“The ageless essence of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths in ways that make a system’s weaknesses irrelevant.” -Peter Drucker
The very act of asking a question influences the state of mind of the person who is asked. Because teams, organizations, and societies move toward what they persistently ask questions about, an Appreciative Inquiry is the investigation of those things that are most effective within an organization, or any other sort of human system.
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a way of looking at organizational change which focuses on identifying and doing more of what is already working, rather than looking for problems and trying to fix them. It makes rapid strategic change possible by focusing on the core strengths of an organization and then using those strengths to reshape the future.
What happens when a leader turns the Appreciative Inquiry process on themselves? Many of us are programmed to find our problem areas or what needs improvement and focus our action planning around our weaknesses. Research shows that more rapid change is possible by focusing on what is working and it has even been shown that when we do that, the gaps in our development are shored up in many cases as well.
The following 4 D Model for AI was created by David Cooperrider and shows the four stages of a the AI process.
I have taken each stage and made it an internal inquiry for leaders to grow momentum through appreciation of themselves. Are you ready?
Selection of your Affirmative Topic by exploring your Positive Core:
This is the focus of the intervention and once identified will likely evoke conversations about your desired future. Cooperrider’s work proved that humans grow in the direction of their persistent inquiries. To explore your affirmative topic, answer these questions:
What factors give life to my leadership when it is and has been most alive, successful, and effective without which your role as a leader would cease to exist? This question seeks to discover what you as a leader have done well in the past and are doing well in the present.
- What possibilities, expressed and latent, provide opportunities for more vital, successful, and effective (vision-and-values congruent) forms of leadership in you? This question is asking you to dream about and design a better future.
- Without being modest, what is it that you value most about yourself, your work, and your leadership?
4-D Cycle
Discovery (Appreciating Phase)
Describe a high-point experience in your leadership when you were most alive and engaged.
- What was the scenario?
- Who was present?
- What environmental factors contributed to your success?
- How did if feel at the pinnacle of this exceptional accomplishment?
- If you had to name 3 unique factors that came together in you to have this experience, what would they be?
Dream (Envisioning Phase)
Once you have identified your positive core and settled on your affirmative topic by looking at what is unique about your leadership, it is time to ground an image for yourself as a future leader from examples of your positive past.
- What three wishes do you have now to enhance the health and vitality of your leadership?
- When you successfully enhance these three things, what will the strategic impact be?
Design (Co-constructing Phase)
Once the positive core and affirmative topic is established and the Discovery and Dream phases are examined, it is time to start building. This is the architecture phase.
Collect or describe as many positive images as you can about your future as a leader in terms of possibility propositions. Please write in the present tense and create a clear and compelling picture of how things will be when the positive core of your affirmative topic is fully effective as seen in how you speak, act, strategize, connect, grow …lead. Your statements are descriptive of the “best of past and possibility.”
Destiny (Sustaining Phase)
This is the phase where you commit to creating an appreciative learning culture around your leader growth. You are continuously learning and generating new affirmative topics and cycling through them again and again creating your future momentum with past appreciation.
- In what ways is your affirmative topic alive in you and expressed to others through your actions today?
- In what ways will you further align with this topic tomorrow?
- What might your next affirmative topic be?
By changing your perspective on what questions to ask yourself as a leader from one of problem-based questions to a more appreciative approach you can change your relationship to change itself.
Cambridge Dictionary defines Appreciative and Inquiry as:
Appreciative: showing that you understand how good something is, or are grateful for something.
Inquiry: the process of asking a question
Asking a question that deepens your understanding, as a leader, of how good something is can only make you better. AI is based on discovering what is working, what gives life, what is creating energy and excitement, and then determining how to create more of it. This, I truly believe, will make the world a better place full of compelling leaders like you!
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