The Core Principles of AI

Are Principles Important?

While the 5-D cycle for applying Appreciative Inquiry is presented here as a systematic approach to organization change, it is important to understand that variations on or even alternatives to this model will inevitably emerge as each system takes the AI approach and makes it their own. Once grounded in the principles of AI, organizations inevitably become generative and creative, which leads to even more innovation in the application of AI.

In the original work of Appreciative Inquiry, five principles are articulated:

The sixth, wholeness, was added later. (Several authors have added other principles to this list, but the one that almost all agree on is an overarching principle of Wholeness.) Following are brief descriptions of each of the principles.

The Five Original Principles Plus Wholeness

1. The Constructionist Principle. An understanding and acceptance of the social constructionist stance toward reality and social knowledge, that is, that what we believe to be real in the world is created through our social discourse, through the conversations we have with each other that lead to agreement about how we will see the world, how we will behave, what we will accept as reality. Knowledge and organizational destiny are interwoven; the way we know is fateful. Awareness of this concept enables change. We create what we can imagine.

The Constructionist Principle states that knowledge about an organization and the destiny of that organization are interwoven. To be effective leaders in any situation, we must be skilled in the art of understanding, reading, and analyzing organizations as living, human constructions. What we believe to be real in the world is created through our social discourse, through conversations we have with each other that lead to agreement about how we will see the world, how we behave, what we accept as reality. The first task of any organization change process is Discovery—learning and making sense of what is believed and said about the system. Thus, the way we know is fateful.

2. The Principle of Simultaneity. A realization that inquiry is change, that the first question we ask is fateful in that the organization will turn its energy in the direction of that first question, whether positive or negative; and, as a result, the seeds of change are embedded in it. Inquiry is change! The seeds of change are embedded in the first questions we ask. The Principle of Simultaneity recognizes that inquiry and change are not separate moments, but are simultaneous. Inquiry is intervention. The seeds of change—that is, the things people think and talk about, the things people discover and learn, and the things that inform dialogue and inspire images of the future—are implicit in the very first questions we ask. One of the most impactful things a change agent does is to articulate questions. The questions we ask set the stage for what we “find,” and what we “discover” creates the stories that lead to conversations about how the organization will construct its future.

3. The Anticipatory Principal. The impact of anticipatory images, that is, understanding that behavior and decisions about actions are based not only on what we were born with or learned from our environment, but also on what we anticipate, what we think or imagine will happen in the future. Habits of the collective imagination, habits of the mind, habits of the heart, guide images of the future. Images are relational, public property, dialogical. The Anticipatory Principle says that the most important resources we have for generating constructive organizational change or improvement are our collective imagination and our discourse about the future. It is the image of the future that in fact guides the current behavior of any person or organization. Much like a movie projector on a screen, human systems are forever projecting ahead of themselves a horizon of expectation that brings the future powerfully into the present as a mobilizing agent. Organizations exist, in the final analysis, because people who govern and maintain them share some sort of shared discourse or projection about what the organization is, how it will function, and what it is likely to become.

4. The Poetic Principle. A valuing of storytelling as a way of gathering holistic information that includes not only facts, but also the feelings and affect that a person experiences and the recognition that stories (like all good poetry) can be told and interpreted about any aspect of an organization’s existence. An organization’s past or present or future is an endless source of learning, inspiration, interpretation, and possibility. We can inquire into anything and any living human organization. The Poetic Principle acknowledges that human organizations are open books. An organization’s story is constantly being co-authored by the people within the organization as well as by those outside who interact with it. The organization’s past, present, and future are endless sources of learning, inspiration, or interpretation, just as a good poem is open to endless interpretations. The important point is that we can study any topic related to human experience in any human system. We can inquire into the nature of alienation or the nature of joy. We can study moments of creativity and innovation, or moments of debilitating stress. We have a choice!

