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I would like to apply the Appreciative Inquiry Tools at a micro and macro level in my school community.  As the Team Lead for our Spanish Department, I believe that shifting our focus to what is going well will have several positive impacts:  1. Increase the probability of retaining current teachers on the team by improving morale.  2. Increase student engagement as we seek to replicate what is working successfully across all the grade levels that we teach.  3. Decrease negative behavior trends, which always makes for happier teachers.  I would like to create space for focused conversation on what is going well and for dreams about the future.  I would like to collaboratively develop an action plan for replicating our best practices.

At a macro/ whole school level, I would like to share this article and process with our School Improvement/ Leadership Team.  Last spring we began sharing some best practices across the grade levels, and I think the AI framework will only strengthen that approach.  (I have already emailed the AI link to our School Improvement Lead Facilitator.)

In thinking about “Spirals of Inquiry”, I would like to see our School Improvement and Leadership Team use this process to create a deep understanding of most effective practices, implement them, and then carefully evaluate student impact.

The combination of strategies from the two articles could combine to be a powerful approach for targeted improvement across our school.

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School and programme profile - Fox

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Central Idea formula from previous IB concept based teaching/learning workshop: 

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Central Idea formula from previous IB concept based teaching/learning workshop: 

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Also, when writing a central idea "may" and "can" should be your best friends. -Robin

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Make a copy and use IF you are considering your entire community, or a large number of people will complete the self-study questionnaire, to inform committee work.

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Tool for self-study committees to track their work.

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Create a new spreadsheet and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Sheets to edit Excel files. Free from Google.

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Question: How can we ensure student growth in their development of target language comprehension and output?

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Question: How can we ensure student growth in their development of target language comprehension and output?

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Challenge: FLA is a multilingual immersion school. Some parents and a few teachers feel they "teach IB" and this takes away from target language acquisition.

Culture-4.3 District Goal: Purchase new resources for development and assessment of target languages 24/25 for Mandarin and 25/26 for Spanish

Administration Goal: Provide PD for newly purchased resources. Add time for collaboration in the schedule for both language tracks to work on implementation of the resources 25/26

Teacher Goal: Use the newly purchased resources and provides parents with information on language development 25/26

Student Goal:

Culture- 4.4 Administration Goal: provide the teachers with quality PD in immersion strategies (good practices) 25/26

Teacher Goal: Learn and implement best practices for immersion 25/26

Student Goal:

Achieve: The school would like to show stakeholders that students can comprehend and produce output in the target language through conceptual teaching of the IB Units of Inquiry.

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How might we ensure that all members of the learning community utilize the policies so students experience coherence in their learning?

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How might we ensure that all members of the learning community utilize the policies so students experience coherence in their learning?

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Challenge: Midvale has policies but they are not being utilized therefore students are not experiencing common language and common approaches as a result.

Goal: All members of the learning community utilize policies consistently in order to ensure students have an understanding and knowledge of common languages and approaches to learning.

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1. What question does your school want to answer?

How might we map our literacy standards to the PoI to facilitate transdisciplinary learning?

2. What challenge might your school be facing?

We have a new ELA curriculum in the last three years. Our teachers are struggling to navigate the curriculum and make it transdisciplinary. As a school last year we did a book study on The New Classroom Instruction that Works. We would like to align these instructional strategies to our ELA curriculum along with mapping our standards to our PoI.

3. What goal does your school want to achieve?

1. High growth and achievement in ELA along with making our units of inquiry more transdisciplinary and not just "doing IB" during science and social studies.

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How do we grow students communication skills to increase their proficiency in mathematics?

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How do we grow students communication skills to increase their proficiency in mathematics?

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Rationale: Building on the momentum from 2024-2025 we have determined communication as a vehicle to increase proficency. Growing students' mathematical communication skills is crucial for deepening their understanding and increasing their proficiency in mathematics. Effective mathematical communication, often referred to as "mathematical discourse," allows students to articulate their thinking, share strategies, and build a stronger grasp of mathematical concepts.

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How might we ensure that students have the language skills that they need to be successful in the PYP?

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How might we ensure that students have the language skills that they need to be successful in the PYP?

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Our school has 1/3 ML students and we are also implementing a new Language Arts curriculum. Our school has been focusing on trying to do more student talk and less teacher talk while incorporating some new language routines from the LA curriculum. thinking this would be a good way to renew a focus on the ATLs.

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Focus: How can we make conceptual teaching more visible to enhance student transdisciplinary transfer? OR

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Focus: How can we make conceptual teaching more visible to enhance student transdisciplinary transfer? OR

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How might we refine our planners/planning to facilitate conceptual learning and teaching?

Rational/Challenge: SSQ reflection highlighted a need for more specialist inclusion, collaborative planning, and practice in the development of conceptual understanding for students.

How we will know: The school will provide professional development on conceptual teaching and learning. PYP Coordinator will meet regularly with the specialist teaching team to support concept transfer. Students will identify 2-3 (in grades 2-5) examples of each transdisciplinary unit specified and related concepts by the end of each unit.

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Can you explain more about concierge? What will it look like? 

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Can you explain more about concierge? What will it look like? 

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How might teachers and administrators help students to understand the purpose of and engage in Service as Action in a range of communities? 

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How might teachers and administrators help students to understand the purpose of and engage in Service as Action in a range of communities? 

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Rationale: Not all students have been engaged in regular and ongoing Service activities. Additionally, the service activities we did engage in weren't documented or reflected upon.

Goal: All students in each year of the MYP will be required to engage in service as action activities, fostering their sense of agency and social responsibility.

How will we know:

Students and advisors will use Toddle as the primary platform for documenting evidence and reflections on service activities.

Data points include the number of service activities completed, reflection depth, and qualitative insights from student reflections.

Advisors will review and assess student engagement levels through advisory sessions.

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"Appendix 1" documents for the preliminary review will be in your "IB Concierge"

Look at the scenarios in "Organizing Programme Evaluation in your School" to help you develop a timeline.

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Sample PDP - Professional Development Cycle

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Guidance for programme development planning for evaluation

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Notes about Programme Development Plan:

-it is a continuous cycle (see guide for cycle chart)

-structure/routine that connects schools to the standards & practices

-aim is intentional/focused development of school's IB programme

-multiple PDS during a 5 year review period

-select 1 to submit during evaluation process

-school shows how PDP was planned/implemented to have a positive impact on students

-school shares results

-articulate what you have learned from the process

-during eval share 1 (they prefer completed one) and feedback is given

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PDP - Guide to Programme Evaluation Section

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PDP - Guide to Programme Evaluation Section

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Multiple generations comprise today's workforce, and each has varied work habits, expectations, and communication styles. Employers who implement strategies that optimize a multigenerational workforce can bolster their business goals. What strategies can your organization use to reap the benefits of a multigenerational workforce?

Contents
What is a multigenerational workforce?
Benefits of a multigenerational workforce
Multigenerational workforce challenges
Managing a multigenerational workforce - 9 best practices

What is a multigenerational workforce?

A multigenerational workforce is a personnel comprised of people from several generations. The average lifespan for humans has been increasing, so more individuals are choosing to work well past the typical retirement age.

The age diversity in the current workforce is the widest ever. It is now common for organizations to have employees working side-by-side who represent four to five generations.

These groups are defined as:

Silent Generation (Traditionalists) - born 1928-1945

Baby Boomers - born 1946-1964

Generation X - born 1965-1980

Generation Y (Millennials) - born 1981-1996

Generation Z - born 1997-2012

The presence of multiple generations expands the pool of available talent and shifts its demographics. Still, many employers have not placed a significant focus on taking advantage of this.

HR leaders should consider all age groups during succession and strategic workforce planning to find the best ways to attract, engage, retain, and develop employees from various life stages.

Benefits of a multigenerational workforce

Including a range of ages in your staff adds value to the organization. Younger employees are accustomed to rapidly developing technology and adapting to the changes it drives. In like manner, more mature employees have knowledge from the duration of their experience that can guide decision-making. The collaboration of fresh innovation with wisdom from the experience brings increased productivity.

The following are some of the significant benefits of a multigenerational workforce:

Multiple perspectives - Different generations can have distinctive ways of viewing job responsibilities. Sharing perspectives within and across teams brings a broad range of knowledge and abilities to support innovation.

Problem-solving abilities - Combining multiple perspectives and diverse skills drives creative solutions to problems. Life experience influences how we relate to and interact with others to address challenges and conflict. As a result, teams with age diversity can offer a variety of ways to address problems.

Learning/mentoring opportunities - The more diverse a team is, the more ways people have to interact and learn from each other's insights. This includes mutually beneficial mentoring opportunities. Those with more years of experience can advise younger employees on career development. What's more, the recent trend of reverse/cross-generational mentoring allows more junior employees to educate mature workers with their familiarity with current trends and technology.

Knowledge transfer and retention - The awareness and strengths that each generation offers better prepare the business to meet its future leadership needs. Tacit knowledge stays within the company in a robust internal talent pipeline. Focus is more on in-house promotion and less on recruiting from the outside.

Unique relationships - Meaningful relationships with co-workers can help meet employees' emotional needs and contribute to job satisfaction. A variety of age groups within the organization mirrors a family structure to offer opportunities for personal connections with those outside of one's own generation.

Multigenerational workforce challenges

Although a multigenerational workforce is advantageous overall, it does propose some obstacles to maneuver.

Here's an overview of some of the main multigenerational workforce challenges:

Communication issues - There are likely differences in preferred communication styles and interpretation of tone between the generations. With the availability of email, instant messaging, or phone and video calls, methods for reaching employees are plentiful. Selecting the best way to connect with team members and avoid communication breakdowns requires careful consideration.

Negative stereotypes - As with any type of diversity, people have preconceived notions about those in a different age group. Older generations may assume that younger people are entitled, oversensitive "snowflakes." Youthful employees may presume that those that are older than them are inflexible and afraid to embrace technology. These sweeping generalizations form negative stereotypes that might lead to toxic company culture, disparate treatment, ageism, and legal problems.

Varying employee expectations - People from different generations may not hold the same expectations for their employment. Ways that people accomplish their duties, learn from trainings, or expect to have their performance evaluated can vary. Also, what is considered a desirable compensation package might not be the same for each generation.

Managing a multigenerational workforce

HR is instrumental in making sure the company bridges the generational gap and has efficient, cohesive teams. How do you overcome the multigenerational workforce challenges to reap the benefits?

Here are nine management practices for leading a multigenerational workforce:

1. Work on your Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

Does your EVP appeal to the spectrum of generations? Cultural benefits can keep employees of all ages satisfied with their job. The key is offering a sought-after work environment and an assortment of perks to satisfy a variety of people.

Policies and programs for wellness, work/life balance, and paid time-off are attractive to all generations. However, providing professional development, career advancement, community service opportunities, financial investment programs, and social events can target other desires to offer a wider appeal to different ages.

2. Fine-tune your inclusive hiring process

From sourcing to offer, you should strive to eliminate age bias when recruiting. Start with educating hiring personnel, then expand your recruiting channels to use as many as possible. (College job fairs shouldn't be the only place you look to fill entry-level positions.)

The wording of job ads can discourage age diversity. Check them for inclusivity. Stick to neutral language and avoid terms or phrases that target a particular generation. You should also include images and videos on your career site that show people of diverse age groups.

