver: Achieving the Organization's Destiny.
Co-creating a sustainable, preferred future.
Who, What, When, Where, How?
Innovating What Will Be.