Coaching and Appreciative Inquiry: Design the Life You Want
Posted on May 12, 2013 by Rosanne Kerr, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
Appreciative Inquiry is a wonderful framework for coaches and clients to use as they work together to help the client achieve his or her goals.
Coaches are employed by people who find that they are coming up against hurdles, as they work towards their personal or career goals. Appreciative Inquiry, or “AI” as it is often known, is a wonderful framework for coaches and clients to use as they work together to help the client achieve his or her goals.
Appreciative Inquiry often uses a 4-D Cycle of Positive Change which is very applicable to coaching. The 4-D cycle includes the following:
Discovery – The coach assists the client to identify his or her strengths and accomplishments, and then encourages them to leverage these personal assets and resources, as they consider their future. There is a belief that when you recognize and build on your strengths it does more than improve your performance, it actually transforms your life and work.
Dream – Brainstorming which is a common strategy used in coaching, is employed during the dream phase of an AI process. In AI Coaching the client and coach brainstorm several possibilities for the client’s future, and then the client chooses the best ideas to create their personal vision for the future.
Design – Once a client has designed their personal vision, they then need to come up with a plan to achieve it. The coach assists the client in determining the action plan.
Destiny – The destiny phase is when the coach supports the client to fulfill their goals and vision for the future. The coach supports the client to be accountable and committed to the action plan as the coaching moves forward.
AI Coaching encourages people to appreciate and recognize the best in themselves, in the people around them, and in the world as a whole. It affirms past and present strengths, successes, and potentials.
It also requires us to ask questions and to be open to seeing new potentials and possibilities for change. Positive questions lead to positive change, and change begins the moment you ask your first question.
There are five principles that provide the foundation of the Appreciative Inquiry Philosophy:
Constructionist Principle – What we believe to be real in the world is created through the conversations we have with each other. These stories have the power to limit us or to expand our possibilities. A coach will remind a client to not engage in negative thinking and conversations, as this will limit their consideration of new possibilities. The coach will also quiet the self-critic that shows up from time to time, by reminding the client of their strengths and past accomplishments.
Positivity Principle – You may wonder if AI Coaching is simply encouraging people to ignore or gloss over their problems. Absolutely not, positivity is important, but AI is about more than positive thinking. We still need to accept and identify problems, but AI recommends that you look at them from a different viewpoint. For example, AI encourages individuals to reframe challenges or problems as opportunities for learning.
Anticipatory Principle – To quote Peter Drucker, “The Best way to predict the future is to create it!” We create the future we imagine. AI Coaching encourages the client to dream big, and create a vision of their best possible future. Just as a sunflower grows toward the direction of the light, an individual will grow toward the most positive images that are held.
Simultaneity Principle – Change begins with the first question we ask. AI Coaching begins by asking questions about you at your best and your wishes for the future. Our inclination as a society is to focus on what is wrong or missing, yet focussing on negativity and problems will not enable us to create our ideal future. Do we ask whether the glass is half full or whether it is half empty? An individual will turn his or her energy in the direction of the first question, whether positive or negative, the seeds of change are then sown.
Poetic Principle – This aspect of AI Coaching recognizes that, in the hectic pace of our day to day lives, we often forget the poet, artist or idealist inside of us. The poetic principle encourages us to use story-telling to communicate our values and vision for the future.
It also recognizes that just as a poem can be open to different interpretations, there can be differing approaches, for how to achieve a goal. These can be shared throughout the coaching relationship. The coach and client develop a collaborative relationship where all ideas are considered, but the client determines the course of action.
Principle of Wholeness – AI Coaching encourages the client to consider their heart, mind, body and spirit when pursuing their ideal future. A goal, problem, challenge, or issue needs to be addressed with consideration of all of these aspects because they are intertwined. For example, a new job may affect our family relationships, leisure time, health, and necessitate a move.
Our lives are perfectly designed for the results we are currently achieving. If we want to make changes, we need to recognize and build on our strengths; dream the future we want for ourselves; and then redesign our lives to achieve the goals that are eluding us. A coach who employs an AI approach can be our guide, collaborator, and cheerleader throughout the journey.
As Thomas Edison said, “If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”