Dates, names, and other resume details can infer demographic information. If you are able to implement computer programs that use AI to screen, it can help you avoid these biases. Having a mix of younger and older hiring managers filter applicants and conduct interviews can also help level the field.

3. Cater to different communication styles

Harmony and productivity are dependent on effective communication. The aim is to ensure that the same information is accessible to everyone.

Language gaps have always existed between generations, but younger workers used to assimilate into their employer's communication norms. Now that digital communication is changing culture so rapidly, younger generations have much more influence. Workplace communication has become more about meeting in the middle to find common ground and blend the varied styles.

You should have consistency in company-wide communications and certain standards when it comes to your brand voice, but you can look for ways to facilitate different styles on a smaller scale. Offer leaders their choice of text-based or video communication methods based on their teams' needs. When it comes to one-on-ones, there should certainly be leeway for managers to address these individually.

4. Clarify and reiterate expectations

A common purpose unites people and minimizes their differences. Regardless of their age, employees want to be clear on the business goals and the specific role they are required to play in these endeavors.

Managers must establish avenues for spreading the word about expectations on an ongoing basis. They should also provide assurance about what employees can anticipate from the company as a whole and within their team.

Constructive observations from leaders help workers be accountable and enhance their skills. This type of direction assures that employees have the confidence of knowing where they're headed.

5. Collect feedback

Not everyone is comfortable giving unsolicited opinions, so you need ways to encourage honest feedback that reveals the pulse of your multigenerational workforce. You should offer these opportunities through surveys, performance appraisals, and one-on-ones, or other creative methods.

As you learn how engaged people feel and how they are performing, you can discover what you need to improve to manage a multigenerational workforce better.

6. Accommodate diverse working styles and needs

There is no one-size-fits-all way to address how workers of any generation can perform best. Organizations that are able to adjust to their employees' needs are more apt to attract and retain the finest of the available talent pool.

Flexible work hours can accommodate employees of all seasons of life. Offering varied schedules or part-time work allows caregivers more time with family or provides a phased-in approach to retirement.

Previously, there might have been a generational factor in the preference for virtual employment, but the COVID-19 pandemic has changed that. A broad range of people have welcomed the freedom of remote work, and employers are embracing this reality. For example, Spotify is now offering its employees the ability to ' work-from-anywhere '. Not every industry can accommodate this type of situation, but businesses that want to compete for top talent will need to oblige.

7. Create learning opportunities

People are generally eager to expand their skills and advance their careers, and it is not limited to just younger workers. Providing a wide array of knowledge-building opportunities benefits employees' growth and enlarges their contribution to your business. An environment where asking questions is encouraged facilitates a learning atmosphere and allows everyone to be heard.

Upskilling and reskilling aren't only accomplished through formal trainings. It can happen through knowledge sharing between generations through peer mentoring and learning, sponsorship, or assembling cross-functional teams.

Some employees will quickly catch on to new technologies, but you should provide optional training for those who desire something more in-depth. This will boost their proficiency and confidence and ensure continuity.

8. Combat bias and stereotypes

Generational bias and stereotypes do exist. It's far better to reframe them than pretend they aren't there. Although it is a mistake to assume that people are "entitled," "stubborn," "idealistic," or "a workaholic" just because of their age, the context of different life experiences does shape people in certain ways.

Acknowledging and contemplating differences allows you to harness the strengths of each generation. It might be necessary to conduct training to confront age-based stereotypes, such as role-playing exercises. Bringing inaccurate perceptions to the forefront makes people more aware of their assumptions and can lead to more harmonized multigenerational teamwork.

You should work on deliberately dispelling bias and stereotypes at all employee lifecycle stages. In addition to the hiring process, you must watch out for the bias in your HR and people policies and among employees and leadership approaches.

9. Nurture an inclusive environment at work

Employers are certainly making a strong effort to create work environments that are inclusive to everyone, but age diversity may be the most overlooked concept. You must take ageism and perceived generation gaps into account when designing your diversity & inclusion policy. Employees should feel respected and free to voice their opinions, regardless of their stage in life.

The gist of it

Discovering how to manage a multigenerational workforce certainly has its challenges, but it is also rewarding for your organization. Leveraging the age-related differences provides a sound talent pipeline to support business sustainability.

The key is to communicate openly, honestly, and transparently to build an atmosphere where people feel included and respected. This provides a positive employee experience and enables individuals to fulfill their professional needs and potential.

If you want to learn more about diversity and inclusion and future-proof your HR skill set, check out our Diversity & Inclusion Certification Program!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up-to-date with the latest HR news, trends, and resources.

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Understanding Today's Multigenerational Workforce: Benefits, Challenges, and 9 Best Management Practices

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What strategies and best practices can your organization use to reap the benefits of a multigenerational workforce? Discover them here!

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Sample PYP Programme Development Template (1)

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Spirals of Inquiry: A Strategy for Documenting Evidence

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Spirals of Inquiry: A Strategy for Documenting Evidence

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Appreciative Inquiry Tools, Exercises and Activities

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Appreciative Inquiry Tools, Exercises and Activities

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Appreciative inquiry is about seeking the best in people - in the way they work, they live, and they behave.

Initially, appreciative inquiry (AI) was a " fundamental shift in the overall perspective of organizational development that took into account the entire human functioning - including strengths, possibilities, and success."

The contemporary concept of AI came into focus after the article by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastava in 1987, where they coined that problem-solving is 'overused' in organizational contexts and that active inquiries would perhaps be more helpful in creating innovations and ideas in the industry.

According to them, appreciative inquiry helps in:

Building the core strengths of an organization.

Shifting the focus from organizational weaknesses to organizational strengths.

Letting individuals as well as the industry stick to its fundamental principles.

Bringing a wholesome change that benefits every aspect of the firm.

AI aims to explain how human growth and organizational success flow in the direction of constructive change because of positive and persistent inquiry, and it works around five core principles:

The Constructionist Principle
Which states that our beliefs shape our actions. We do what we feel is right, and this forms the organizational culture as a whole.

The Simultaneity Principle
States that appreciative inquiry or the way we question our internal and external systems help in bringing about the desired change.

The Poetic Principle
States that performance culture in an organization grows based on expressions and communication within the human personnel. How we talk to each other, the stories that we share at work, and the emotions that attach employees is what counts for success or failure.

The Anticipatory Principle
Proposes appreciative inquiry happens when we raise questions on things that have meaning to us now, or that will have some value for us in the future.

The Positive Principle
Appreciative inquiry evokes positive emotions like hope, inquisitiveness, and motivation, all of which collectively contribute to changing the work environment for the better.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Strengths Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help your clients realize their unique potential and create a life that feels energizing and authentic.

This article is an in-depth exploration of how we can use appreciative inquiry tools and exercises for individual and organizational growth.

Let us start the discussion with a short introductory video on AI:

What are Appreciative Inquiry Tools and Exercises?

Appreciative inquiry typically undergoes four stages, which is more popularly known as the 4-D cycle of AI (BJ Seminars International, n.d.).

Discovery - Acknowledging and appreciating what 'is.'

Dream - Imagining and appreciating what 'will be.'

Design - Deciding what 'should be,' and how we can move from reality to the ideal position that we have imagined.

Delivery - Creating or building ways to achieve the 'dream' and applying the strategies to practice.

Appreciative inquiry tools and exercises come into the picture at the third and fourth stages of the 4-D cycle. Broadly, AI tools are a set of rules or practical hacks that we can use individually or as a team to aim for a positive change at an organizational level.

AI tools are strategic plans and practices that create an impetus toward large-scale corporate ventures. They give shape to the company's ethical standards, codes of conduct and improve client satisfaction from all aspects.

Appreciative inquiry tools also help in:

Bringing together individuals who share similar traits and behavioral patterns within an organization.

Providing quantitative analysis and feedback that fosters organizational growth.

Capacitating and inspiring people to initiate the development process.

Facilitating each other with skills, knowledge transfer, and training to maximize productivity as a whole.

Benefits of Using Appreciative Inquiry Tools

Appreciative inquiry tools work great as icebreakers and communication exercises in professional meetups and discussion.

Some of their benefits include:

Open communication

More engagement and work responsibility

Scope for developing new skills

Scope for improving existing skills

Better decision-making power

Attaining a positive learning environment

Fostering a conducive environment at work.

4 Tips and Techniques For Application

As mentioned before, appreciative inquiry is the skill of asking relevant and positive questions (see Appreciative Inquiry Questions) that strengthen individual and organizational strength.

AI is collaborative and impacts several areas of functioning, including:

Education

Healthcare and mental health

Small business, micro-business, and start-ups

Overall job satisfaction and work motivation

Interpersonal relationships of individuals both at personal and professional levels

Collaborations and global transactions in companies.

AI tools and applications are realistic and straightforward. They are flexible and easy to use, and here are some practical tips on how we can make the most of them:

1. Select positivity as the prime focus

An efficient appreciative inquiry model focuses more on what has worked best for the company rather than what did not work out. For example, individuals or teams who rely on a positive AI approach would replace negative questions with more positive orientated ones. For example: " why were clients unhappy and complained about us?" could be replaced with affirmative inquiries such as " what made our clients happy earlier? Can we improvise on the same line? "

A positive shift in the questions we ask ourselves and the company as a whole is the first and a significant step to bringing about the desirable changes in the workforce. The main idea here is to attend more to what 'we want' and less on what 'we don't want.'

2. Explore the exceptionality of the methods

Positive questions rewire our brain to filter only the fruitful pieces of information and focus on our internal strengths. An excellent way to ensure this happens is to investigate and ask ourselves what went particularly well after applying appreciative inquiries.

Exploring the advantages of the questions helps in discovering their unique capabilities. It also helps with understanding which areas of functioning they facilitate the most. For example, we should understand whether it is the tone, or the language, or the content of the AI that brought about the positive consequences and identify those areas as the exceptionality of it.

3. Share to gain perspective

Appreciative inquiries extend to involve numerous individuals, and work wonders in creating a positive organizational change. When we share our life incidents, inspirational stories, and exchange perceptions with each other, the likelihood of creating a productive AI structure increases manifold.

Besides, it also allows for the smooth transmission of positive energy from one person to another and positively impacts our professional development (Capra, 2002).

4. Keep room for innovation and improvisation

Whether the AI was successful or not, it is always good to continue improvising them. We can do so by regularly monitoring the outcomes, communicating with leaders about new ways of implementing the strategies, or by developing Appreciative Inquiry workshops to spread awareness about the inquiry systems.

Whatever way we choose, the whole idea is to keep moving forward and explore the endless benefits of using appreciative inquiry.

4 Appreciative Inquiry Tools

And speaking of moving forward, the following four tools can provide practical ways to implement and improve AI at work.

1. Appreciative Inquiry in Evaluation Practice By Hallie Preskill

Hallie Preskill is a Doctorate and a Professor of Behavioral Sciences at the Claremont Graduate University. She is a renowned author and has done great works in the field of appreciative inquiry and organizational learning. Her workshops and research publications are used by professional and educational organizations to alleviate the inhibitions related to asking the right questions, at the right place, and to the right person.

Her workshop on Appreciative Inquiry is a collection of principles and AI research-backed techniques to conduct positive AI sessions with more efficacy.

Her manual is suitable for individuals of all ages and includes tasks such as:

One on one interview sessions with co-participants.

Taking turns to narrate each other's stories.

Asking appreciative interview questions such as 'three things you value the most,' 'best experience with clients so far'.

Building listening skills by actively paying attention to each other's stories and taking notes while doing the same.

