AI – What is Appreciative Inquiry?

I recently attended a training on AI – Appreciative Inquiry, defined by one of our instructors, Jane Magruder Watkins, as:

• "a process for engaging people in building the kinds of families, communities, organizations and world they want to live in; and,
• "a practical daily philosophy ... based on the realization that what we learn from what works and gives life is more effective and sustainable than what we learn from breakdowns and pathologies."

Jane and Lisa Hirsh, of Lisa Hirsh & Associates in Boston, presented the three-day program that both reinforced my penchant for the positive and inspired me to take it further. Not only did we learn about AI, we also immersed ourselves in the process, using AI to create an ongoing learning community that will continue to support us after the workshop.

I think what fascinates me about AI is how it blends with Aikido in supporting the kind of work I do and the kind of life I want to live. Like Aikido, AI suggests we focus not on the problem but on our purpose and on the direction we want to move towards; that the stories we tell ourselves about what we experience determine our experience; and that the questions we ask influence what we look for and what we find.

I think my favorite AI premise, though, is this one: AI believes that a positive approach to any issue is just as valid a basis for learning and just as contagious as a negative approach (paraphrase from Jane Magruder Watkins), and is more likely to contribute to sustainable solutions.

Would you like an AI view on how to approach this holiday season? Read my story "You Get What You Look For" in the December issue of my newsletter, Ki Moments.

Interested in looking further into AI? Visit the AI Commons.

Good ki!

Judy Ringer