5. The Positive Principle. A belief that a positive approach to any issue is just as valid as a basis for learning and that it is just as contagious as a negative approach, which makes taking the positive stance an antidote to cynicism. Positive affect is just as contagious as negative affect. There is power in positive questions; the affective side of transformation; the dynamic of hope. Positive and grounded inquiry is an antidote to cynicism. The Positive Principle grows out of years of experience with Appreciative Inquiry. Momentum for change requires large amounts of positive affect and social bonding—things like hope, inspiration, and sheer joy in creating with one another. AI demonstrates that the more positive the questions used to guide a group process or organizational change effort, the more long lasting and effective the change effort (Bushe & Coetzer, 1995; Gergen, 1995). Human beings and organizations move in the direction of what they inquire about. Widespread inquiry into “empowerment” or “being the best organization in the field”, will have a whole different long term sustainable impact for positive action than a study into “low morale” or “process breakdowns” done with the idea that those conditions can be cured.

6. The Overarching Principle of Wholeness. Appreciative Inquiry, rooted as it is in that which is strong and positive, leads to a “new manner of thinking.” AI unleashes the imagination and provides a process for human beings to join together and experience the idea that “Wholes precede parts!” as articulated in the book Presence: An Exploration of Profound Changes in People, Organizations, and Society (Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski, & Flowers, 2005).

Speaking of Albert Einstein, one writer noted: “He marveled at magnetic fields, gravity, inertia and light beams. ‘Something deeply hidden had to be behind things,’ he said. He retained the ability to hold two thoughts in his mind simultaneously, to be puzzled when they conflicted and to delight when he saw an underlying unity.”

The challenge of these times is for each of us to realize that what we label dichotomous is caused by our limited ability to realize that what we see in parts is always some small piece of a larger whole, and that it is our choice about whether to see the part or to embrace the whole.

For example: We want to play a game of football, a sport known for being highly competitive. So we go to an agreed-on location; we suit up in agreed-on gear; we locate an agreed-on ball; and we play a game by agreed-on rules and regulations. Is this a “competitive” process? Or a cooperative one? To have a football game, cooperation and competition are part of a whole, essential to the game’s success.

Further, to understand “wholes” and realize that “wholes” precede parts, we might reflect that we are not born a piece at a time. We arrive in the world with everything attached to everything else. It is possible for us to learn to hold dichotomous ideas in our heads at the same time (a process that Don Beck calls “second tier thinking” in Spiral Dynamics theory) and we can come to see the world anew. We can approach these seeming differences with an “Isn’t that interesting!” approach in place of an “I don’t agree with that” framework.

Appreciative Inquiry is all about “wholes”:

• Getting the whole system involved in imagining their preferred future
• Getting all voices in the system into the room

That is the challenge for an AI consultant—to help organizations begin to understand the interconnectedness of every part of the organization and to see it as an interconnected whole.

“With Appreciative Inquiry, it becomes apparent that what we defined as ‘problems’ can be resolved by looking forward toward a dreamed-of future rather than by looking backward to what was broken and needed fixing. It helps us understand that human systems are different from mechanical systems, and that the way forward is not by becoming the admired leader; rather, it is by empowering all of human kind to tap into their gifts and talents together ‘to create not just new worlds, but better worlds?’”

David Cooperrider from the film “Fusion of Strengths.”

The question arises: “What will organizations that are aligned with AI Principles and practices look like?” Some of the answers to that question have emerged over the past decade, and as we approach the next decade, it is apparent that the speed of change in organizations is accelerating given the rapid development of new forms of technology and communication. The following list highlights some observable changes that are already taking place. And the list is continually evolving at accelerating speed!

These are some of the ideas that we have explored and observed. We have also observed that change these days is rapid beyond documentation. It is certain that what seems true in one moment is likely to be different in the next. The purpose of these observations is to encourage each of our readers to embrace this process of fascination with the changes that are happening and to track the content of such changes.

Once grounded in the purpose and principles of Appreciative Inquiry, the next step is to understand shifts in the ways that human systems organize and thrive and to develop flexible ways of being and thinking that enable people and organizations to ride the waves of change at constantly accelerating speeds! It is abundantly clear that mechanistic models will no longer be able to survive. In the next part of this chapter, we will introduce some existing and some past ideas about organizations and how they change, examining the theory and methods in ways that enable you to dismiss, adapt, or adopt as appropriate to the rapidly changing times in which we are living.