Appreciative Inquiry for Development

Appreciative Inquiry is a model that is the work of David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva. The approach of Appreciative Inquiry provides a collaborative, strengths-based approach to supporting leadership, team, and organizational development. This approach provides a five step model that can be used to engage through a lens of curiosity with a person or group in a way that invites their co-creation of exploration and the path forward. For leaders that value a partnered approach to their development work, this model could serve as the perfect option!

Many leaders put intention into their teams growth but it often can feel one directional to the person being led. Appreciative inquiry creates a partnership for growth and by proxy should help support increased ownership of both leader and the person or team being led and support stronger outcomes.

5 D’s of Appreciative Inquiry

1 ) Define

What would you like to focus growth on? This is the easy part! In the first step you will define, together, what growth will be the focus of your work. This goal can range in focus pretty broadly and include anything from defining a new skill to learn, setting up a stretch project, or setting a path toward promotion.

As this model works well with groups also, a goal could be something much broader such as refining cultural intention within an organization or developing communication and support systems across leadership functions. Since this approach is collaborative, it will help provide the mechanisms for all stakeholders to really buy-in.

2 ) Discover

Explore current strengths that can be utilized. In step two, you'll start to explore other areas of strengths to understand what other successful behaviors can be integrated into this growth work. For individuals this could include identifying systems that serve them well in other functions of their work to explore how that success could translate to this new goal. For groups it could offer similar exploration regarding previous experiences of change and how they have been successfully navigated.

By starting through the lens of exploring strengths, an optimistic intention can be baked into the development process much earlier. This should help support greater participation and partnership as the development process continues.

3 ) Dream

Create the vision of what success will look like. In step three you're going to define what the end will look like. You'll want this vision to be a stretch while also being achievable. You can feel free to explore multiple possibilities. Ultimately the path that you start to bring into focus should be enough of a stretch that it will support growth but not be too far removed from current reality that it will not be achievable.

For a team utilizing this model, this part can also be used to explore who may take up what role, how they’ll be involved, and to work through the design and possibilities of the overall structure of the group and the development that they’re working towards.

4 ) Design

Identify obstacles to overcome and options to make it happen. In step four you'll explore the reality of making growth happen. You may identify skills that need to be taught, team structure that may need to be adjusted, or behavioral tendencies that may require presence. This is all about identifying the parts of the plan!

This step for groups may also highlight that some members will need more or specialized support that others. This step also provides an opportunity to support considerations of equity and access and can be used to help level up everyone within the group or team as a part of the broader developmental process.

5 ) Delivery

Create the plan and set the intention for the path forward. In the final step, you'll put all of the pieces into place and set intention for the path forward. Creating specific, measurable, and time-bound goals will help set accountability forward. It will also be important that leaders build in moments of support.

It can also be helpful to explore contingencies as well regarding delivery. Similarly to how you’ll want to explore obstacles in the design, it can be helpful to explore obstacles in the delivery as well. With a bit of additional preparation, should you or your team find themselves off course, it will be easier to adjust to an already determined plan b rather than going back and starting all over.

Support will be a critical component of the whole process, but especially in the delivery phase. You can also utilize the model within the delivery phase to explore how performance is going. As you progress it can help identify strengths and opportunities, highlight new areas of consideration, and continue to support a refined approach to the whole process as the collective moves along.

How may you be able to integrate Appreciative Inquiry as a tool into your toolbox to support team growth?