1. AN APPRECIATIVE JOURNEY:
DISCOVERING
APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY
FNS Forum, Nov 2008
Denise Wright, Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Noel E K Tan

2. TRADITIONALLY...
The journey for a better future has often led people
and organisations to look for Problems...

3. TODAY...
We are here to learn a Better Way...An Affirmative
Way

4. APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY
Appreciate: To value what is of WORTH
Inquiry: To discover through the use of questions

5. WHY APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY?
Strengths-based approach to change

6. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
To showcase AI to the community
To allow the participants to embark on an
Appreciative Inquiry of their own facilitation
aspirations as the subject matter

7. APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY
Affirmative
Topic

8. BEFORE WE BEGIN...
Facilitators’ role and responsibilities
Housekeeping
Working agreements

9. DISCOVERING THE BEST OF
WHAT IS
Think back to the time when you If you are not a facilitator/trainer/
first became introduced to teacher, what made you give up
facilitation/training/teaching. your Sat morning to come here?
What makes you proud to be a What makes you excited to be here
facilitator/trainer/teacher? today?
What do you value about the work What do you value about the work
you do? you do?
What are your core strengths? What are your core strengths?

10. DREAMING...WHAT
MIGHT BE
What is different?
What is the situation? What are you doing? With? For? How do you feel?
Who else notices that something is different? (ie. your peers / co-
workers, boss, friends, family, community, direct reports etc)
What are they noticing about you? About your work? How are they
responding?What else are they noticing?
Who else is noticing? What are they noticing? What else?
REPEAT at least 3 times until you have a rich picture of what is different, how
and for whom.

11. DESIGN
Provocative Proposition/s
Why Provocative? - To inspire you to challenge
assumptions, routines and to stretch the status quo
Why Proposition? - It is a description of your dream,
not yet realised

12. DESIGN
Some Common Elements in a Some criteria for Good
Provocative Proposition: Propositions:
Strategy Is it Provocative?
Shared Values Is it grounded? Are there existing
examples or evidence of the
Skills ideal being a real possibility?
Societal Purposes Is it desired?
People Qualities Is it stated in Affirmative Terms?

13. EXEMPLAR: PROVOCATIVE
PROPOSITION
Noel E K Tan is an outstanding hands-on parent to his
3 children. By being their best friend, playmate,
fellow-learner and teacher, he makes a great impact
on how they grow and develop as human beings,
contributing to the societies they will live in and in
time, raise their own children to do the same.

14. EXEMPLAR:
FNS – Organisational Consciousness
Network
“Singapore is the Appreciative Inquiry hub of SE Asia by
2020. Appreciate Inquiry is the preferred approach to
organisational consciousness. We offer products, services and
best practices to individuals, teams and organisations,
government and NGOs. As AI catalysts, our purpose is to
engage organisations and society so that they purposefully
contribute to the growth of individuals, communities and
government.” Methods of Strategic Collaboration, Feb 2008.

15. APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY
Affirmative
Topic