Exploring the Principles of Appreciative Inquiry
2024-12-12 - 2144-12-11 | Self-Directed Online Course
DISCOVER THE PRINCIPLES THAT DRIVE POSITIVE CHANGE
Unlock the transformative power of Appreciative Inquiry by diving into its core principles that inspire strength-based, positive change. Exploring the Principles of Appreciative Inquiry is a self-directed course designed to help you apply AI principles to foster growth, resilience, and innovation in both personal and professional settings. This course explores both the original and emergent principles of Appreciative Inquiry, equipping you with practical tools and strategies to foster meaningful conversations, inspire collaboration, and create a culture of possibility. While this course functions as a standalone experience, it is also one module of the Introduction to Appreciative Inquiry online program. Throughout the course, you may encounter references to the full program, offering additional context and deeper insights to enhance your learning experience.
WHY THE APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY PRINCIPLES MATTER
The principles of Appreciative Inquiry offer more than theoretical insights—they provide a practical framework for transforming conversations, reframing challenges, and co-creating a brighter future. Through these principles, you’ll learn how to focus on strengths, possibilities, and innovation rather than problems, ensuring that your interactions lead to positive outcomes in leadership, team dynamics, and personal growth. These tools empower you to navigate challenges with resilience and spark collaborative transformation in any setting.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
As a fully engaged participant, you will leave this workshop better able to:

Identify and challenge your assumptions, biases, and values and recognize their impact on your actions.

Increase self-awareness through reflection and action.

Engage in inclusive, generative, strengths-based conversations.

Demonstrate how AI principles influence your way of being, thinking, and doing.

Foster inclusive, strength-based conversations.

Apply AI principles to real-world scenarios.

Strengthen leadership skills through positive, future-focused visioning.

Reframe challenges to strengthen personal resilience and growth.

COURSE TOPICS
This online course includes 10 engaging topics, each focused on an Appreciative Inquiry principle. Through reflective exercises, journaling, and practical applications, you will deepen your understanding of how to implement AI principles to real-world contexts. The course offers flexibility for self-paced learning, with an estimated completion time of 18-20 hours. Topic 1: CONSTRUCTIONIST PRINCIPLE
Explore how the language and conversations we engage in shape our reality – emphasizing the importance of using positive, generative dialogue to create meaningful connections and drive change. Topic 2: SIMULTANEITY PRINCIPLE
This topic illustrates the concept that inquiry and change happen simultaneously. You’ll explore how asking the right questions can initiate immediate positive shifts in thinking and behavior. Topic 3: ANTICIPATORY PRINCIPLE
Learn how envisioning a positive future influences present actions. This topic shows how creating hopeful images of what’s possible motivates individuals and teams to align their efforts toward that future. Topic 4: POETIC PRINCIPLE
Focus on the idea that reality is open to endless interpretations, just like a poem. This topic encourages you to explore how shifting focus to strengths and successes opens up new possibilities for growth and change. Topic 5: POSITIVE PRINCIPLE
Delve into the power of positive emotions in sustaining growth and innovation. This topic explores how fostering joy, gratitude, and optimism can energize individuals and teams to achieve lasting change. Topic 6: WHOLENESS PRINCIPLE
Discover the power of inclusivity and collective engagement. This topic highlights how embracing diverse voices fosters connection, shared purpose, and resilient communities. Topic 7: ENACTMENT PRINCIPLE
Embodying the change you wish to see creates momentum for transformation. This topic explores the link between living your values and generating positive outcomes. Topic 8: FREE CHOICE PRINCIPLE
Explore how autonomy inspires creativity and engagement. This topic highlights the power of choice in fostering commitment to meaningful change. Topic 9: NARRATIVE PRINCIPLE
Delve into the transformative power of storytelling. You’ll explore how focusing on positive stories and reframing challenges can inspire new perspectives and drive change. Topic 10: AWARENESS PRINCIPLE
Learn how self-awareness of biases, assumptions, and perspectives enhance authenticity and fosters deeper, more inclusive connections.
COURSE IDEAL FOR…
Whether you are new to Appreciative Inquiry or looking to deepen your knowledge, this course is ideal for leaders, facilitators, team members, educators, and anyone looking to cultivate positive, strength-based change in their personal or professional lives. Please note: upon registration, you will gain access to all course materials for a full year, beginning on your registration date. This flexibility allows you to learn at your own pace and revisit, download, and save the content whenever needed during your access period.

