Appreciative Inquiry
Sally uses Appreciative Inquiry to inform her approach to Organisational Development and change
Appreciative Inquiry is a collaborative, strength-based approach to both personal and organizational development. It is a way of bringing about change that seeks to fully engage everyone who has a stake in the issue.
Appreciative Inquiry is:
- Primarily a lens through which to see everything around you, uniquely, intentionally and purposefully focussed on the positive
- A change methodology as well as a way of being in organisations and life
- An investigation of what works, what gives life, reminding ourselves of what we are already good at, and what we want to preserve going forward
- Language matters – imagine – dream – generative questions
- Seeks to harness energy and creativity by engaging people in building the kind of organisation (system or community) they want to be part of.
Sally uses Appreciative Inquiry to inform her approach to Organisational Development and change. This means focusing on the organisation’s strengths, and looking for what is working in any situation in order to build on the positive core. It has proven to be a very effective way of helping organisations face up to rapid change, increased competition, or uncertainty over future funding because of the way it seeks to bring about positive change from within and through engaging a wide group of stakeholders building commitment from the start and offering alternative perspectives.
The approach can be used on small boundaried issues/change projects right through to whole organisational change projects.
Examples of Appreciative Inquiry in Action
- In 2010 Sally led a project with a local charity Blackthorn Trust to help secure their future, faced with significant changes to their funding putting them at risk. The project engaged all those stakeholders with an interest in the charity including service users, staff, volunteers and commissioners of services to plan for a future they wanted to be part of – read more
- Following the success at Blackthorn Sally took the approach and lessons learnt to Age Concern Whitstable to address some of the challenges they were facing. These included a shrinking budget, rising costs and reduced government funding. They were also keen to embrace the opportunity to become a part of AGEUK without losing their local identity. Through her work with Age Concern Whitstable we were able to help the team meet the challenges facing them in a positive and sustainable way
- Last year Sally trained Change Champions in a County Council in the Appreciative Inquiry approach and methodology so that they could use the approach within their individual project areas
- For the past 3 years Sally has introduced CLORE social leaders to the Appreciative Inquiry approach to enrich their leadership of social enterprises and small and medium sized charities
- Appreciative Inquiry offers a different way of looking at your organisation and bringing about improvement. In this article written for Charity Finance, I explain what the discipline can do for Charities. The article is available to view as a PDF File.
An Appreciative Inquiry approach requires a truly collaborative partnership between the Client and Facilitator that brings together the wisdom from the organisation along with expertise in managing the process from the facilitator. The first phase is all about defining the nature of the inquiry, bringing together key stakeholders to explore the issue and start to discover the strengths in the system.
“Sally’s work with the charity I was leading was both inspiring and creative. Her energy, commitment and passion for making a difference shone through. She takes time to really know the organisation and uses Appreciative Inquiry skilfully and thoughtfully to engage people and overcome barriers to development. I have also enjoyed working alongside Sally as a co-facilitator.”
Jan Prior Former Chief Exec Blackthorn Trust
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