Appreciative Inquiry usually involves participants in what is referred to as a 4D cycle. Sometimes they go through the whole process (e.g. an organisational or thematic review), or parts of that process (e.g. to contribute to a PR campaign).

Review and improve the way we work across the organisation
AI is commonly used to carry out self evaluations across an organisation. This does not start from a particular topic, but allows participants to identify for themselves where the organisation is performing at an exceptional level. People then analyse why this occurred and use this 'positive core' as the building block for designing and delivering on agreed action plans. This process is ideal for organisations that are expected to have self evaluation / assessment processes in place (as part of an inspection regime), or for those that wish to genuinely engage the workforce and other key stakeholders in the business planning cycle.

Respond to a particular issue or challenge
Very often organisations have a particular issue they wish to resolve or develop. This could range from very practical areas such as health and safety or customer service, through to more seemingly intangible issues such as communication, change, or leadership. Participants are involved in the whole of the 4D cycle, ultimately agreeing practical action plans that everyone takes ownership of.

Change management
Organisations often go through times of change. Sometimes this is significant and the biggest challenge is not the practical aspects, it is taking the workforce and other stakeholders with you. AI involves all these people in making decisions about the process of change and how it is implemented. Because they are involved in a genuine way, it has an impact on hearts and minds, making the whole process one of partnership and trust, not conflict and blame.

Embedding strength based approaches
The whole ethos of AI is to create self sustaining action that brings about organisational improvement. This is based on building on what works rather than trying to fix problems. Although the process itself brings about an energy that is self sustaining, the identification of AI champions amongst the workforce can add to the longer term impact. We provide training for these people in order that they can fully 'exploit' the benefits of AI and other complementary approaches.

Engage with key stakeholders
One of the primary reasons that AI is so effective is that it promotes the involvement of all key stakeholders (i.e. the whole system). This is not just a tokenistic act, it is a pivotal part of the process. These stakeholders include management (at all levels), the workforce, customers, clients, partners, commissioners etc. Whilst AI is often just used with the workforce, the impact and outcomes are strengthened substantially with this wider representation.

Improve the organisational profile
Any use of AI will have an impact on the profile of the organisation, based on the tangible outcomes of the process. However, we provide a targeted service that just focuses on discovering best practice and promoting this to those that matter (e.g. current and potential customers / clients). This involves:

• Talking to staff, customers and others to find out what is working well - examples of best practice
• Using these examples to write short stories
• Incorporating these stories into your current communication channels (e.g. website, Intranet, Newsletter etc). We manage the whole process for you.
• Adding these stories to our own website, a collection of good practice that spreads your name beyond your local 'audience'.