Appreciative Inquiry Case: Managing Change

Kylie Bell describes to Eve Ash how the 5D model of Appreciative Inquiry was applied to a large government department which was 18 months into a restructure with multi-levels of change. The problem was defined as people feeling stressed, and so she encouraged people to pair and discuss examples of when they previously coped. They were then asked to dream about coping and what they might do differently (eg. asking for more communication from management, more self-care), and the steps needed to accomplish that. Finally, would their wellbeing improve, and how, if they were coping better?

A federal government department undergoing a restructure applied the following:

• Define (people stressed - need to cope with change)
• Discover (past examples of coping)
• Dream (if coping, what do they need?)
• Design (planned what to do differently)
• Destiny (how would they improve wellbeing)