Collaborating in the workshop to build a joint vision of the future and discuss ways to get there.

The workshop by Preskill guarantees a positive shift in the mindset of the participants from a deficit viewpoint to a strength-based approach.

2. Appreciative Inquiry Coaching Toolkit

This toolkit is based on the 4 D's of appreciative inquiry - discovery, dream, design, and deliver.

It follows a step-by-step approach and discusses practical strategies of AI that work best in each of the four stages of the 4-D cycle.

For example, the relevant AIs in the discovery and dream phase would be asking 'what' to the existing systems and getting the right answers where participants wish to see themselves in the future.

In the design and delivery phases, the AIs would focus more on the 'how' aspect of it, exploring better ways to implement the thoughts and gathering knowledge on how to put ideas into actions.

3. KS toolkit

The KS toolkit for AI is an adaptation of the Appreciative Inquiry Commons Model. It is a brief model containing the most relevant information that we can successfully apply in personal and professional fronts. The KS toolkit overviews the basics of how and when to use AI.

It is a great resource to ensure that the participants have a clear insight before they take the plunge. Besides, the toolkit has additional sources like examples, stories, and useful hacks that participants can follow to optimize the benefits of AI.

4. The Do It Now Appreciative Inquiry Toolkit

The Do It Now Appreciation Toolkit is a collection of appreciative inquiry exercises used in an AI workshop in Nepal, 2000. The tasks are varied and explained in details in the downloadable resource in the toolkit. The Do It Now Toolkit is a highly recommended set of exercises that individuals at any stage can use to build their skills thoroughly.

It is research-backed, successfully tested, and provides an excellent base for companies who are planning to implement AI as a part of their organizational system.

You can learn more about the research and download the exercises from the link above.

10 Exercises and Activities for Applying AI

Appreciative inquiries are flexible and applied in a variety of ways (see our article on How To Apply Appreciative Inquiry). The AI tools and exercises mostly vary depending on the target population and the contexts in which they come into play.

Here are ten AI activities that are more or less versatile and work equally well for all people and settings. Some of these exercises were also a part of the Do It Now toolkit mentioned earlier and proved to be extremely useful in the workshop it was first used in.

1. Appreciative meditation exercise

Appreciative meditation is a short yet powerful exercise to build a firm intention for appreciative inquiry. Usually used as the first exercise in most AI programs, the task merely involves collecting ourselves for a moment.

We can do this by breath control, thought monitoring, or attending to an external focal point and immersing ourselves entirely into it for a while. Appreciative meditation as the initial task makes the participants aware of their internal feelings and helps them realize why they want to invest in AI.

2. Individual self-discovery

This is a fun activity and works exceptionally well with kids and youngsters. The practice involves giving paper and pen to each participant and asking them to recall and sketch one of the happiest moments of their lives. The sketch need not be too elaborate, just a simple illustration that the respondents would then take turns to describe.

In the discussion part of this exercise, each child comes up with a brief narrative of the story they have sketched, and others are encouraged to listen to the story and inquire more about the details.

The task benefits the respondents and the audience in three main ways:

They relive a happy moment of the past and experience the positive emotions related to it.

They can reflect on their inner feelings and emotions while they narrate the stories.

By listening to others asking, individuals gain insight into what an AI session looks like and how they can make the most of it with their narratives and questions.

3. Group discovery

This is an interactive AI exercise used in many organizational setups to promote employee engagement and team spirit. The activity is to form groups and discuss the achievements of each member of the team.

The administrator presents each group with a bunch of pens and a single sheet of paper and urges each team to represent their achievements pictorially.

4. Appreciative storytelling

Storytelling encourages participants to come up with their life stories that have some meaning to them and can inspire others. The aim is to make participants realize their experiences can be of value to someone else.

By sharing their stories and listening to others, participants build a sense of cohesiveness among themselves and motivate each other to keep going. As a result, they do not hesitate to express their concerns, ask for advice, and give their suggestions wherever appropriate to do so.

5. Appreciative acknowledgement

A positivity booster, this short exercise fills the respondents with energy and appreciation about each other. One or more persons are randomly chosen to come up and share one good thing that they like about each person present in the room.

Appreciative acknowledgment can be one long session allowing all participants to get their chance or it can be a daily component in an AI workshop where respondents take turns to appreciate each other every day for a few minutes in between sessions.

The aim is to build a mutually benefiting relationship among participants so that they can see and bring out the best in each other.

6. Morning news exercise

The morning news exercise was used with participants of the Kathmandu workshop. It is a group activity where participants are assigned to groups and work as a 'Press Team.'

Their tasks involve collecting useful bits of information from the daily newspaper and reading it out at the workshop session every morning. Members take turns to present each piece of news so that each person gets a chance to be the presenter as well as an active listener.

7. Dream exercise

As the name indicates, this is an imagery-based exercise where the participants close their eyes for a couple of moments and imagine themselves returning home after an extended stay outside.

The administrator guides the respondents to think about everything they would have wanted to achieve by then and try to feel the emotion of returning home after so long. After the session is over, participants take turns to come up and share in detail what they imagined, how they saw themselves, and what changes they desired to see in their lives after so long.

8. Appreciative communication exercises

Susan Gaddis, a certified life coach and wellness guide, coined a manual for positive communications systems and appreciative inquiry. Her works focus on building awareness on the benefits of clear communication and appreciative introspection.

In the 'Good Communications' manual, she has put forth some simple, scientific, and objective AI measures that are easy to understand and provide a quick analysis of how appreciative we are towards ourselves and others.

Learn more about her exercises here.

9. The problem to opportunity exercise

Mac Odell proposed this exercise for fostering appreciative inquiry through challenging the existing problem areas and replacing them with potential opportunities.

The first part of the task is about ruling out what is currently lacking and then replacing the deficits with the scope of new possibilities.

For example, if the problem is a weak social connection within the organization, then the participants would first chalk out what has led to the challenge and what they may think can solve it. After that, they would draw a separate map or chart with the solution part - string interpersonal connections in this case, and formulate the causal factors and ways to attain the goal.

You can learn more about the administration and application of this exercise here.

10. AI advertising exercise

An adaptation of the Open Space Technology used by the APA framework, this exercise invites participants to form an advertisement with words, pictures, or graphics on any aspect of the dream they aspire to fulfill. After completing the sketch, the members come up one by one and present their advertisements as though they are 'selling' them.

The response and feedback they get from the audience during the presentation, as well as the intuitions that work while they are delivering their advertisements, serve to provide an understanding of how they should plan on achieving it in real life.

The facilitators develop interactive sessions for discussing the design and execution part of the mock-ups, and participants encourage and appreciate each other's efforts throughout the practice.

AI Team Building Activities

Appreciative Inquiry for building successful teams is the new choice for smart businesses today.

Many successful firms of different fields rely on professional group activities that are incredibly solution-focused and guarantee success in the majority of the times.

If you are looking for some great ideas for incorporating AI in your organization, these tips can get you started:

1. AI team activities involve a large number of individuals

The more individuals in a team-building AI, the better the results. Whether we are the facilitators or the participants of the AI program, we must ensure that more people join the activities and each of them feels important as a part of the group.

When more people work together, there are more significant exchanges of positive energy and more inputs come up in the form of personal stories and experiences.

2. A sense of trust is vital for success

AI group activities can create a sense of trust in the team by introducing trust scales in the program and asking participants to score their level of confidence in themselves and others.

Marking the trust level allows open communication among members about what influence their trust in themselves and why they do or do not trust someone.

3. Set up talk-circles

Talk circles are open spaces where people are free to talk with others and share their views on customer service, organizational leadership, and team building at work.

Talk circles work best when they are amalgamated within the AI team activities and practiced daily.

4. Encourage groups to dream together

Groups that imagine together work better as a team. To promote this, we can set up brief sessions during each activity, say for five minutes, where members would visualize a dream and share their feelings.

This could be a group goal, any personal achievement, or imagery of what the ideal workplace would look like. Communicating every tidbit of the visualization helps the members connect and agree on a single goal (dream) that they could then seek to achieve.

5. Promote the exchange of knowledge and information

Exchange of information can happen in different ways, such as 1-minute wisdom bites where each member gets one minute prior or post the activity to share the most relevant information they got that day.

Knowledge transfer creates a cultural shift in the organization as a whole and drives the employees to engage in a valuable exchange of positive news that can create a better ambiance at work.

Appreciative team-building activities create a conducive work environment where employees can feel good about themselves and others. Efficient and compassionate leaders today believe that a healthy and highly functioning team is a primary requisite for success.

Team building AI exercises ensure a sustainable and positive performance culture that invites long-term gains and ensures satisfaction at all levels of functioning.

5 Appreciative Inquiry Games

Although one would typically expect Appreciate Inquiry to only apply to the work environment, it can also be practiced at school. The following section includes games as well as research findings.

1. Thumb wrestling game

Many of us have thumb wrestled in our school days and must have so many fond memories attached to this game! But did you know that thumb wrestling is also a great AI tool for team building and performance enhancement?

The game is simple:

Ask the participants to choose a partner to thumb wrestle with and let them lock their finger once they are ready to start the game.

Explain the rules clearly to all the participants so that they do not end up hurting each other.

Start the game by asking the participants to wrestle with each other for one minute and give shoutouts for each time they score.

Make multiple pairs who compete in the game and let them collaborate as a team for scoring higher.

The best part of thumb wrestling as an AI tool is that is can be used for all populations and is a great way to promote team spirit within individuals.

2. Appreciative learning games in schools

Appreciative inquiry, when started earlier, yields the best results. For example, students and youngsters who learn to use AI exercises and activities in their educational institutions can internalize the practice better than others. They are likely to show similar positive traits in all other walks of life more spontaneously than others.

Studies have shown that children who went to schools that promoted AI through daily activities and games were more competitive and self-driven than others. They were more creative, positive-minded and regardful of others they work or study with (Eow, Wan Zah, Rosnaini, & Roselan, 2011).

3. Appreciation cards, kudo cards

Praise words never fail! Appreciation or Kudo cards is a popular AI game that enhances employee satisfaction and happiness.

Expressing 'Kudos,' meaning appreciation or acknowledgment is the key factor in this game. Appreciation cards can be small thank-you notes or simple words of recognition from the team leader or supervisor.

Managers and leaders often use this game as a means of acknowledging the employees' hard work and appreciating their efforts. Positive feedback from superiors and co-workers brings an instant feeling of happiness and provides a positive thrust to keep working hard.

4. Agile games

Agile games are used as appreciative inquiry instruments to solve authentic business issues and manage conflicts. They are a collection of activities and exercises that focus on manifesting positive workplace actions such as group cohesiveness, multitasking abilities, time management, etc.

The tools used for these games involve teaching, role modeling, and interactive games and the collaborative nature of the exercises helps the participants in understanding, discovering, and executing their dreams.

5. Action learning games

Action learning games are mostly group activities that facilitators regularly conduct with other appreciative inquiry techniques. In action learning games, there is a presenter who narrates an incident, a problem, or a life experience.

The others in the group are active listeners who fully attend to the story, take notes while listening, and comes up with relevant questions after the narration is over. The facilitator motivates each person to come up with at least one question and explain how the answer would help them in their lives.

The discussions participants have with each other during the session unlock the thought blocks and make way for positive self-reflection.

Appreciative Inquiry Icebreakers

Icebreakers have a pivotal role in making AI interventions successful.

