Before analysis of a performance issue can begin, the performance consultant must first develop a partnership with client (Robinson & Robinson, 1999). Successful partnerships involve shared leadership, responsibility, and resources. They are based on collaboration, credibility, and communication. As partners, the consultant and client can learn from each other and work toward long-term performance improvement. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as a form of communication and discovery serves as a model for implementing organizational change and can help establish effective client-consultant relationships.
Any HPT initiative is about change. Any change requires inquiry at some point before, during, or after the process to determine what is needed, what will be done, and what happened as a result. Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a model for organizational change developed primarily by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva in the 1970’s, focuses on the positive aspects already in place in an organization (Hall & Hammond, 1998). This model is an outgrowth of action research, a foundation of organizational development that is very similar to the HPT process.
The basic premise of AI is that asking the right questions about the past, present, and future strengths of an organization will direct those involved in a project toward fulfilling the positive potential of the organization. It takes a different perspective on problem-solving as the generator of change by focusing attention on developing more of the already present good instead of attempting to identify and remove negative problems. This perspective is similar to the one held by Gilbert’s potential for improving performance (PIP), wherein a performance gap is seen as an opportunity for positive change rather than a problem (Chyung, 2002).
According to Cooperrider & Whitney (n.d.), AI follows a 4-step process referred to as the “4-D Cycle”:
At the center of this cycle of inquiry is an Affirmative Topic Choice or point of focus. Projects usually have 3-5 topics on anything the organization sees as “strategically or humanly important” (Copperrider & Whitney, n.d., p. 6) including “technical processes, financial efficiencies, human issues, market opportunities, (or) social responsibilities” (p. 7).
According to Copperrider & Whitney (n.d.), application of AI as an intervention most often involves developing and delivering a series of positive questions to key stakeholders during the discovery phase. Information from these interviews is then used by larger groups in the dream phase to build a picture of what the organization would look like at its very best. The design phase involves small teams working together to plan what is needed to get the organization closer to its ideal. Finally, these changes are delivered, evaluated, and adjusted to actively work toward realizing this ideal.
Robinson and Robinson (1999) believe that lack of a strong client-consultant relationship is the most frequent cause of failure of performance interventions. Given the importance of this relationship, the author proposes that AI can be used from the outset of the client-consultant relationship to delve into the issues at hand more immediately and positively, build trust and credibility, and empower organizations to make the changes they desire. Every interaction with the client is an opportunity to strengthen that partnership.
Tosti And Jackson (1999) encourage a “spirit of openness” (p. 766) in client-consultant relationships. French and Bell (1999) encourage consultants to model the behavior they seek to develop in clients by demonstrating a “spirit of inquiry” (p.263). This openness and inquiry are important throughout a project, and may be especially useful when establishing the partnership. Cooperrider & Whitney (n.d.) ponder, “…isn’t it possible that the seeds of change are implicit in the very first questions we ask?” (p. 5).
The first interactions between a consultant and a client usually involve gathering information about the desired change, most often presented by the organization as a problem that must be fixed. Clients also often have ideas about the causes of the problem. The consultant must help the client redefine the problem and delve into the actual causes in order to focus on making the changes that will have the most impact on improvement (Block, 2000). Application of AI principles of positive inquiry may help reframe the problem as an opportunity for improvement and identify where and how the desired performance already exists and can be increased.
Answers to questions related to the specific area of concern, the people, the work groups, and the organization as a whole can provide the consultant with invaluable information and help the client begin to focus on the positive potential for improvement. Instead of asking “What problems are you having?”, example questions for discovering the positive might include:
“Appreciative inquiry is a complex philosophy that engages the entire system in an inquiry about what works.” (Hall & Hammond, 1998, p. 2). It is important to note that engaging the client initially by asking about the positive is more of an application of the theory of AI rather than a true application of the OD intervention.
International development planning ef