Appreciative Inquiry

© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.

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

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
AI : the Quest
Appreciative Inquiry Resources
Appreciative Inquiry and Community Development
Appreciative Inquiry 5D Spiral of Development
Taos Institute on Appreciative Inquiry


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General Information

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