Where are We in our World of Work? 

Changes are everywhere! Nothing ca stop the phenomenon of change from creeping into our personal and organization of the past. The landscapes at work are getting disrupted in very dramatic ways. We need fresh approaches to our quality of organizational life, locally and globally, for current and future generations as aggravated by the following landscapes:

1st is the landscape of modern life centering on INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. Life before the Internet and cyber highway offered only a few information sources - yellow pages, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, local libraries. Word of mouth was limited due to the size of the individual's social circles. Today, the Internet has given us many alternatives - blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Hi-5, Viral e-mail. Word-of mouse is now limited by one's appetite for information on the subject.

2nd is the landscape of one's PERCEIVED SENSE OF SAFETY AND SECURITY. Media Information has been the main "broad caster" of everything that is negative in our society - from terrorist threats to natural disasters to unthinkable crimes to celebrated scandals! While such events have always existed, today's media deliver them fast, raw and in real time. Thanks to satellite technology!

3rd is DISTRUST OF THE WORLD"S MAJOR ORGANIZATIONS. Leaders of major corporations made newspaper and key magazine pages resemble the police blotter. Organizational and governance scandals, like ENRON, AIG, MERCK, etcetera, took center stage in media. Gee, who else / what else can we trust?

4th is the URGENCY GAINED BY THE ENVIRONMENT CRISIS across quarters. After Al Gore shared to the world his winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, the public's attitude shifted from indifference and skepticism to belief and growing participation to respond to a 'humanitarian emergency'.

These phenomenal landscapes are driving current daily organizational living to a must-change orientation ... one of seeming surrender to helplessness and doom to helplessness and life-giving atmosphere.

There has been a global call to organizations to do what they have to do but also to make a difference, as well. To quote Tim Sanders, he wrote -

every one of us, regardless of title or position, can inspire our companies to change the way they do business, helping them to become a positive force for enriching people, communities and the environment. When this happens we do help save our companies from becoming irrelevant."

The Challenge: 'How can a workplace do this?' How can a desired shift from Nega-and-Deficit Thinking to Positive and Abundance Thinking be Implemented?

In my organizational studies, i have encountered this powerful handle that can create this desired shift from Negative to Positive. But to use its academic label of 'Appreciative Inquiry' (AI) immediately disengages the bottomline champions whose language is limited by strategy,structure, problems and profits. There were even times when i have to experienced a quizzical look, too academic; worse, 'do you really want me to listen to this?' Can this Appreciative Inquiry really stand the test of productivity? of the bottomline?

Let me then proceed to lay out its origins and theorical platform.

Appreciative Inquiry was born at Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio through the collaboration of David Cooperrider (the 1985 dissertation researcher) and his mentor, Dr. Suresh Srivasta. By 1990, Appreciative Inquiry had grown rapidly as vehicle for developing organizations like the USAID that enabled it to create the Global Excellence in Management Initiative, the GTE in Chicago, USA, The United Religions Initiative in California, USA and the Nutrimental Foods in Curitiba, Brazil - to name a few. In the early 2000, AI is acknowledged to have contributed to the rapid emergence of Positive Psychology.

Appreciative Inquiry is a study and exploration of what gives Life, Action, Success, Strength to human systems when they function at their best. This approach to human or organizational change is based on a key assumption: that questions and dialogues about strengths, values, hopes success and dreams are themselves transformational. This modus vivendi suggests that human organizing and change is a relational process of inquiry anchored in affirmation and appreciation. This concept is further embedded in the concept that 'organizations are human social systems, sources of unlimited relational capacity, created and lived in language. Such 'language' is captured in a Vision-Mission statement., Core Values List, Goal and Objective Illustration, and so forth. Apropos to this theoretical premise, organizations that have used the concept in their organizational quest for increased relevance and meaning and productivity, they have referred to Appreciative Inquiry as ...

•  The Power of Two
• Value-Inspired People
• The Zealots Program
• Focus 2000

It is an experiential practice that can guide the user to a deeper understanding of the dynamics and nuances of Appreciative Inquiry. An AI-experience makes the user realize how radically positive and subtly different it is from business as usual.

Let us take a look at this comparative matrix conceptualizing two different orientations ... Deficit and Abundant Thinking:

Table 1: The shift from Deficit-Based Change to Positive Change

Most Appreciative Inquiry processes follow the flow of the 4-D Cycle. This template is based on the notion that human systems - individuals, teams, organizations and communities - grow and change in the direction of what they study. The 4-D Cycle serves as a framework for individual development, partnership or alliance building, large-scale community and organization development. Whatever the purpose, the 4-D Cycle serves as the foundation on which change is built.

Briefly:

The Affirmative Topic Choice is the extensive, cooperative search to understand 'the best of what is' and 'what has been.'

This stage goes through the following steps 

1.  Craft Appreciative Interview Questions (this is the Protocol Instrument)
2. Develop an Interview Guide
3. Create an Interview Plan
4. Communicate the Inquiry Stage
5. Train Interviewers
6. Conduct Appreciative Interviews
7. Disseminate Stories and Best Practices
8. Make meaning and Map the Positive Core

Dream (D2) is the energizing exploration of 'what might be' - collectively exploring the hopes, wishes and dreams for their work, their relationships, their organization, and the world in which they operate their business.

This stage goes through the following steps:

1. Reflect the Miracle Question
2. Engage in a Dream Dialogue
3. Clarify the Collective Dream
4. Creatively enact the dream
5. Determine common themes
6. Create an  organizational dream map
7. Document the dream

Design (D3) selects the high-impact elements of an organization as laid out by the D1 and D2 data; and craft aspirational statements describing the preferred organization or 'what should be.'

This stage goes through the following steps:

1. Identify a Meaningful Social Architecture (people, strategy, structure, processes, etc)
2. Select relevant and strategic elements
3. Identify preferred organizational designs
4. Craft the aspirational statements

Destiny (D4) is a series of inspired actions that support the ongoing learning and innovation or 'what will be'. This creates an opening for all employees and leaders to step forward and contribute in the service of the organization and change that occur.

This stage goes through the following steps:

1. Review, Communicate and Celebrate Accomplishments
2. Generate a list of Potential Actions
3. Self-organize for Inspired Action Projects
4. Support success of self-organized projects 
5. Systemic applications of AI

This 4-D Cycle is captured below in its flow-illustration:

The reasons for using Appreciative Inquiry have varied among its users. As a result, no two AI processes are ever exactly the same. And let it be noted that AI is an approach, an orientation, a choice rather than a single methodology.

Three broad questions that must be addressed when initiating the use of Appreciative Inquiry:

Figure 1: A Menu of Approaches to Appreciative Inquiry 

•  What is your Change Agenda? (Purpose)

Table 2: Change Agendas Suited to Appreciative Inquiry

• What is the most appropriate Form of engagement, given your change agenda, timeframe and resources? (Methodology)