Several years ago A.I. was the name of a movie “Artificial Intelligence.” Today, some people in the nonprofit world may recognize A.I. as Appreciative Inquiry. It’s a new way to look at community problems. Instead of the old model of reviewing past issues in a communicating and focusing on fixing what didn’t work, Appreciative Inquiry looks at the best parts of the past and focuses on building upon those things that did work for a successful future.
The focus on the problems sometimes serves to dampen enthusiasm for moving forward. It’s the ‘why bother – we’ve tried it – it will never change’ kind of mantra. With Appreciative Inquiry people can use their idea of what is working and further improve those strengths.
Think of it as a four step process:
Discover: appreciate the best things that are working
Dream: think about how these best things might grow for further impact
Design: put a plan together so you can achieve more success
Sustain: a combined sense of destiny for continuous learning and adjustment
There are numerous articles, books and websites out there talking about Appreciative Inquiry. So give it some thought. What’s working at your nonprofit and how can you make it even better?
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