How Will This Module Help Me?
Describes 5 STEPS for building and maintaining a positive organizational culture.
Answers frequently asked questions about appreciative inquiry.
Provides tools and resources to help your team effectively use appreciative inquiry.
Quiz Ref IDAppreciative inquiry is an approach to management that identifies and builds on what already works well in an organization to foster positive change. Developed at Case Western University in the 1980s, appreciative inquiry uses “unconditional positive” questions to identify what is best in an organization.1 Asking questions such as, “What was a recent successful team project,” or “What made the team so successful,” or “Have you noticed a colleague go beyond the call of duty recently? What happened?” orients team members to build on the positive and create a shared vision going forward.
Focusing on what's wrong in an organization, such as a clinical practice or department, can lead to exclusive attention to problems and create a negative atmosphere, whereas taking the time to focus on the positives can help individuals recognize what gives life, vitality, and joy to the practice. Fostering the best in one another begins with noticing what is being done well. For example, providing recognition for a job well done has been shown to significantly lower physician burnout scores and result in other positive organizational results.2
Five STEPS to Improve Your Organizational Culture Using Appreciative Inquiry
Build a Guiding Coalition.
Form a “Discovery Team.”
Share Positive Stories.
Incorporate Appreciative Inquiry Into Daily Work.
Link Appreciative Inquiry to Existing Performance Improvement Initiatives.
Step 1 Build a Guiding Coalition.
Sustainable culture change requires leadership. It can be very challenging to “unfreeze” staff from the status quo. The shift to a more positive, productive work experience demands the engagement of leaders who are skilled in non-traditional competencies, such as emotional intelligence, team building, and appreciative inquiry.
To build a coalition of leaders to guide culture change, it is helpful to identify individuals who are dissatisfied with the current workplace atmosphere and who are ready to participate in disruptive innovation.3 These individuals can be physicians or other health care professionals who are curious and ready to embrace change.
The benefits of appreciative inquire include:
Quiz Ref IDAppreciative inquiry fosters a sense of optimism, and people tend to work best when they are feeling optimistic.1
It encourages collaboration, which engages and helps teams focus on the meaning of their work and inspiring members to do their best.
This technique also facilitates storytelling, which engages emotions and inspires collaboration and confidence.
Step 2 Form a “Discovery Team.”
Quiz Ref IDIt is important to begin appreciative inquiry by gaining a sense of the strengths, assets, and values of the practice, department, or organization. Appreciative interviewing, a discovery process that builds on appreciative inquiry principles, can be used to uncover themes and values from across the organization. This process can help team members understand how they interact and connect with one another and what they can accomplish when they are at their best.4
One way to begin the discovery process is to form a discovery team, a small representative group within your larger organization or practice that can use appreciative interviews to inform change within the organization.
Guidance for Successful Appreciative Interviews (55 KB)This document provides an example interview script and an example of interviewer documentation to help you get started.
Appreciative Inquiry Background and Definition (516 KB)Learn more about appreciative inquiry
Step 3 Share Positive Stories.
Introduce appreciative inquiry on a small scale by including an appreciative check-in or debrief in your staff meetings. Using these tools in meetings will familiarize your team with the concept of appreciative inquiry through experiential learning.
To use appreciative check-in, before beginning your meeting's stated agenda, pose a positively focused question to the team and allow each team member to respond. Possible questions include:
“What is something that went well for you today?”
“What is a recent positive experience in your work or personal life?”
“How would you fill in the blanks? I am feeling _____ today, because ____.”
To use appreciative debrief, reserve a few minutes at the end of the meeting to identify positive aspects of the meeting and opportunities for improvement. Ask the team to answer questions such as:
“What was a positive experience you had in the meeting today?”
“What did we do well in the meeting?”
“What was the most productive part of this meeting that we can continue in future meetings?”
You might also consider hosting a “town hall” meeting to share positive stories. Spreading positive stories within your team or unit is an important component in improving its culture. Hosting a town hall meeting on a regular basis can bring your team together to focus on recent successful experiences. At a town hall meeting, the interviewer or interviewees from an appreciative inquiry exercise can share their positive stories (de-identified, if desired) with the entire team. Include “open mic” time in the meeting, when participants can speak or be interviewed in front of their team.
A variety of other communication channels can be used to share positive stories and help the practice become a narrative organization. The inclusion of positive stories supports culture change. Identify ways to include storytelling in your internal communications; for example, you can post positive vignettes and inspirational quotations from patients and team members in newsletters, company-wide emails, on your intranet, and on physical message boards in your office or clinic. For example, Indiana University School of Medicine sends an electronic newsletter weekly to the entire medical community that includes reflections of faculty and medical students, poetry, and information about related workshops, conferences, and awards.
Using these methods can shift the focus and atmosphere of meetings and help your team experience the benefits of appreciative inquiry. They can be especially helpful at garnering enthusiasm for required early-morning meetings.
Step 4 Incorporate Appreciative Inquiry Into Daily Work.
Once members of your practice or department have gained some experience with appreciative inquiry, it is important to embed this approach into the daily work of your organization. Embedding appreciative inquiry principles can take several forms. The essential element of these activities is identifying and highlighting mutual values and positive experiences.
Quiz Ref IDAppreciative inquiry activities might include:
Appreciative check-ins: asking an appreciative question at the start of a meeting.
Introductions: asking people to respond to an appreciative question.
Shout-outs: asking team members to share something positive that they observed recently about another team member's actions or performance.
Appreciative de-briefs: asking an appreciative question relating to the strengths of a meeting.
Clinical interactions: using appreciative questions with patients.
Assuming positive intent.
Transforming an obstacle into an opportunity.
Finding the value behind a complaint.
Appreciative Questions for Team Meetings (42 KB)Starting team meetings with appreciative questions to build a positive culture.
Events at which appreciative inquiry can be used include:
Daily huddles.
Staff meetings.
Leadership meetings.
Performance improvement team meetings.
Other team meetings.
Performance evaluations.
Interactions with patients and family members.
Practice or administrative rounds.
Step 5 Link Appreciative Inquiry to Existing Performance Improvement Initiatives.
It is important to look for existing skills and strengths within a group to fuel positive change.8 For example, if your organization already uses Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, you might start by inviting team members to write brief (1- to 2-page) proposals outlining the question or challenge that the PDSA cycle could address, the way(s) in which appreciative inquiry could affect the desired outcome, the appreciative inquiry methods to use, and plans for using the results within the cycle. Members of the discovery team can act as a selection committee for these proposals. For example, a practice might use appreciative inquiry within the daily team huddle to test ways to optimize the care of each patient to be seen that day and identify time slots for same-day appointments. By using this technique, the practice can build on its strengths and work collaboratively to identify the most effective scheduling process for the group, ultimately improving care coordination, reducing wait times, and increasing access.
Appreciative inquiry is an approach to management that identifies and builds on what is already working well in an organization. This technique fosters optimism and collaboration. It also encourages the sharing of positive stories, which can improve an organization's culture.