Appreciative Inquiry

I often find myself wishing I asked more questions and then return like the television character Columbo, Private Investigator to say, "I am sorry sir, just one more thing" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZiv8vkxMac.

This hesitation is twofold: I don't want to be rude or pry into matters that are out of my need to know. Perhaps the way I am asking is a conversation stopper?

If I were to instead use Appreciative Inquiry as the starting point of a conversation it could change everything.

In our PIDP3250 Discussion Forums Jennifer Aarestad is hosting the topic of Appreciative Inquiry which has gotten a lot of great responses. One, such response from Shelley Killeen is video "What is Appreciative Inquiry"? created by Dr. Lynn K Jones, Coach and Organizational Consultant.

This video clip starts off with the definitions of Appreciation and Inquiry.

Appreciative means to value the contributions or attributes of people and things around us. 

Inquiry means to explore and discover in the spirit of seeking to better understand and 

being open to new possibilities.

Wouldn't it be a great idea to develop a habit of pausing to think before concluding a conversation? To ask self, "What else is there to know about this"? "Have I expanded the question so it is larger than the person to encourage higher order thinking about what is important to them"?

- What is working well?

- What could we do to make it better?

There will be some good fun ahead considering the conversation, being curious and appreciative, and asking essential questions using appreciative inquiry.

Here is an article I recommend:

Learning to Love the Questions: How Essential Questions Promote Creativity' by Jeffery D Wilhelm (jwilhelm@boisestate.edu) http://www.ala.org/aasl/kq/mayjune14