Trending Topics

Appreciative Inquiry helps us understand that how we interact as humans and the relationships we form have a profound impact on society. 

As skilled strengths-based leaders, facilitators, and coaches we can use Appreciative Inquiry to create lasting, transformative change:

  • Developing leaders
  • Solving management problems
  • Inviting public participation
  • Enhancing customer/patient/student outcomes
  • Engaging organizational stakeholders, and so much more!

Here are five trending topics across many sectors that might positively provoke an AI engagement within your organization or for one of your clients.

What Appreciative Inquiry can be used for.Reinvention

When organizations seem stuck or have outgrown what made them successful in the earliest stages of growth, it might be time to reinvent. Some organizations miss this opportunity entirely because they wait too long to transform what they do or how they do it (maybe even both!) while external forces continue to evolve without them. Dreaming about what might be possible is the first step to making it happen.

Societal Leadership

At its core, societal leadership is about being motivated by the greater good of others. John Elkington, an authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development in business, describes it as demonstrating that “a concern for people and planet can co-exist with an ambition for profit.” Researchers for the Edelman Trust Barometer (2022) conclude that societal leadership is “the ultimate currency in the relationship that all institutions—business, governments, NGOs and media—build with their stakeholders.”

Digital Transformation & Disruption

Web 3.0, 5G networks, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Cybersecurity, Online Service Delivery, Decision Intelligence, the “other” AI, Artificial Intelligence, and more technologies indicate the future is now. While many organizations grapple with how these advances are interrupting their organizations, a desired future state might involve asking how an organization can disrupt their sectors by creatively and compassionately integrating these technologies to create real value for their stakeholders. If tech is “it” for you, you might enjoy reading this article from Gartner on the top technology trends.

Strategic and Short-Term Planning

Strategic conversations tend to involve deficit-based conversations limit what’s possible for the organization. Short-term (strategic) planning is vital today when we consider how VUCA – volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous change is affecting organizations and the people essential to their success. Both scenarios are ripe for the quality of thought that reframing elicits and from inquiring into what works as a springboard for creating a desired future state.

Emotional and Social Intelligence

There’s a lot of focus on how people can become more “self smart” and “people smart,” and with good reason. The quality of our relationships generates a positive Return on Energy that propels organizations forward. The principles of Appreciative Inquiry naturally allow organizations to learn and understand their systems in ways that produce transformational change. The inclusive nature of AI offers the perfect platform for growing emotional and social intelligence while engaging people who might best express their strengths throughout a full spectrum of intelligences including pictures, music, body movement, words, logic, and nature.


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