Cultivating Appreciative Presence
2024-12-24 - 2144-12-25
LIVE AUTHENTICALLY WITH APPRECIATIVE PRESENCE

Are you ready to take your Appreciative Inquiry practice to a whole new level? This ground-breaking on-demand course introduces Appreciative Presence – a transformative approach that cultivates the mindset essential for successful and impactful Appreciative Inquiry.

WHY APPRECIATIVE PRESENCE MATTERS
Many of us approach life through an “either/or” lens, where we feel compelled to choose between opposing ideas, such as focus versus openness or challenge versus appreciation. Appreciative Presence shifts this mindset to a “both-and” framework, encouraging the integration of contrasting concepts. This practice fosters adaptability and balance, allowing us to remain mindful and present during challenges while cultivating a perspective of gratitude, potential, and possibility. By embracing this duality, we open ourselves to richer and more nuanced experiences.
Through mindfulness practices, self-reflection exercises, and the latest research in neuroscience, you’ll gain the tools to develop a core mindset, deepen connections, and foster meaningful change in your personal and professional life

COURSE OBJECTIVES
As a fully engaged participant, you will leave this course better able to:

Understand Appreciative Presence. Gain a foundational understanding of what Appreciative Presence is and explore how mindfulness and appreciation are woven together.

Practical Integration. Apply the tenets and practices of Appreciative Presence across personal, professional, and relational contexts.

Adopt a Mindful Approach. Cultivate a mindset that integrates presence and appreciation in everyday interactions.

Foster Authentic Connections. Build stronger relationships through mindful engagement and appreciative practices.

Develop Sustainable Practices. Establish lasting habits that reinforce mindfulness, appreciation, and connection.

Lead with Purpose. Leverage your Appreciative Presence practice to inspire growth and positive change for yourself and others.

COURSE TOPICS

This online course includes 7 engaging topics, each offering opportunities for reflection and practical application. Through targeted exercises designed to ground, elevate, and expand your Appreciative Presence, you will deepen your understanding of how mindfulness and appreciation shape meaningful connections.
Explore the essence of Appreciative Presence by reflecting on how to “be” AI before “doing” AI. This foundational topic introduces the importance of cultivating an appreciative way of being that aligns with authenticity, courage, and mindfulness. It highlights the transformative power of adopting a “both-and” mindset that embraces complexity and fosters resilience.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Understand the essence of Appreciative Presence and its role in Appreciative Inquiry.

Explore how mindfulness and appreciation create balance.

Recognize how presence strengthens personal and professional connections.

Navigate challenges authentically and with resilience.

Align intentions and attention with Appreciative Presence principles.

Explore the advantages of practicing Appreciative Presence, focusing on its role in enhancing well-being and fostering deeper connections. Through mindfulness, emotional regulation, and self-awareness, you’ll discover how integrating these practices can promote resilience, focus, and a deeper sense of holistic balance.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Understand how Appreciative Presence integrates mindfulness to improve overall well-being.

Explore the connection between self-awareness and emotional regulation.

Strengthen your ability to focus and stay present.

Recognize the benefits of deepening the mind-body connection.

Enhancing Integration and Emotional Regulation

Building Mind-Body Connection for Holistic Growth

Discover the five layers of Appreciative Presence, guided through a journey of self-awareness, alignment, and connection. Each layer builds on the previous, cultivating a holistic awareness that integrates your physical, emotional, and cognitive experiences. By exploring these layers, you’ll deepen your presence and foster authentic connections with yourself and others.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Cultivate awareness of the present moment through grounding techniques.

Explore emotions and thoughts with openness and clarity.

Align physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts to create inner harmony.

Foster authentic connections by extending presence outward.

Recognize the ripple effect of Appreciative Presence on relationships and interactions.

Examine the core motivations behind cultivating Appreciative Presence. By uncovering biases like negativity and implicit bias, understand how these unconscious tendencies shape perceptions and interactions. Build awareness to navigate challenges with discernment and foster equitable, appreciative connections.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Reflect on the motivations behind cultivating Appreciative Presence.

