🌿 Appreciative Inquiry: Asking What’s Strong to Inspire What’s Possible

In youth and community development work, the questions we ask shape the worlds we create.

Developed at Case Western Reserve University, Appreciative Inquiry (AI) offers a strength-based alternative to traditional problem-solving approaches.
Instead of asking “What’s wrong, and how do we fix it?” AI begins with “What’s working, what gives life, and what could be?”

It’s a shift from analysing deficits to uncovering strengths – from diagnosing what’s broken to discovering what’s already beautiful and worth amplifying.

The Essence of Appreciative Inquiry

AI identifies a community’s past successes and uses them to:

build capacity,
boost confidence,
generate new ideas, and
inspire positive change.

As its founder David Cooperrider famously said, “We live in worlds our questions create.”

In a world where so much attention goes to what’s failing, AI flips the lens.

Research shows an 80/20 deficit bias – for every 80 media stories on greed, violence, or corruption, only 20 highlight human excellence or collaboration.
Even in workplaces, only 20% of people say they get to use their strengths daily.

That bias drains energy. Appreciative Inquiry restores it.

Not Pollyanna – But Powerful

Appreciative Inquiry isn’t about pretending everything is fine or avoiding hard truths.
It’s not a “feel-good” exercise – it’s a disciplined practice of asking better questions that galvanise energy, imagination, and action.

While traditional problem-solving starts with what’s wrong, AI begins with what’s strong.

Problem-Solving Approach	Appreciative Inquiry Approach
If a situation isn’t as we want, it’s a problem to be fixed.	Every situation holds the seeds of excellence to be discovered and expanded.
Break the problem into parts and analyse them.	Seek out examples of peak performance and learn what made them possible.
Fix the broken part, and the whole will work.	Share stories of success – the system moves toward what it can imagine.

AI is built on a social constructionist principle – that reality is created through our conversations and collective imagination.
As narrative therapy reminds us, the stories we tell about ourselves and our communities become the truths we live by.

Or, as I learned during my Master’s in Applied Sociolinguistics at the University of Sydney, language has the power to transform reality.
In AI, we often say: “Words create worlds.”

Words Matter

“If you want to care for something, you call it a flower.
If you want to kill something, you call it a weed.”

The words we choose shape our relationships, our work, and our communities.
When you call something a “problem,” energy drops.
Call it a “challenge,” and curiosity awakens.

Even the words we use for people matter.
The word client comes from the Latin clinare, meaning to lie down.
The word citizen evokes agency, belonging, and contribution – not legal status, but an attitude of shared responsibility.

Learning from Imagine Chicago

Appreciative Inquiry found one of its most inspiring expressions through Imagine Chicago, founded in 1992 by our dear friend and collaborator Bliss Browne.
Bliss invited young people and citizens to interview each other about their hopes for their city – asking questions such as:

“What is the best inter-racial relationship you’ve ever experienced?”
“Thinking back over your Chicago memories, what have been high points for you as a citizen?”

From those stories emerged civic projects, neighbourhood initiatives, and a renewed sense of shared belonging.
You can hear Bliss share her story on my podcast here:
🎧 Imagine Chicago: The movement that changed her city and the world

Appreciative Inquiry in Practice

I’ve used Appreciative Inquiry alongside Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) in many projects – especially in youth and community consultations.
One example was with the Rozelle Neighbourhood Centre, where we worked with young people and youth services in Sydney’s Inner West to co-design a youth social enterprise.

Instead of starting with needs and problems, we began by asking questions that opened possibility:

Appreciative Inquiry Questions:

What do you love about your community?
When have you felt most part of it?
What skills or talents could help make your community more vibrant or connected?
What do you hope could change – and what small action could help start that change?

As people shared their stories, patterns of hope, creativity, and care emerged – and with them, the foundation for design and action.

The 4-D Cycle of Appreciative Inquiry

Discovery – Appreciating the best of what is.
Dream – Imagining what could be.
Design – Determining what should be.
Destiny (or Deliver) – Creating what will be.

Another complementary framework is the SOAR model, which focuses on:

Strengths: What can we build on?
Opportunities: What are our stakeholders asking for?
Aspirations: What do we care deeply about?
Results: How will we know we’re succeeding?

It’s a strengths-based alternative to SWOT, orienting us toward possibility and progress.

Words Create Worlds — in Villawood and Beyond

In Villawood, once described in the media as a “forgotten suburb,” we used AI and ABCD to help residents reimagine their community.
We began by asking what they loved, what they cared about, and what they wanted to create together.
Those conversations turned deficits into energy – and the area is now seen as a welcoming community rich in connection and initiative.

As Cormac Russell reminds us, “You cannot know what a community needs until it first knows what it has.”
Appreciative Inquiry helps people rediscover that truth – one story, one question, one spark at a time.

✨ In Summary

Appreciative Inquiry teaches us that change begins not with plans or policies, but with the stories we tell and the questions we dare to ask.

In a world wired for deficits, choosing to ask what’s strong – and not just what’s wrong – is a radical act of hope.

Curious about how to bring Appreciative Inquiry to life in your own work?
Contact us to get information about our new AI guide: How to Facilitate an Appreciative Inquiry Workshop – a practical resource for youth workers, community development practitioners, and facilitators who want to turn appreciative conversations into real change.

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