APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY

Since the 1980s, Appreciative Inquiry (AI) has been used to bring about collaborative and strengths-based change in thousands of profit and nonprofit organizations and communities in more than 100 countries throughout the world. In the mid-1990s, AI began entering the community college.

Today, literally hundreds of community college leaders are using Appreciative Inquiry in dozens of community colleges for

* Becoming a learning-centered college,

* Self-study for accreditation,

* Leadership development,

* Hiring new employees,

* Evaluating employees,

* Team building,

* Strategic planning,

* Evaluating programs and services,

and many other positive change initiatives.

What is Appreciative Inquiry?

AI is a way of being and seeing. It is both a worldview and a process for facilitating positive change in human systems, e.g., organizations, groups, and communities. Its assumption is simple: Every human system has something that works right: things that give it life when it is most vital, effective, and successful. AI begins by identifying this positive core and then connecting to it in ways that heighten energy, sharpen vision, and inspire action for change.