Understand the impact of negativity and implicit biases on perceptions and relationships.

Develop strategies to recognize and challenge unconscious biases.

Cultivate a balanced approach to navigating challenges with appreciation.

Promote equity and discernment in interactions and decision-making.

Explore the powerful role of intention in shaping your experiences and future. By reflecting on what motivates us to cultivate Appreciative Presence, we uncover the deeper values and aspirations that guide our actions. This practice enables us to engage fully with the present moment while setting purposeful intentions for growth and connection.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Reflect on the implicit motivations behind cultivating Appreciative Presence.

Understand how intention influences thoughts, behaviors, and personal growth.

Explore the relationship between present awareness and future aspirations.

Recognize the role of responsibility in addressing challenges and fostering growth.

Develop strategies to align present actions with meaningful intentions.

Master the art of focusing your attention amidst modern distractions, balancing awareness with engagement. By balancing spacious awareness with focused engagement, you’ll learn how to direct your energy toward what truly matters. Through practice, you’ll cultivate mental clarity, agility, and stability, empowering you to navigate life with greater intentionality and presence.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Understand the importance of balancing focused attention with spacious awareness.

Develop practices to maintain mental clarity and stability in a complex world.

Recognize how attention directs energy and shapes meaningful connections.

Cultivate the ability to appreciate and focus on what truly matters.

Apply strategies to strengthen attention and resilience in daily life.

Reflect on your journey into Appreciative Presence by exploring embodied awareness and alignment, emphasizing the importance of grounding and centering yourself through aligned listening and mindfulness. Discover the transformative balance between appreciating challenges and honoring growth, showcasing how Appreciative Presence transcends techniques to become a way of being and doing.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Develop practical strategies to sustain Appreciative Presence.

Reflect on the significance of embodied awareness and alignment.

Explore how grounding enhances mindfulness and appreciation.

Understand how “being” and “doing” intersect in Appreciative Inquiry.

Recognize challenges as pathways for growth and learning.

WHO SHOULD ENROLL?
Whether you are new to Appreciative Inquiry or looking to deepen your knowledge, this course is ideal for:

Leaders, facilitators, and coaches aiming to strengthen their Appreciative Inquiry practices.

Professionals seeking to improve self-awareness, communication, and relational skills.

Individuals looking to create a more mindful, appreciative, and balanced life.

DELIVERY FORMAT
The Cultivating Appreciative Presence online program is an asynchronous, self-paced course. An asynchronous online course is a fully online course with no required virtual or face-to-face (live) sessions. This course offers flexibility to access instructional materials and resources, complete activities, and practice techniques and skills essential to the learning goals for this course at time, place, and location that works best for you. Estimated completion time for this course is 10-12 hours. All course materials and activities are located online and can be found on LearnDash, the Center for Appreciative Inquiry’s learning management system. Please note: upon registration, you will gain access to all course materials for a full year, beginning on your registration date. This flexibility allows you to learn at your own pace and revisit, download, and save the content whenever needed during your access period.

Navigating the Appreciative Inquiry 5-D Cycle
2025-03-24 - 2125-03-24
EXPLORE THE PROCESS THAT FUELS POSITIVE CHANGE
Appreciative Inquiry’s (AI) 5-D Cycle is a transformative approach that fosters collaboration, growth, and innovation through strengths-based inquiry. This self-paced course provides an in-depth exploration of the Define, Discover, Dream, Design, and Destiny phases – equipping you with the knowledge and tools to lead transformative change in any setting.
WHY THE APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY 5-D CYCLE MATTERS
The AI 5-D Cycle is a proven framework for unlocking potential, fostering positive change by leveraging strengths, engaging diverse perspectives, and inspiring action. It provides a structured yet flexible process that supports individuals and organizations in identifying opportunities, envisioning possibilities, and designing pathways toward sustainable success. The AI 5-D Cycle builds on what is working well to generate meaningful and lasting impact across personal growth, team dynamics, leadership development, and organizational transformation.
WHAT YOU’LL GAIN
Whether you are new to Appreciative Inquiry or looking to deepen your practice, this self-directed course offers real-world applications to enhance engagement, foster sustainable change, and spark creativity in both personal and professional settings. Through interactive exercises and reflection, you will explore how to integrate the AI 5-D Cycle into leadership, team dynamics, coaching, and daily interactions.

