Originally part of Berrett-Koehler Communication's "Collaborating for Change" series, this short introduction to Appreciative Inquiry is the best way for organisations to be introduced to AI by the originators and leaders of the movement itself. Now with a new introduction and updated with revisions throughout, "Appreciative Inquiry" offers an approach that works because it acknowledges the prevailing attitudes toward change. It offers a fresh view based on the possibility of a more desirable future, experience with the whole system and activities that signal "something different is happening this time." That difference systematically taps the potential of human beings to make themselves, their organisations and their communities more adaptive and more effective. This approach is based on solid, proven principles for unleashing people's creativity, knowledge and spirit toward a common purpose.

This handbook contains everything needed to launch any kind of AI initiative. It provides background information on what AI is and how it works, and offers sample project plans, designs, agendas, course outlines, interview guidelines, participant worksheets, and a list of resources.

Written by the originators and leaders of the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) movement itself, this short, practical guide offers an approach to organizational change based on the possibility of a more desirable future, experience with the whole system, and activities that signal ''something different is happening this time.'' That difference systematically taps the potential of human beings to make themselves, their organizations, and their communities more adaptive and more effective. AI, a theory of collaborative change, erases the winner/loser paradigm in favor of coordinated actions and closer relationships that lead to solutions at once simpler and more effective.