They are simple, catchy, and relevant tasks that the facilitators introduce in the group session to promote appreciative inquiry in the group (Silberman, 2011).

Hogan (2005) pointed out that icebreakers play a predominant role in an appreciative inquiry by:

Making participants accustomed and well-adjusted to each other.

Creating space for open communication and equal responsibility among all members of the organization.

Promoting positive interpersonal relationships in the workplace.

Icebreakers are mostly practiced in groups, where many individuals work together. Tuckman (1965) said that there are four stages of group development, namely:

The Forming Stage - where members come together and create the team.

The Storming Stage - when they discuss and explore the group goals and the means to achieve them.

The Norming Stage - where the rules and group standards come into the picture.

The Performing Stage - where the group members embark on executing the plans and achieving the targets.

According to Tuckman, icebreakers work best when they are used in the early stages of group development (i.e., the forming and the storming stages).

Introducing them earlier ensures less performance anxiety in the participants and more excitement at being a part of the performing team. And once the members become familiar with the icebreakers, they can use them repeatedly to instill energy at different levels of the AI sessions (Chlup & Collins, 2010).

Types of AI Icebreakers

There are three broad categories of icebreakers in appreciative inquiry.

1. The Just for Fun Icebreakers

These make participants comfortable and provide an initial energy boost to know and communicate with each other.

2. The Introductory Icebreakers

Introductory Icebreakers make the participants familiar to new topics, new group agendas, and also new members of the group. They may be funny and informal, but usually aim at achieving a group goal.

3. The Topic-based Icebreakers

They are more specific, detailed, and focus on the ultimate goal of the session.

There is a vast range of icebreakers to choose from. While some of them are more suited to organizational contexts, other icebreakers may be more relevant for educational institutions, or counseling and rehabilitation purposes.

Here are three appreciative icebreakers that are more generalized and can be incorporated in AI across different spheres:

i. Friends Indeed Icebreaker

Friends indeed is an introductory icebreaker that helps people get to know each other in a group. It uses physical name cards that make the task more fun and enjoyable, and suitable for using with kids as well.

The job is to write their names on the name cards and stand in a circle with the facilitator in the middle. The facilitator would then call out statements, and those for whom the statements hold true will go and stand with each other, maintaining the circle.

In each round, the odd person or persons would come to the center of the ring and call out the next statements aloud. The comments are usually simple and easy, for example - 'friends who have pets at home', 'friends who are late-risers', 'friends who love chocolates', etc.

The game is an excellent way for participants to know each other, participate in a group task, and realize that they have something in common, which makes the bonding easier.

ii. Storytelling AI Icebreaker

Storytelling techniques are very common AI icebreakers. They are flexible, don't require any special arrangements for administration, and help people voice their thoughts and emotions.

The task involves allowing some time (usually 2-3 minutes) to each group member to share one story with the group. The stories can be personal experiences, or the facilitator can provide cues such as 'a story about the best manager you have worked with so far', ' a story about your biggest professional achievement and why you think you could attain it.'

The only rule of this icebreaker is that the story participants choose must have some value and a positive note in it. Storytelling sessions usually take longer as there are many individuals involved, and each person gets a fair chance to tell their story.

Once all the stories have been shared, the person in charge of the session recapitulates the critical elements of each story and discusses how the group can use them for learning purposes.

iii. Strength-based Icebreakers

Strength-based icebreakers combine creativity and positive imagery into the team for getting the desired outcomes. Strength-based icebreakers are a recent phenomenon that came up as a part of an experiment to explore how appreciative learning and appreciative inquiry can help training and orientation programs.

Researchers promoting these more intellectual and individualized strategies argue that if icebreakers can build individual strengths and potencies, they can be more useful than the traditional AI icebreakers.

Undoubtedly, the strength-based approach gave a new dimension to the application of AI icebreakers, but whether it can take over the conventional interventions is still a matter of investigation.

If this is something worth considering for your next AI session, take a look at this strengths-based therapy article for ideas.

4 AI Worksheets (Incl. PDF)

Make use of these worksheets to ensure Appreciative Inquiry is implemented in your workspace.

1. Appreciative Inquiry Worksheet For Personal And Organizational Use

A short and straightforward worksheet for charting the four D's of appreciative inquiry. This worksheet is the perfect option for self-exploration and introspection of where we are and how we can reach the final destination. It encourages reflection on being more regardful and considerate of ourselves and others.

The task is self-directed, comes in a two-page form, and works equally well as a personal or group AI intervention.

2. Appreciative Inquiry Worksheet by Change Activation

If you are looking to start an AI program in your workplace and expect many individuals as potential participants to the program, then this could be a one-stop go to for you.

Change Activation is an online resource that has it sorted for people and organizations using and promoting appreciative inquiry, and their worksheets and manuals are great to have in the collection for a successful AI program.

3. Appreciative Inquiry Workbook for Children

This set of worksheets and exercises was used in a school program in Houston, Texas, and has valuable content for building AI in school children.

The workbook includes simple illustrations of the 4D cycle of appreciative inquiry, followed by tasks for self-reflection, positivity, and self-expression. It is undoubtedly a powerful resource to help kids understand and explore success through an appreciative inquiry from the very beginning of their lives.

4. Appreciative Inquiry Quiz

The AI quiz is a short exercise focused on building knowledge application, information exchange, and reading comprehension. The test consists of multiple-choice questions on the basis of appreciative inquiry and is easily scoreable.

The quiz is suitable as a follow-up measure for participants of an AI program to ensure they have internalized the concept and are ready to use them in their personal and professional lives.

Appreciative Inquiry Survey

Dr. David Cooperrider, the founder of the AI methodology, mentioned the Appreciative Inquiry Survey in his research publications and appreciative inquiry books. The survey gained immense popularity and was later used in different professional setups to introduce the concept of AI in employees.

Dr. Cooperrider noted about this first at the annual meeting of the ONL (Organization of Nurse Leaders of Massachusetts), in 2014, and previously used it as a part of the AI certifications he provided to professionals.

The survey is now used in healthcare, educational, and organizational sectors and offers comprehensive knowledge and suggestions of how appreciative the respondents are, and how they can be trained to enhance their AI skills.

Other Resources

There are no limits to the ways we can embrace and apply AI in our lives. Whether we practice them individually or enjoy its benefits from the group activities, the result of using AI is nothing but heightened motivation and achievement.

We have already seen a few exercises and games in the previous sections, and here are some more riches on appreciative inquiry to get the ball rolling.

Appreciative Inquiry: A Conversation with David Cooperrider

Playful inquiry by Robyn Stratton-Berkessel

How to Do An Appreciative Inquiry Interview by Lindsey Godwin

Appreciative Inquiry In Organizational Life by David L. Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva - a PDF.

Appreciative Inquiry and the Power of Positive Question by Ludema, Cooperrider, and Barrett - a PDF.

A Take-Home Message

John Lubbock said, " What we see depends mainly on what we look for."

Appreciative Inquiry is about discovering the root causes of success rather than exploring the causes of failure. It builds the power to create our world with the questions we ask and the way we apply the solutions in our lives.

In a nutshell, AI is calling for a positive shift of energy from repairing the old to creating something new. It allows us to discover our strengths, acknowledge the efforts of others, and build the spirit for squeezing innovation with dreams. And as we know, " Positive actions, combined with positive thinking, results in success " (Shiv Khera).

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Strengths Exercises for free.

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4 Appreciative Inquiry Tools, Exercises and Activities

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Appreciative Inquiry Tools can discover the root causes of success rather than failure, allowing us to apply the solutions to our lives.

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The Human Side of School Change by Robert Evans

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The Human Side of School Change by Robert Evans

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"A unique, superb, and penetrating analysis of the human side of educational change. Evans knows the human realities of change and portrays them vividly in both individual and organizational terms. His discussion of hope and realism in the final chapter is a gem." (Michael Fullan, dean, Faculty of Education, University of Toronto)

"Evans certainly understands what gets in the way of real school change and what the simple, key elements are that can make it happen. No board member, superintendent, or school principal should make one more decision or host one more meeting without reading this book." (Judy Cunningham, principal, South Lake Middle School, Irvine, Calif.)

Evans has written a realistic yet hopeful book that sets a new standard for providing the leadership needed to implement school improvements. An engaging and much-needed update of the critical, but often overlooked, human side of change. (Thomas J. Sergiovanni, Lillian Radford Professor of Education and senior fellow, Center for Educational Leadership, Trinity University)

School leaders will find this book realistic about the difficulties of change, rich in practical advice about school improvement, and useful in showing how to transcend the limits of their own experience to practice effective leadership. (Thomas W. Payzant, superintendent, Boston Public Schools)

"A unique, superb, and penetrating analysis of the human side of educational change. Evans knows the human realities of change and portrays them vividly in both individual and organizational terms. His discussion of hope and realism in the final chapter is a gem."

—Michael Fullan, dean, Faculty of Education, University of Toronto

"Evans certainly understands what gets in the way of real school change and what the simple, key elements are that can make it happen. No board member, superintendent, or school principal should make one more decision or host one more meeting without reading this book."

—Judy Cunningham, principal, South Lake Middle School, Irvine, California

"Evans has written a realistic yet hopeful book that sets a new standard for providing the leadership needed to implement school improvements. An engaging and much-needed update of the critical, but often overlooked, human side of change."

—Thomas J. Sergiovanni, Lillian Radford Professor of Education and senior fellow, Center for Educational Leadership, Trinity University

"School leaders will find this book realistic about the difficulties of change, rich in practical advice about school improvement, and useful in showing how to transcend the limits of their own experience to practice effective leadership."

—Thomas W. Payzant, superintendent, Boston Public Schools

In this insightful look at school reform, Robert Evans examines the real-life hurdles to implementing innovation and explains how the best-intended efforts can be stalled by educators who too often feel burdened and conflicted by the change process. He provides a new model of leadership along with practical management strategies for building a framework of cooperation between leaders of change and the people they depend on to implement it.

"A unique, superb, and penetrating analysis of the human side of educational change. Evans knows the human realities of change and portrays them vividly in both individual and organizational terms. His discussion of hope and realism in the final chapter is a gem."

—Michael Fullan, dean, Faculty of Education, University of Toronto

"Evans certainly understands what gets in the way of real school change and what the simple, key elements are that can make it happen. No board member, superintendent, or school principal should make one more decision or host one more meeting without reading this book."

—Judy Cunningham, principal, South Lake Middle School, Irvine, California

"Evans has written a realistic yet hopeful book that sets a new standard for providing the leadership needed to implement school improvements. An engaging and much-needed update of the critical, but often overlooked, human side of change."

—Thomas J. Sergiovanni, Lillian Radford Professor of Education and senior fellow, Center for Educational Leadership, Trinity University

"School leaders will find this book realistic about the difficulties of change, rich in practical advice about school improvement, and useful in showing how to transcend the limits of their own experience to practice effective leadership."

—Thomas W. Payzant, superintendent, Boston Public Schools

In this insightful look at school reform, Robert Evans examines the real-life hurdles to implementing innovation and explains how the best-intended efforts can be stalled by educators who too often feel burdened and conflicted by the change process. He provides a new model of leadership along with practical management strategies for building a framework of cooperation between leaders of change and the people they depend on to implement it.

