Using Appreciative Inquiry
for Strategic Planning

It is important for all the people who will be affected by a strategic plan to be a part of its development and of the appreciation process. Appreciative Inquiry is based on the assumption that everyone is proud of their college from many aspects. Tapping into that pride as a resource allows everyone to feel responsible for the college’s success. Appreciative Inquiry approaches action from a success perspective, unlike many approaches that focus on identifying problems and seeking solutions. Used as a strategic planning tool, Appreciative Inquiry builds on a college’s success. Individual stories provide a foundation for a collegewide story about the institution’s best work. Focusing on successes and on what works generates a positive energy, excitement, and good will to continue to do more and to move optimistically toward a challenging and vital future. Appreciative Inquiry uncovers what gives life to an organization when it is at its best. It is a sense of a vividly imagined future that compels college faculty and staff to support it.

The process of Appreciative Inquiry results in a specific plan stated in terms that provide a vision for the future. These are statements about where the college wants to be in a specified period of time, based on the best of the past. Each individual and group in the college then develops specific strategies to help the college to arrive at its vision on time.

To have someone lead your college or department through a strategic planning process using Appreciative Inquiry, contact Ed Leach.