Learning to Appreciate. A look at appreciative inquiry. Excerpts are taken from, Appreciative Inquiry Handbook (2003) by David Cooperrider, Diana Whitney, and Jacqueline Stravros.
Appreciative inquiry is driven by two basic questions:
1. What in this particular setting and context gives life to this system (think of a system such as your family, work group, team, anyplace where a group of people gather in a common purpose) when it is most alive, healthy, and symbolically related to its various communities?
2. What are the possibilities expressed and latent that provide opportunities for more effective forms of organizing. 4
Note: think about your current family setting or relationship setting and let’s put appreciative inquiry to work. Imagine you and your partner or significant other go out to Starbucks to have a coffee and conversation about your relationship. You sit down and talk about your relationship. Instead of talking about what’s wrong with your relationship you change the direction of the conversation. Together you brainstorm what gives life to your relationship when it is most alive, healthy, and expresses the kind of values the both of you share. To discover the moments in your relationship that are most alive and healthy think of specific experiences you shared where your relationship was most alive and healthy. What was it about these experiences that made it special? You’ll quickly discover that you have a history of experiences where you experienced joy, overcoming challenges, and supporting each other.