Robert Evans is a clinical and organizational psychologist and director of the Human Relations Service in Wellesley, Massachusetts. A former high school and preschool teacher, he has consulted with hundreds of schools and districts throughout America and around the world and has worked extensively with teachers, administrators, school boards, and state education officials

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The Human Side of School Change: Reform, Resistance, and the Real-Life Problems of Innovation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this insightful look at school reform, Robert Evans examines the real-life hurdles to implementing innovation and explains how the best-intended efforts can be stalled by educators who too often feel burdened and conflicted by the change process. He provides a new model of leadership along wit...

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Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a strengths-based approach to examining and developing the best in human systems.

The approach has a lot of overlap with positive psychology in its focus on what's working, what's good, and what gives us life.

By virtue of its flexible nature, AI can be applied to understand and change individuals, teams, businesses, or even societies. And it works by asking unconditional, positive questions.

In this article, we'll see what Appreciative Inquiry Interview Questions look like and give you examples to help you create your own. I'll introduce the 4D model as a systems paradigm, and consider the flexibility that makes Appreciative Inquiry so versatile.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Strengths Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help your clients realize their unique potential and create a life that feels energizing and authentic.

What are Appreciative Inquiry Interview Questions?

To understand Appreciative Inquiry interview questions and to be able to create your own, some background into the Appreciative Inquiry Model is useful. But, put simply, AI is about understanding strengths and the positive core of a human system. AI interview questions are what we ask to discover these strengths.

At different stages of the Appreciative Inquiry Model, interview questions will reflect varying goals. What's worth knowing at this stage is that AI was originally developed as a qualitative research method, so there are no closed questions in Appreciative Inquiry.

But rather than list all the things that AI Interview Questions are not, here is a short explainer that might give you an intuitive 'feel' for what they are:

Appreciative Inquiry Interviews: A Little Background

Appreciative Inquiry began in the 1980s, while David Cooperrider and Frank Barrett were conducting action research into an organization. According to Bushe (2013), discussions of the feedback weren't going too well, and the participants were reacting in a hostile way to their questions.

This led Suresh Srivastva, their supervisor at the time, to suggest something interesting: What if the questions themselves were influencing the negative dynamic?

Indeed, when the researchers adapted their questions to have a more positive focus, they found things changed considerably-it was much easier to make positive change and improve things there. So while AI interview questions were originally intended to refine qualitative research methods, they also became the basis for an entire paradigm.

A question is only as good as the answer it evokes, and questions thus contribute to success or failure across different contexts.

(Serrat, 2009)

So...Who Does AI Interviewing?

In practice, anyone can do AI interviewing, if they have the right motivation and mindset. You can ask yourself AI questions to find out more about your own strengths and create sustainable changes in yourself, or a coach can ask you questions.

In organizations, everybody involved in an initiative will usually be familiarized with AI, as Appreciative Inquiry is largely about co-creation. External stakeholders can be included, too-one of the goals of the approach is to gather diverse perspectives.

Let's look at how the goals of each stage differ throughout the 4D model.

A Brief Look at the Model

The 4D model is a visual representation of how Appreciative Inquiry plays out. There are 4 phases through which participants progress once they have selected an affirmative topic to focus on. However, defining the affirmative topic will often involve careful thought-as a facilitator, leader, or participant, the questions you ask during this process can also affect how ideas are framed (Ludema et al., 2006).
In-quire' (kwir), v., 1: the act of exploration and discovery. 2. To ask questions; to be open to seeing new potentials and possibilities.
Synonyms: DISCOVERY, SEARCH, and SYSTEMATIC EXPLORATION, STUDY. "

(AI Commons, 2019)

Four different phases make up the 4D model, these are Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny. Once an affirmative topic has been defined, the participant or participants will move through these in sequence.

Below is an overview of the different phases; the aims of each will shape the nature of questions that are most relevant. Throughout, I'll also be highlighting just how and why Appreciative Inquiry is so closely linked with positive psychology.

Discovery Questions

The Discovery phase is about appreciating the positive core. During this phase, participants ask questions that explore and identify strengths-of a team, organization, group, or individual. AI is concerned with using strengths to grow, change, adapt, and improve, so the more diverse a group, the more ground can be covered in the metaphorical search (Lewis et al., 2016).

We can also think of Discovery questions by recalling that Appreciative Inquiry is born out of grounded theory, and is inherently a qualitative method, so subjectivity is implied (Collis & Hussey, 2013). In essence, it calls for the mindset that there are no right or wrong answers-our organizational realities are made up of the stories we tell ourselves and each other.

The more people we include, and the more we explore and discuss, the more likely we are to reach a shared understanding of the positive core. In research methods lingo, we will hardly reach theoretical saturation, but we can aspire to it (Collis & Hussey, 2013).

As Cooperrider and Godwin put it (2011), the overarching question in this phase is: " What gives life? "

Dream Questions

Picture a scenario where participants have come together, and we have been asking each other positive questions about things like our past achievements. A little further on, I'll give specific Appreciative Inquiry interview questions, but for now, suffice to say we've been asking each other what made those successes possible.

Engaged and full of positive emotions (two elements of Seligman's PERMA model, by the way), the next phase we move into is Dream. Our collective focus here is envisioning possibilities, thinking, and imagining (Cooperrider & Godwin, 2011; Whitney et al., 2004). In one sense, it's practical and still focused on the past. In another, it expands on this with the aim of generating more from this.

Here, the goal is to envision what we want to happen-in contrast to some conventional practices like real options analysis, which can sometimes focus on 'what if' in a different way (Johnson et al., 2017). Rather, we ask questions about stories; then, we can ask questions of those stories to elicit more in the way of rich detail around themes. These may include dream dialogues, which look at building out aspirations and wishes about the shared future.

The overarching question of the Dream stage, is therefore:

" What might be? "

Design Questions

The Design stage is about building the visions and ideas with the greatest potential, together. In co-constructing 'the ideal', therefore, the questions become slightly more specific and focused on clarifying. To get from a dream of "super-enthusiastic customer service" to the concrete strategic focus, for instance, participants now ask positive, provocative questions.

These are aptly called 'provocative propositions', and they aim to create compelling, clear images of social architecture that could make the dreams possible (Whitney et al., 2002; Ludema et al., 2006). Provocative propositions use the present tense, so interview and probing questions should reflect this.

Encouraging provocative propositions and sharing requires a supportive environment that encourages and invites openness (Axtell et al., 2011; Ludema et al., 2006). In this sense, it calls for sensitivity to team relationships and healthy collaborative dynamics to get the best possible outcomes.

The overarching question of this phase is:

" What should be? "

Destiny Questions

We now ideally have images of a shared, positive future that leverages our organizational strengths. The Destiny stage is about encouraging shared commitment and discussing how teams and individuals will help bring provocative propositions to life. This can be seen as distinct from traditional approaches in its focus on collective meaningfulness and purpose.

The overarching question here, according to Cooperrider and Godwin (2011), is:
"How to empower, learn, and improvise?"
Source: Source: Cooperrider & Godwin (2011)

How Can We Best Ask the Right Questions?

In a nutshell, the questions we ask at each stage will reflect the relevant goal of that stage. But asking the overarching questions as outlined are only going to get us so far. In a qualitative study, for example, it would be somewhat akin to asking your research question of participants directly-deliciously tempting, but not the best way to elicit rich, informative answers.

There are several principles that can help you design AI interview questions, and these will build on, rather than simply read out, the overarching questions at each stage. Whitney et al. (2002) describe these as 'The Anatomy of a Positive Question' in their book: Encyclopedia of Positive Questions. Let's see what they say.

What Is a Positive Question?

Succinctly put, an appreciative or positive question is:

"A question that seeks to uncover and bring out the best in a person, a situation or an organization."

(Whitney et al., 2002: 89)

They are relevant to the affirmative topic chosen, and made up of:

The affirmative topic title - If you haven't defined one yet, Ludema and colleagues give some super examples in one of their case studies (2006: 160): "What do you really want from this process? When you explore your boldest hopes and highest aspirations, what is it that you ultimately want?";

A compelling introductory 'lead-in' to the topic - These frame the question and should create a conducive atmosphere for the discussion. Whitney and colleagues suggest that lead-ins should try to explore 'hard topics' like markets or finance from a human and emotional perspective. Think of these as intrinsic reasons why we do our jobs, like fulfillment, achievement, or deeper meaning.

2-4 subquestions - These will ideally investigate the topic from various angles. They can use all three of past, current, and future tenses, and really effective ones will invite the participant to relive that experience. If you've ever done a qualitative interview, these are somewhat like "Remember the last time...what did it feel like? What emotions were you experiencing?"

More Tips for Asking Positive Questions

Crafting questions and understanding what you (all) want from the experience is a brilliant start, but here are some more tips to help (Whitney et al., 2002):

What we are hoping for is human participation. That is-while it's already been said-we want human responses which are rich in feeling and meaning, as opposed to just data. They are affective and appeal to people, not job titles;

Stories are good - they invite parties to be active participants and visualize as a group. Stories engage those involved, build relationships, and make discovery a collective process (Richards, 2012); and

Positive questions should encourage parties to think about and tune in to different perspectives-those of stakeholders and their own. They stimulate the imagination, invite perspective-taking, encouraging compassion and empathy (Whitney et al., 2002).

Relevant: How to Apply the Appreciative Inquiry Process (Incl. 5 Tips)

Michelle McQuaid, a co-author of several studies with Professor Cooperrider, has also shared tips from her interview with Jon Berghoff. Berghoff is co-founder of the Flourishing Institute, and he suggests three helpful categories of everyday questions at work (McQuaid, 2019).

Purpose Questions:

These are about meaning at work and they look into the deeper 'why' of what we do. So, beyond external incentives like KPIs and monetary rewards, we ask questions to understand our collective purpose-sometimes above and beyond the organization's official vision.

For example: " Why does our work on this particular project really matter to us?" "What is it that we're doing here and now that makes us really proud? "

Strengths Questions:

Strengths questions go right back to 'the whole point' of AI; they're about what is good and what works best. To look for what's making something work, we might first ask about best practice for instance-if there's not a lot at all that is working inside the organization, look outside at other companies.

For instance, " What does XYZ company in our sector do exceptionally well?" "What makes us best in class at new product development (NPD)?" Or "What's making our team the best it can possibly be? "

Then ask what's behind that good performance, success, or development.

For example: " What does XYZ do that we can learn from?" Or, if it's teamwork that's making NPD so spectacular, " How can we build even more on the way we collaborate? "

Future Vision Questions:

These are Appreciative Inquiry visioning questions, designed to inspire positive images of the future for a team, division, or organization. Future vision questions aim to guide positive action through creative imagining of possibilities and the hope that we can achieve these through our strengths (Cooperrider, 1990).

Examples include: " What does your ideal future look like for the team?" and " What would be your best aspirations for our organization in five years? "

Hopefully now, it's easy to see why AI interview questions can easily be adapted to suit different contexts; one of these is coaching.

Using Them in Coaching

We've talked a lot about Appreciative Inquiry in strategizing, but maintaining momentum is also hugely pivotal in making that change sustainable (Whitney et al., 2002). In fact, the 4D model is designed as a circular framework because Destiny feeds back into Discovery-so not only can we keep asking questions, but we can use those to continue building on our strengths and capabilities. So that makes AI useful in:

Even just in these contexts, they can serve us in multiple ways. For example, the Encyclopedia of Positive Questions outlines several uses of appreciative questions.

1. In individual performance coaching, they can help remind clients or colleagues of their strengths. They help us look back on our own high-performance patterns of behavior and the experiences around those to boost self-confidence and cultivate a growth mindset (Dweck, 2016).

