Appreciative Inquiry

Sections of This Topic Include

What is Appreciative Inquiry?

Various Perspectives on Appreciative Inquiry

Also See The Library's Blogs Related To Appreciative Inquiry

In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs that have posts related to Appreciative Inquiry. Scan down the blog's page to see various posts. Also see the section "Recent Blog Posts" in the sidebar of the blog or click on "next" near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.

Library's Communications Blog
Library's Leadership Blog
Library's Supervision Blog

What is Appreciative Inquiry?

Appreciative inquiry (AI) is a major breakthrough in organization development, training and development and in "problem solving," in general. AI is based on the assertion that "problems" are often the result of our own perspectives and perceptions of phenomena, eg, if we look at a certain priority as a "problem," then we tend to constrain our ability to effectively address the priority and to continue to develop in our lives and work.

AI is a philosophy so a variety of models, tools and techniques can be derived from that philosophy. For example, one AI-based approach to strategic planning includes identification of our best times during the best situations in the past in an organization, wishing and thinking about what worked best then, visioning what we want in the future, and building from what worked best in order to work toward our vision. The approach has revolutionized many practices, including strategic planning and organization development.

Various Perspectives on Appreciative Inquiry

The following links are by no means a complete list of online resources about AI. Like any other topic in the Library, the following links are to resources that can help to get you started in learning more about this topic.
Appreciative Inquiry Commons
Appreciative Inquiry Resources
Appreciative Inquiry and Community Development
Appreciative Inquiry 5D Spiral of Development
Taos Institute on Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry: Tapping into the River of Positive Possibilities
Internal Eval Week: Sue Hunter and Cindy Olney on Using Appreciative Inquiry in Evaluation
Appreciative Inquiry: An Introduction to a Fantastic Way to Enact Change

Also see
Continuous Learning
Effective Questioning
Inquiry and Advocacy
Mental Models (scan down to "Mental Models")
Questioning Skills
Reframing
Systems Thinking

For the Category of Interpersonal Skills:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

Recommended Books

Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision in Business: by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Includes step-by-step guidelines, tips and tools to effectively lead:
1. Yourself
2. Other individuals in the business
3. Groups and teams in the business
4. Business organizations
5. As well as all functions within the business organization.

Many of the Library's materials about business, leadership and management are adapted from this book. Just click on the title of the book above to see the Index and Table of Contents.

Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision With Nonprofit Staff: by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Includes step-by-step guidelines, tips and tools customized for personnel in nonprofits to effectively lead:
1. Yourself
2. Other individuals in the nonprofit
3. Groups and teams in the nonprofit
4. Nonprofit organizations
5. As well as all functions within the nonprofit organization.

Many of the Library's materials about nonprofit leadership and management are adapted from this book. Just click on the title of the book above to see the Index and Table of Contents.

The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just click on the image of the book. Also, a "bubble" of information might be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.