We have so many positive psychology interventions to choose from, so why would we choose appreciative Inquiry (AI)? Positive psychology has a close relationship with AI, both start at a positive standpoint and look at the positive over negative, the potential of an individual rather than their weaknesses or areas for development and it’s forward-thinking – it really focusses on the future rather than dwelling on and revisiting the past.

What is AI?

AI was developed in the United States by David Cooperrider, originally as a change methodology for organisations going through transformational change.

AI was then ‘adopted’ by the Positive Psychology movement as a tool for individual development because AI helps people to create an image of the future that will help to ‘pull’ them towards a new, preferred way of living. The position that AI comes from is that every situation offers the opportunity for learning, development, and personal happiness.

AI is a person-centered approach to change, and a form of ‘positive questioning’, focused on the individual, they are actively involved in their ‘change process’ from the very start. The process of positive questioning enables them to reframe their personal narrative and grow as a person through their current challenges.

AI and strengths

AI is a process that looks at life through a strengths lens. Strengths are defined as qualities that we have and use such as creativity, curiosity, wisdom, compassion, persistence, love, tenacity, perseverance, courage and kindness (as opposed to a skill like using Excel or being good at woodwork)

We know that when we use our strengths, we are more engaged in what we’re doing (Flow) we’re often much happier and almost always more productive.

When to use AI in Coaching

We often use AI in coaching when someone is ‘stuck’ or a bit lost. It helps them to develop an idea or vision of where they want to be, to get a view of their ideal future and build in the pieces that are really important to them and also to create goals and action plans in order to move toward their preferred way of living or being.

The AI Model

There are 4 stages to the AI model and these stages can take vastly different amounts of time to work through depending on where the client is and what else is happening in their lives. The stages are as follows;

Discovery – ‘What’s currently happening’?

Dream – ‘What is it that you’d like to happen’?

Design – ‘What does your preferred lifestyle look like’?

Destiny – ‘How do you want to refine and maintain this plan’?

Discovery stage

This stage can take a while as the coachee articulates their areas of concern and what’s currently going on for them. Sometimes there are multi-faceted, complex issues that need to be processed and all manner of other issues might come up like appropriately managing boundaries, being assertive and utilising appropriate levels of self-care and compassion. Questions that might help at this stage are;

•       What do you most value about yourself?

•       Tell me about something that you’d like more of in your life?

•       Who are your role models?

Dream stage

The Dream stage of the AI process can be a challenge for some coachees as often they come to coaching with a sense of what they don’t want but not necessarily of what they do want. It can take a while to explore this in the sessions and through invitations to experiment with ideas outside of the sessions. Questions that might help at this stage are;

•       What do you see when you imagine yourself in the next couple of years?

•       What ‘best bits’ do you want to carry from now into the future?

•       Who is around you in this new picture?

Design

The design stage is about experimenting with different ways of being, really thinking through how the future might be and what the coachee wants in there. Questions that might help at this stage are;

•       What would bring your dream alive for you?

•       Who can you trust to support you through this transition?

•       Which smaller fun elements of your dream could you begin to experiment with?

Destiny

The destiny stage is about refining and maintaining the plan as its being lived or experimented with. Questions that might help at this stage are;

•       What’s the thing that you love the most about your life now?

•       What strengths do you have that are useful and that you are most grateful for?

•       What purpose do you most want to fulfill now?

AI is a really useful coaching tool that helps us to positively tackle problems differently. It’s a practice that’s entirely focused on the individual and their preferences. It also

shows us how our growth rarely can take place without other people and gives us a recognition of the contribution that others make to our lives and work and how important relationships are in our growth and development.

References

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
David Cooperrider. The Appreciative Inquiry Handbook:

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Starting with our brains

Recent neuroscience has demonstrated that the brain and the neurological network that operates it are very complex and multifunctional. Out of this complex network comes our thoughts, emotions, memories, perceptions and actions. Importantly this is possible because we make meaning from our experiences. The brain doesn’t have pre-programmed parts that trigger things like emotions, thoughts, or actions. Instead, each of us constructs ‘categories’ that have been formed by the experiences we have. We have many of these categories that are used to predict which one is more suitable for the moments we have. Our brains are primarily a predictive organ that makes sense of each moment and does its best to find the right thought, emotion, or action for this particular moment.

Living in context

It would be more accurate to see ourselves as beings that use predictive categories to determine how we need to ‘be’ in a given moment. Consider your behaviour when you are in your job, when with family, when on your own. Break than down to even more specific events. Think about when you are in a meeting with your boss or when you are with your closest colleague in the office. Do you behave or feel the same in all those situations? Or do you adapt to what you believe is the most appropriate behaviour? That’s your predictive brain choosing a category that best fits that context.

Therefore the situation we are in becomes a central part of who we are. We don’t exist in a vacuum. Everything we do and think has been influenced by who we are with, where we are, why we are there, what put us there, where we want to go next……and so on. Think about it. This is happening without being fully aware of each and every moment of the day. Our brain gathers information, it pays attention to some if it, ignores other bits of it, and makes a judgement on what is happening, whether it is good or bad, and how to respond.

So here is my suggestion. When we think about who we are we need to stop thinking in terms of one identity but ask who we are in each context. This will enable us to build conceptual categories that are more useful for us across our whole lives. We may even stop beating ourselves up for acting in a certain way with some people. If we focus on why we tend to behave in that way with that person we can focus on that part of our multiple self and become more aware of what has occurred in the past that has formed those particular categories. Then, because we have plasticity and learn, we can reform a new self for that context if we so wish.

But what about the concept of the ‘authentic’ self?

Although I would say the authentic self is an important way for you to reflect on your values and ambitions, there can be no one authentic self but many. This gives you plenty of opportunity to think about the different situations that are important in your life, and how you want to be in each of them!

Coaching the selves

There are a number of ways the coach can include the concept of multiple selves in the sessions.

a)     Work with the coachee on recognising the different selves in each context. Don’t try and consolidate them, or make sense of each of them. Allow the coachee to explore them as they are so that they can know them enough to actively shape them.

b)     Be careful when using profiling tools with coachees as some of these assume a single identity. Aim to use profiles that are more flexible and encourage context specific dialogue around them.

c)     It would be useful to use systemic coaching questions and techniques as these recognise that a person isn’t operating in isolation. These can be modified to include the many selves that the coachee activates. How do the multiple selves connect?

d)     Work with the coachee holistically, seeing them as more than their job title but as human beings with a life away from work.

e)     Ask the coachee “who are you in xxx context?” Encourage them to understand their story for their different selves. Move them around into different spaces to observe their many selves.

References: Barrett, L.F. & Satpute, A. (2013). Large-scale brain networks in affective and social neuroscience: Towards an integrative functional architecture of the brain. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 23(3)

Lawrence, P. (2018). A narrative approach to coaching multiple selves. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 16(2)

Lester, D. (2012). A multiple self theory of mind. Comprehensive Psychology, 1(5)

Seligman, M.E.P., Railton, P., Baumeister, R. F., & Sripada, C. (Eds.) (2016). Homo Prospectus. New York, USA: Oxford University Press

Wilson-Mendenhall, C.D., Barrett, L.F., Simmons, W.K., & Barsalou, L.W. (2011). Grounding emotion in situated conceptualization. Neuropsychologia, 49

Read more about Lisa Jones and her other articles HERE

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