2. We can use them to shift our vocabularies as a whole, from deficit vocabularies to language that is focused on potential. Whitney et al. (2002) call this a shift from 'problem talk' to 'possibility talk', and it serves to shift the focus away from negative blaming (Ludema et al., 2006).

3. To enhance team performance, we can direct positive questions at one another to share stories of meaningful achievement. When team members ask each other appreciative questions in coaching, it can help them discover common themes in their individual strengths. These can have implications for how the team works together synergistically, complementing one other's strengths (Whitney et al., 2004).

4. Positive questions can help build up self-esteem, so clients can recognize and appreciate their own potential. What are their stories of success and accomplishment? Encourage them to elaborate on these and validate any themes you spot together.

5. They can be used to plan developments and gain shared commitment to them-as a team coach, this can be achieved by inviting participants to interview each other. Whitney and colleagues (2002) argue that this is much more useful when done as a collective than when done alone.

Now, as promised, many, many examples so that we can get a strong sense of what to ask.

A Look at Key Examples and Samples of AI Questions to Ask

Champlain College's AI institute has created a document of sample questions for the AI Model in general-most of these, however, are focused on the Discovery phase of the 4D cycle. These sample Appreciative Inquiry Interview Questions for Discover, Dream, Design, Destiny, and then 'Apply', are adapted for a team project scenario.

5 "Review & Reflect" Questions

These questions will help in reviewing and reflecting on past and present instances and describing them in more detail.

1. What was good about that team project?

2. What about that experience was most valuable to you?
How did it positively affect you? How about your teammates? And what about your clients?

3. What was particularly positive/memorable during that project? What sticks in your mind?

4. What were the best things about the way you worked together? And how you worked with your clients? How about with other departments?

What did that feel like for you?

How could you tell it was working so well?

5. How did your teammates have an impact on your actions?

5 "Strengths & Opportunities" Questions

Here are questions that shift to the strengths that made them possible and opportunities to leverage or develop those for positive change.

1. How did your capabilities and strengths play a role in the project's success?

2. How did collaboration and cooperation influence your outcomes?

3. What was the team focused on?

4. What was it about your team members that you noticed?
What feelings or emotions did you notice in them?

5. How do you think they felt?

2 "Integration" Questions

These questions are focused on finding themes between the enablers of that positive experience.

1. What precise strengths were you and your teammates leveraging during that project?
What are some other occasions that you've used those particular strengths?

2. How might you use them in the future for other positive outcomes?

2 "Examining Beliefs and Values" Questions

A set of example items that question underpinning values and beliefs for a deeper understanding of the individuals, the team, and our own social construction of meaning (Coghlan et al., 2003).

1. How did you manage your feelings/emotions and those of your colleagues?
How did you manage your clients' emotions?

2. What images did you envision that helped you achieve those outcomes?
How do you feel those contributed to your success as a group?

3 "Applying It Elsewhere" Questions

Here, example questions that build on what we know about the positive core, and how we can leverage that knowledge (of strengths) to grow and flourish.

1. How might these precise strengths help your team succeed again in the future?

2. What particular strengths can you focus on more as a group, for similar positive results?

3. Which of these images might be useful in continuing your group's success?

Here is the whole guide.

Relevant: 4 Appreciative Inquiry Tools, Exercises and Activities

27+ Interview Questions to Create Better Leadership

Positive leaders can inspire, motivate, and contribute in a huge way to engagement (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). In terms of the 'bigger picture', they effectively invite and encourage a shared commitment to a collective vision, motivating others intrinsically. In happy, healthy work environments, positive leaders view and motivate others as humans, not as machines (Pink, 2011).

Appreciative leadership is also a specific concept in and of itself, first proposed by Diana Whitney and colleagues in their 2010 book of the same name. Appreciative Leadership is described as:

" The relational capacity to mobilize creative potential and turn it into positive power - to set in motion positive ripples of confidence, energy, enthusiasm, and performance - to make a positive difference in the world. " (Whitney et al., 2010: 3).

Here are some questions that can help create better leadership practices.

7+ AI Interview Questions About Leadership

1. Remember the most inspirational leader you've worked with. What was it like? In what ways did you find them inspirational?
What were the emotions that they inspired in you? What did they do that led you to feel that way?

2. Think of a manager or leader who has really inspired you. What are several aspects of their leadership style that encourage excellence in you?

3. How does he or she bring out the best in you?

4. Describe the last time you felt truly inspired by a leader. What context was that in? Who was the leader that made that so inspiring?

5. Who else was there? What were others' responses?

6. Describe a high point in your career, when you were feeling pride, engagement, or motivated. How did the leadership at that time contribute to that experience?

7. What did you realize about leadership from this experience?

19+ Appreciative Questions For Leadership Development and Strategy

1. Reflect back on what you consider a leadership experience that really made you and others feel engaged or alive. These questions are about 'what's good', 'what's worked', and 'what's working', both in the past and in the present.

What happened?

What did you feel? How would you describe others' emotions?

What factors do you feel made this positive experience possible?

What did you do, feel, or tell yourself that made this a peak experience?

Who else was involved? How did they contribute to the feelings of engagement?

2. The business environment is changing. The next set of questions aims to take the focus from the past into the future. Using an example of product innovation, in this instance, they ideally will inspire the leader to 'explore' new opportunities in a positive way (O'Reilly III & Tushman, 2013)

What new consumer trends are shaping how we design our products?

How do you feel they will impact on us becoming truly innovative?

These questions all build on examples from the Encyclopedia of Positive Questions (Whitney et al., 2002), Appreciative Leadership by Whitney et al., (2010), and this PDF resource from the Center for Values-Driven Leadership (CVDL, 2016).

10+ Questions for Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is yet another psychological concept that's consistently being added to. Broadly, it refers to employees' emotional commitment to organizational goals (Macey & Schneider, 2008). In that vein, these questions look at ownership and commitment (Kahn, 1990; Csikszentmihalyi, 1997):

1. In what other situations have you felt a positive sense of ownership in your working life?

2. How might the strengths, structures, or attitudes you've described help our organization inspire greater collective ownership?

11 Appreciative Inquiry Team Building Questions

In much the same respect, we can spot well-functioning teams by their positive approaches to communication, collaboration, and synergy.

These draw on theory from Whitney et al.'s (2004) book Appreciative Team Building and resources from the Center for Appreciative Inquiry.

You can read more about this book and other Appreciative Inquiry books here.

1. Share a story of when you felt most alive and engaged as part of this team.
Who was part of this experience? What contributed to it being so exciting and engaging?

2. Describe one time that you feel we, as a team, have made a meaningful impact on the lives of others.
How did you personally help make this possible? How did our working together help achieve this? What were the main elements contributing to our success? How did you feel supported by others?

3. What do you value the most about how we work as a team?
How do you feel you contribute positively to this dynamic? How do others help support this strength in you?

4. Together, we achieve things we couldn't do as individuals. What is it about the way we work together that makes this possible? When you're feeling great about the work we do together, what is it specifically that you value?

5. What do you see as our most important team values?

What do you value most about being part of this team?

What's the number one positive thing about being a team member here? How has it brought fulfillment and purpose to your personal life?

6. What do you see as the three most desirable things about our team, that we can build on for success?

Here is a full PDF resource from the Center that you might find helpful for crafting your own questions.

21 AI Discovery Questions

Here, some more Discovery questions from Champlain College AI Commons, again from a team project perspective:

Questions About The Experience

1. How did you have an impact on your colleagues' actions?

2. How did your clients react?
How did your actions impact them? What was your role in this?

3. What was unexpected about the project experience?

4. What was your most memorable learning experience from the project?

What Made It Possible?

1. What influence did your relationships have on the results?

2. How would you describe the dynamics of your team?
Could you describe the group energy?

3. Did you notice what roles were particularly useful?

4. Could you go into more detail about how you feel they were effective?

5. In what ways did you feel your teammates supported you?

6. What were your clients' responses?

7. How would you describe your emotions and what you felt?

When Else Has It Happened?

1. How was your project experience similar to other team successes you've been a part of?

2. What was different about it?

3. What exact strengths were you and your teammates showing during the project?

4. How can those help you achieve similar successes moving forward?

Important Perceptions and Beliefs

1. What were you thinking at the time that led you to a successful result?
What did it feel like?

2. What narratives were you telling yourself, that helped you achieve that outcome?
How about the group? What stories were you telling each other that contributed to your success?

3. What positive beliefs played a part in your positive experience as a team?

Transferring Strengths/Building On The Positive Core

1. How can you leverage your learnings in a way that will help your organization succeed?

2. What stories or strengths could you apply elsewhere to build on that success?

3. What strengths from this experience could you develop further for continued positive outcomes?

4. What can others help you with to develop these and succeed?

Appreciative Inquiry works most effectively where 'narrative-rich communication' is encouraged (Cooperrider & Whitney, 1999: 256). Creating a supportive, positive environment that invites storytelling can motivate employees to share their stories more, give natural, dynamic responses, and speak more openly (Michael, 2005).

21 AI Dream Questions (AI Visioning Questions)

Doubtless, you've heard "there are no ideas in brainstorming", or some variant of it. It's a nice way to think about the whole AI Dream phase, and it rings particularly true. These questions are designed to encourage aspirations and future visions that build on our understanding of the positive core (Cooperrider & Godwin, 2011). For strategy buffs, it's not too far from what we know as Blue Ocean thinking (Mauborgne & Kim, 2005).

Let's say for, the purpose of these examples, that several themes that have been identified. Roughly, these are greater collaboration, creativity, and a synergistic approach to product innovation.

1. Daydream forward into your ideal future for our organization...as an organization, we're best in class for creative innovation. What is so wonderful about the products?

2. What does it look like? What is really great about the way we work together across the firm?

What do our teams look like?

How do our communications flow?

What do our meetings look like?

What structures or systems support the flow of ideas?

How are our strengths being used to make innovation so alive?

3. Close your eyes and think forward to an ideal work day in our organization, in one year's time.

What is happening?

Who is doing what?

What does your workday look like?

What short-term goals have we achieved? What strengths have we leveraged to get us there?

What can you say is different? What's new and exciting?

A Take-Home Message

As the popular saying goes, 'The only constant in life is change.' Managing change in an organization is important for the mental health and wellbeing of every member of that organization. The resources spent on 'overcoming' and 'managing' resistance to change are phenomenal.

Imagine if, instead, the same amount of resources were spent on building collective commitment and positive feelings about the change. If the very first question asked was 'How do you think things will be different?'

Appreciative inquiry was essentially born out of a question very similar to this. And since its conception several decades ago, it's been applied flexibly in so many contexts with tangible results. Do you still think it's seen as 'soft and fluffy'? And how might we change perceptions of this? What do you see as the real barriers in the way of its more widespread usage?

Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

For further exploration, see: 18 Appreciative Inquiry Workshops, Training, and Courses

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Strengths Exercises for free.

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119+ Appreciative Inquiry Interview Questions and Examples

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In this article, we'll see what Appreciative Inquiry Questions look like and give you examples to help you create your own.

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5 Strategies For Managing Change In Schools

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Organizations that undergo change too often can become jaded about new ideas. understanding past change can help us understand future change.

