Appreciative Inquiry

Appreciative inquiry is a method and approach to inquiry that seeks to understand what is best about a program, organization, or system, to create a better future. The underlying assumptions of appreciative inquiry suggest that what we focus on becomes our reality, that there are multiple realities and values that need to be acknowledged and included, that the very act of asking questions influences our thinking and behavior, and that people will have more enthusiasm and motivation to change if they see possibilities and opportunities for the future. Appreciative inquiry is based on five principles:

• 1.
  Knowledge about an organization and the destiny of that organization are interwoven.
• 2.
  Inquiry and change are not separate but are simultaneous. Inquiry is intervention.
• 3.
  The most important resources we have ...