Deepen Your AI Practice – Gain insights into the Define, Discover, Dream, Design, and Destiny phases, how they interconnect, and how they are supported by the Appreciative Inquiry Principles.

Reframe Challenges into Opportunities – Shift from fixing problems to co-creating possibilities. Apply AI methodologies to problem-solving, strategy development, and innovation.

Create Meaningful Engagement – Discover techniques to foster inclusive dialogue and collaborative action.

Sustainable Change & Strategic Implementation – Develop strategies to implement Appreciative Inquiry in a way that ensures lasting results. Turn aspirations into action.

Practical AI Tools & Techniques – Apply AI methodologies to real-world challenges across personal and professional settings.

THE AI 5-D CYCLE: A CLOSER LOOK
This course consists of five lessons, each dedicated to one phase of the Appreciative Inquiry 5-D Cycle. Each lesson offers hands-on exercises, real-world applications, actionable strategies, and reflection prompts to deepen your understanding and application of the cycle in a meaningful way. Lesson 1: DEFINE Establishes a clear focus for inquiry is essential for guiding meaningful change. This phase helps identify key areas for transformation and emphasizes how the way a question is framed influences what is explored and discovered. Lesson 2: DISCOVER By uncovering strengths, best practices, and past successes, this phase builds on what is already working well. Through storytelling and appreciative interviews, participants gain deeper insights and illuminate new opportunities for growth and expansion. Lesson 3: DREAM Encourages envisioning bold possibilities and co-creating aspirational goals for the future. By fostering creativity and aligning vision with shared purpose, participants generate new pathways for innovation and change. Lesson 4: DESIGN Translating vision into action requires careful planning and consideration of available resources. This phase focuses on developing practical steps, assessing necessary supports, and structuring solutions that turn aspirations into reality. Lesson 5: DESTINY Sustaining positive change involves continuous reflection, collaboration, and adaptation. This phase explores ways to embed Appreciative Inquiry into everyday practices, ensuring long-term impact and lasting transformation.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Understand and apply each phase of the AI 5-D process.

Use AI to foster positive transformation in teams, organizations, and communities.

Facilitate strengths-based conversations that spark engagement and innovation.

Reframe challenges and develop actionable strategies using strengths-based approaches.

Strengthen leadership skills through appreciative, future-focused visioning.

Integrate AI methodologies into daily practices for sustainable impact.

WHO SHOULD ENROLL?
This course is ideal for leaders, HR professionals, coaches, facilitators, educators, consultants, and anyone looking to apply strengths-based approaches to foster engagement, collaboration, and innovation in various settings.
ADDITIONAL COURSE INFORMATION
DELIVERY FORMAT Navigating the Appreciative Inquiry 5-D Cycle is a self-directed course with no required live or virtual sessions. Enjoy the flexibility to access materials, complete activities, and apply AI techniques whenever and wherever it works best for you. Designed for diverse learning styles, this course incorporates text, graphics, videos, and downloadable activities. All materials are available online through LearnDash, the Center for Appreciative Inquiry’s learning management system. To support your learning experience, we have created a series of instructional videos designed to help you navigate LearnDash and maximize its features. COURSE ACCESS Gain immediate access to the Navigating the Appreciative Inquiry 5-D Cycle course upon registration. Course access remains available for one (1) year from the date of registration. During this time, participants are encouraged to log into LearnDash to download and save all materials, activities, and resources for future reference. CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION Certificates of Completion are available to all participants. To obtain a letter, participants must complete the training and submit course feedback. Certificates of Completion include the participant’s name, the name of the completed course, and the number of training hours offered by the course. The Navigating the Appreciative Inquiry 5-D Cycle self-directed course offers 8 training hours.
HAVE QUESTIONS?
Do you have questions, need assistance with registration, want to inquire about group rates, or request a private training session for your team or organization? If so, please email Kathy Becker at Kathy@CenterForAppreciativeInquiry.net.