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How Can We Improve Professional Inquiry? (Opinion)

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When questions arise about some aspect of assessment or grading, educators today seldom turn to reliable sources of research or evaluation evidence. They don’t look for well-designed studies that have been published in reputable journals. Instead they turn to books, blogs, and social media as their…

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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By: Ben Owens
Can you be an educator and not be committed to continuous improvement? Probably not. Whether it's improving a lesson, a school policy, or a 5-year strategic plan, educators constantly work to better meet the needs of their students. Unfortunately, despite good intentions, too many of these improvements fall short of intended results. While reasons vary, a big one is a failure to use a systemic process to drive such improvement efforts.

To be clear, this is not a problem unique to education. Having spent a career in engineering before becoming a teacher, I saw too many cases of "solutionitus," where colleagues would rush to make changes without following a methodical problem solving process.

The good news is that there are numerous improvement tools that are equally applicable in and out of education. These include Plan, Do, Study, Act; Engineering Design, and . One of the most powerful, however, is Design Thinking.

Design Thinking forces us to understand and define a problem from the perspective of the user. From there, it allows you to conceptualize human-centered solutions, develop workable prototypes, and then test for effectiveness. Rinse, repeat.

One of the most accepted Design Thinking models is that of the Stanford d.school, and its five steps of empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and test. I will briefly highlight each step, including examples of how they can be applied in an education context.

"Good design, when it's done well, becomes invisible." This quote, by Jared Spool, a design expert and educator, makes sense if you have ever experienced a bad design - something that is almost always caused by a failure to empathize with the ultimate user. Parents who struggle to find the information they need on a district's new LMS is an unfortunate example where the system's designers did not adequately consider the user perspective.

An empathy map is a great tool to help a design team use observations, surveys, focus groups, etc. to understand what the user is saying, thinking, feeling, and doing relative to the problem at hand. Ryan Schultz, a Blended Learning Coordinator at the Poudre School District's Futures Lab (CO), used this process as part of his efforts to set up his hybrid classroom. By actually sitting with a student at his desk, Schultz could quickly see how the room's plexiglass dividers were not allowing students to see the information they needed. This empathy focus led to physical improvements that enhanced the student learning experience.

The design team's next step is to analyze and synthesize the empathy data to define the problem from the point of view of the user. This definition should not be so broad that it's impossible to solve, but also not so narrow that it limits innovation. One useful template that can help is a " How Might We " statement: How might we (action-oriented experience) for (our primary user) so that (desired outcome).

Diana Siliezar-Shields, a Science Curriculum Leader at Barrington Public Schools (RI) worked with her colleagues Laura Donegan and Kara West to co-design an Environmental Impact Project that emphasized the importance of problem definition. The project gave the students significant voice and choice in terms of the topic and the presentation method, but as this example shows, they also had to define the problem per the intended audience and defend that definition with evidence.

The time invested in the Empathy and Define steps allows the team to "go slow so we can go fast." These steps provide the foundation for the ideation stage (aka brainstorming) and prevent the team from jumping straight to solutions for problems that don't exist.

We have all been part of brainstorming sessions, but doing them well requires establishing some basic norms, such as these from . One often overlooked norm is "quantity over quality," where you want to encourage prolific, "out of the box" thinking and not filter ideas before they see the light of day. , a student-led school in Boise ID, takes this seriously, stressing that the best ideas come after the 50th idea!

After the divergent thinking of ideation comes prototyping where the team uses convergent thinking with analysis, synthesis, and the prioritization of big ideas based on potential benefit and feasibility. This leads to one or more prototypes, or what is sometimes called the " minimum viable product (MVP)" for your potential solution. Simply put, it's a scaled-back version of the ultimate solution that is relatively easy to try out with users.

Peter McFarland, another Science Curriculum Leader at Barrington, uses prototyping as an integral part of his Earthquake Proof Building Project. Students assume roles of architects, engineers, and managers to develop prototypes that are and refined opposite design constraints. With the testing, they are also moving into the fifth and final stage of the process.

Testing is where the design team validates that their solution(s) indeed address user needs and solve the defined problem. Authentic improvement, therefore, is validated via user feedback. But even if not successful, the feedback allows the team to better empathize with users, refine the problem definition, and generate better solutions. It's this iterative nature of Design Thinking that helps move it from being just a tool to a mindset that can drive a culture of continuous improvement.

Andrew Harris, the CEO of the Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies in Elizabeth City, NC points to Design Thinking in this manner by highlighting how in the early days of the pandemic, the school was able to quickly pivot to continue its environment of high quality Project Based Learning, even in a remote setting. "It was our culture of continuous improvement and design thinking that created the agility for us to respond in that manner," Harris said.

And while each of the above examples highlight how Design Thinking can be effectively applied in a classroom or school context, it's worth noting that its power also extends well into the realm of systemic and policy issues as well. For example, Liberatory Design and Equity Centered Community Design are two excellent resources that explicitly leverage the Design Thinking framework toward the critical issue of equity. In fact, these were resources that helped inform a design sprint that Adam Haigler (co-founder of Open Way Learning) and I recently had the privilege of conducting with members of the North Carolina Board of Education regarding their Equity & While Child Strategic Plan.

Given the amount of time and energy educators and education stakeholders spend on continuous improvement, it only makes sense that we find ways to improve how we improve. Design Thinking is such a way. How can you use a Design Thinking mindset to drive more meaningful innovation and continuous improvement for your students?

For more, see:

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The 5 Steps of Design Thinking Help Drive School Improvements

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How can educators ensure a commitment to continuous improvement? Long-time educator and former engineer, Ben Owens, explores one of the most powerful tools: design thinking.

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The pandemic has reshaped and upended education as we know it and has led to a dramatic change in the way that schools have structured teaching and learning over the past year. Almost every school around the world has been impacted by COVID and our school here in Saudi Arabia, Although my main role at Staff are accountable to themselves, their students, their colleagues, and the administration to fully engage in this process and leverage opportunities to thrive and support the school in becoming a global leader in education. What is a professional inquiry and how can a professional inquiry help to improve teaching practice in order to positively impact student learning?

These are the questions that I will explore in this blog post using my own professional inquiry as an example. Before getting into the specific details of my own professional inquiry, I feel it is important to share some background information to help provide more context for this blog post and the direction I am hoping to go with my own professional learning related to my teaching practice this school year.

The KAUST School, has had its own share of obstacles and challenges to overcome in order to keep learning alive and on track.

The KAUST School over the past 5 years has been to work with teachers to help them deliver the best learning possible for their students, due to COVID, I've had the opportunity to jump back into teaching for the first time in quite a while. It's been a rewarding experience to be teaching PE again after so many years which has helped to give me deeper insight into my leadership role as a pedagogical coordinator.

Everyone in our school, regardless of position, must choose a professional inquiry that will guide their own learning and growth throughout the year. It is called the Professional Learning and Performance Framework (The PLP) and the philosophy behind the PLP is to cultivate a culture of collaborative inquiry that encourages staff to be courageously bold in their pursuit of professional excellence. As the school states:

"We believe it is our responsibility to learn with and from others, as well as contribute to the growth of others. Through honest reflection, feedback, and analysis together with colleagues, staff are engaged in an appraisal process that promotes lasting change that positively impacts student learning."

​ As a pedagogical leader, I have a professional inquiry that is focused on how I can make my work with teachers as relevant as possible in order to help them maximize the impact they have on student learning. However, as a teacher this year, I feel it is also important to have my own professional inquiry. From the start of the year, I've been very curious about how I might create the conditions for each of my learners to flourish in their own unique ways. This has led to me thinking more deeply about the structures and routines I utilize in my PE classes and how I can free myself up during my lessons to work more closely with students, on a one-to-one basis, in order to provide them with the timely feedback needed to help them make progress with their own learning.

Over the past several years, I've had the good fortune to work closely with a team of researchers, including Dr. Tim Fletcher, Dr. Doug Gleddie, and Dr. Deirdre NiCronin, who have been responsible for developing the Meaningful PE framework. This framework for teaching physical education has really resonated with me over the years and has led to me being very curious about how I might deliver my own teaching in a way that allows each of my students to find their own entry points to learning in the units being taught. It is my belief that if I can help my students find their own entry point to learning, they will not only be more engaged, but will develop the intrinsic motivation needed to keep practicing and making progress with their skills, therefore motor competence is a by-product of creating these conditions for student learning.

I've written extensively in the past about the cycling unit that we have run at The KAUST School in Saudi Arabia and shed some light on the unit itself, my hopes for the unit, and how I was trying to align my assessments with the big ideas/concepts being explored in the unit. This is always a special unit to teach as cycling is a big part of our community context here at KAUST. Our goal as a PE team was to inspire our students to find a joy and love of cycling that would continue long after the unit. Our hope is that the students take action to ride their bicycles more in our community in multiple different contexts when not in PE. make informed decisions about the direction of their teaching with the ultimate goal being to positively impact student learning. As mentioned earlier, 'collaboration' is a very important element of the professional inquiry process. There are three times a year that teachers must meet up with someone from senior leadership to have open and honest dialogue about teaching practice with a specific focus on their professional inquiry. There is the 'beginning of the year' chat, a 'mid-year' chat and finally the 'end of year' chat. As teachers move through the inquiry process, with each passing month, they have the autonomy to take their inquiry in whatever direction they feel is best, but again, this is not based on a hunch, but much more so on 'student data' and how the data can be used to inform the next steps in their professional inquiry.

In addition to meeting with senior leadership, they also meet with their pedagogical coordinator, as well colleagues across the school, to discuss their learning journey, to receive and give critical feedback/suggestions, and to help deepen their learning by seeing what others are doing.
In order to create the conditions for kids to find joy and meaning in our cycling unit, it was imperative to think about the 5 features of the Meaningful PE framework. Although all 5 features are equally important, I specifically focused on the features of Challenge and Personal Relevance in this unit. I felt that if I could get these features right, the kids would experience joy, they would interact with their peers in the process, and motor competence would take care of itself as they were accessing 'just right' challenges that were suited to them and their needs/abilities.

Over the course of the 9-week unit, I felt as though the unit stayed on track and that the students not only enjoyed themselves, but also made quite a bit of progress in regards to their cycling skills. Although I observed lots of smiles and could see the students getting better each lesson, I could not base what I thought was the truth about these observations on a hunch. All too often, I've heard PE teachers say things such as, "My students loved that game." or "My students had a blast in our unit, they couldn't get enough of it." I have fallen prey myself to making large scale assumptions about my teaching and about my lessons/units thinking that 'all' kids loved it or that 'all' kids were engaged in their learning.

Our professional inquiry process here at KAUST requires teachers to have different data points about their teaching in order to collect the information needed to truly

In regards to my own professional inquiry, I enlisted the support of my friend and colleague . Zack is an outstanding early years educator who has also focused on applying the Meaningful PE framework in his teaching. Due to COVID restrictions and major changes in teaching and learning in kindergarten, Zack has moved into the role of being in charge of distance learning for students in kindergarten who cannot attend face-to-face classes. Although Zack's role has changed this year, he is still involved in team planning with the early years PE team and still collaborates with us on a regular basis. I thought Zack would be perfect to help me decide on some student voice questions that he could use for quick interviews with students across the classes I teach in elementary PE.

Zack and I came up with three simple questions that he would ask my students. We decided that he would randomly select three boys and three girls from each class to interview. The three questions were:

Professional inquiries are all about the unknown. A genuine inquiry is not about having the answers or knowing exactly where this professional learning journey will take you. It's about being curious about your own practice and knowing what it is you are hoping to find out more about. As stated above, my professional inquiry was about:
​
'Thinking more deeply about the structures and routines I utilize in my PE classes and how I can free myself up during my lessons to work more closely with students, on a one-to-one basis, in order to provide them with the timely feedback needed to help them make progress with their own learning'

At the heart of this inquiry is creating autonomous learners who feel that they have choice and that I can provide them with the feedback needed to help them make progress with with the skills necessary to become more competent cyclists. Therefore, the three questions that Zack and I designed were a very good starting point to find out more information about student learning in my classes.

The Results
As a teacher who cares deeply about students and their learning, I obviously wanted them to know I was here to help them and that they had multiple choices and entry points into their learning, so this is what I was most interested in knowing more about. For the sake of clarity, Zack used a simple number system when collecting student voice. A number 1 meant 'very little', a number 2 meant 'some' and a number 3 meant 'a lot'.

As always, the professional inquiry process can be full of surprises! In my own case, the initial data was a bit surprising. I had to take a step back and stay open and curious to what the data might be telling me. I had to remind myself that collecting student voice is all about looking at the data with non-judgement and to turn off any emotions associated to the data itself. Even after teaching for so long, it can still be difficult to turn off our emotions. I've included some of the student voice below to give you some real examples of what it looked like.

To clarify a few of my own thoughts is important here. For me, it's definitely not that I want my students to be dependent on me for help. I'm all about created autonomous, self-directed learners in my program, however, I do want them to know that I'm always here for them The next thing was to look at B) The second thing we identified was that it may have been a great sign that they felt I only helped them '2-some of the time' or even '1-very little'. As I want my students to find their own entry points to learning and to self-differentiate in order to find flow and to be intrinsically motivated to work on their skills, having the feeling of autonomy and independence is hugely important. The fact that they feel I didn't help them very much might indicate that they were on the right track with their learning and that they didn't require my help that much.The third interview question was all about choices and whether or not the students felt as though they had enough choice in the cycling unit. As the data indicated that most students felt that they had Next Steps in My Inquiry
when and if they need help and support with their learning.

The fact that a number of kids felt that they hadn't made '3-a lot of progress' was a bit of a concern to me as my observations throughout the unit led me to believe that they had all made quite a bit of progress with their learning. I thought that it was obvious that they had, but the data showed me that a number of them didn't feel that they made '3-a lot' of progress, but rather '2-some'. What might this mean? How might I better explore this question and their answers in moving forward with my practice? These are some curiosities I now have about the first question. I don't have the answers yet, but will continue to think my way through this and take actionable steps to address it. The one thing I need to consider is how I am challenging the highly competent cyclists in class so that they feel that they can keep getting better.

question 2. As stated, my hope was that my students felt that they could come to me for help and that I was always here to support them. This is why I chose to structure my lessons throughout the unit in a specific way to free myself up to be available for more one-to-one/small group support. I felt that I had done this well in my teaching, but the data showed that a number of students felt that I helped them '2-some of the time'. So, what might this mean? As I reflected on the data related to the second question, I thought to myself, why might they feel that I only helped them some of the time or in other cases '1-very little'? I didn't have the answers initially, but through conversation with Zack, we came to a few potential breakthroughs:

A) Perhaps I wasn't explicit enough in the language I used with my students. There is a possibility that I didn't explicitly let them know that I was here to help them and that anytime they needed me, they could come to me for support. Rather, I cycled around checking in, giving quick feedback when needed before moving on to the next student. Had I been more explicit in my language about helping them, this might have changed their perception about me being there to better support them. So, in moving forward, I will be aware of the language I use to ensure I am more explicit and specific about the help that I want to offer them when they need it.

As seen in my previous blog post, the students self-assessed using red, yellow, and green stickers. There were very few reds ever in this unit (red stickers meant that the task they were working on was 'impossible' for them). Had there been a bunch of reds, the students would've needed my help a lot more. There were mostly yellow stickers (making progress but still challenging) and green stickers (fully competent and confident).
C) The third conclusion was that perhaps question 2 was not the best question to ask. A better question Zack could've asked might have been:

To what extent do you feel that you could've gone to Mr. Andy for help and support when you needed it in the cycling unit?

1-I feel I wasn't able to really go to him for help if I needed it.
2-I feel he might have helped me if I needed it.
3-I knew I could always go to him if I needed help.

Choices, Choices, Choices
some choice in this unit, it really surprised me, as I thought I had emphasized many times that they could work on what they wanted. Every class we cycled around, as a group, to explore different challenges so that they knew the different activities they could try out in order to self-differentiate.

​In the second half of the unit, we explored lots of different possibilities. I specifically asked the students to identify the choices that they most wanted to try out the rest of the unit and made a poster to identify what these challenges were. You can see the poster below, as well the self-assessment stickers that were also used:

As Zack and I analyzed the student voice data around 'choices', I felt that a couple of things could be explored including, once again, the explicit use of language. Although I feel I had been abundantly clear that the kids had lots of different choices available to them, the student voice data shows otherwise. Perhaps they felt limited to only the 7 challenges/choices on the posters put up around their outdoor PE space. I thought I had emphasized to them that these were not the only challenges that they were allowed to explore, but that they could be as creative as they want in making up extension challenges. The next steps in regards to my inquiry related to choices are:

1. Use very explicit language about choices, emphasizing the word 'choices' and being more specific that they do indeed have choices, but are not limited to only these choices. Intentional language use around 'choices' will definitely be my focus next unit.

2. Create a visual that shows the choices that they have but create 4-6 blank boxes below the listed choices with the question, 'What other choice can you come up with here?' It might look something like this:

Wrapping Up
An additional thought I would like to share about professional inquiries is that it is all about the process of learning over time. It's not about a final product or about having that ONE right answer in the end. The idea is that regardless of where a teacher is at in their professional inquiry journey, it is about remaining open and curious about next steps and exploring these next steps with a definite plan in mind while using student data to support. It's about failing and figuring out what may have not gone right and why. And then making the necessary adjustments to our teaching practice. It's not about judgement or being wrong. With continued curiosity and knowing within our heart that the main purpose of a professional inquiry is about having a positive impact on student learning, the journey can be so worthwhile.

My next steps are to implement the changes described above into my teaching in the next couple of units. Just before the end of the year, I will have Zack come back in to gather more student voice to help me know whether or not the changes I've implemented have had a positive impact on student learning in regards to my professional inquiry.

Even after teaching for 20 years, I love this process as it keeps me motivated to get better and to find out more about what I can do to make a difference to my students. My goal remains the same though, to inspire them to find a love of physical activity and to help create meaningful learning experiences that shows my students what is possible. And as Dr. Scott Kretchmar says, 'It is important to guide our students by the hand to the kingdom's doors to show them that there is some really good stuff in there. Trust me, I know what's inside the kingdom and it's my job is to create the conditions for you to find out for yourself.'

Would love to hear from you and how you are addressing professional growth and learning in your program. Please share your thoughts in the comment box below. Thanks for reading.

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What is a professional inquiry and how can a professional inquiry help to improve teaching practice in order to positively impact student learning? These are the questions that I will explore in this...

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Giving teachers control over their professional development work boosts engagement and models a practice they can use in the classroom.

ZUMA Press Inc / Alamy Stock Photo

In her blog The Teaching Experiment, Carla Meyrink, founder of a small school in the Dominican Republic, describes how her team is using an inquiry-based structure to guide their professional development.

"We chose inquiry-based PD because not only would teachers have a great deal of control over their learning, but they would experience inquiry learning in action, a strategy that we'd like to see them use more of in their classes," Meyrink writes.

The school identified two areas of focus-differentiation and engagement-and surveyed teachers about their interests in those areas. Using the information gathered from the surveys, school leaders created eight categories of possible inquiry. They then gathered resources-books, articles, podcasts, and websites-for each category, and at the first meeting, teachers browsed through the resources, chose which category they wanted to focus on, and divided into groups based on the categories.

Using the Question Formulation Technique, teachers brainstormed key questions to drive their inquiry, which provided them with autonomy and ownership of the process.

1. Conduct research about the proposed question.

2. Devise a plan of action to implement in the classroom.

3. Reflect on the implementation and assess how well it worked.

4. Iterate and make changes to the plan as needed.

5. Formulate a new question based on the knowledge gained and begin the process again.

Meyrink outlines a five-step process for the inquiry cycle her school's teams are using:

Meyrick suggests allowing ample time for research, both during the allocated PD meeting time and between meetings. As teachers test out their theories in the classroom, give them opportunities to assess what worked and what didn't. At Meyrink's school, after teachers "tried out their new strategies, they reflected on whether or not they had been successful." Encourage teachers to share their findings and reflections.

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Giving teachers control over their professional development work boosts engagement and models a practice they can use in the classroom.

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Guidance for Programme Development Planning

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Guidance for Programme Development Planning

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IB Template for Programme Development Planning

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IB Template for Programme Development Planning

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Danielson Rubrics with PYP Teacher Capabilities

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Danielson Rubrics with PYP Teacher Capabilities

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Timeline for Documentation Submission and Eval Visits 

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Timeline for Documentation Submission and Eval Visits 

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What were the takeaways from the article we read last week?

What does this mean for your own practice?

Learning from one another….

Just being in someone else's classroom space can inspire and encourage you to reflect on your own classroom and how it is organized.

Today, please visit five different classrooms….

Notice:

Evidence of student learning and inquiry.

Organizational setup of the classroom and how it contributes to the learning atmosphere.

Postings of classroom routines and agreements.

Notice, what is valued in the classroom?

What did you see today that inspired you?

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Organizations grow when their employees are learning. If you want a high growth organization, you need to create a learning ecosystem to support high growth individuals - to expose them to new and challenging opportunities before their roles become stale.

Companies need to see that a high growth employee who loves to learn is a very valuable asset. Redeploying them on a new learning curve within the organization keeps their expertise in-house and allows them to share and build on it-a potentially exponential gain. Job swapping is one strategy to put employees on new learning curves; others include ongoing training and educational opportunities, job sharing, mentoring and outreach programs.

Erik Bursch was good at his job and his team was delivering, but he was ready to learn something new. He was running a cloud platform within the Technology division of Gannett and he believed that if he could put himself in a new environment, the organization could learn and grow along with him.

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Your Organization Needs a Learning Ecosystem

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Organizations grow when their employees are learning. If you want a high growth organization, you need to create a learning ecosystem to support high growth individuals - to expose them to new and challenging opportunities before their roles become stale. Companies need to see that a high growth employee who loves to learn is a very valuable asset.

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How might we further develop teacher capacity to support transdisciplinary learning across the subject areas?

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How might we further develop teacher capacity to support transdisciplinary learning across the subject areas?

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Rationale: Currently our school is "doing IB" rather than "being IB". IB units of inquiry are taught as a subject area in a specified time of day, mostly encompassing science and social studies. Teachers see their state standards in other subject areas as separate entities and are not consistently utilizing the ATL, specified & related concepts, or the learner profile throughout the day to make transdisciplinary connections.

Goal: To ensure that conceptual learning happens across the curriculum facilitating lifelong learning for students.

Success Criteria - Students will:

identify transdisciplinary connections across the curriculum.

monitor and plan for their own conceptual learning.

use the ATL as tools for successful inquiry.

Teachers will:

conceptually align state standards to the programme of inquiry

use inquiry progressions to support levels of learning when planning across the curriculum.