It’s not always the idea that you have stood out well. You face some failures when you are out on the entrepreneur journey. We have questions then… Why? How? What failed? Questions loom up every time seeking answers. And you are demotivated.
You may feel tired of the questions that never seem to end, but sometimes asking the right appreciative questions may be just the thing you need! Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an approach for the business management that emphasizes working from the strengths to find a new direction for growth rather than focusing on weaknesses or issues to be solved.
Here are the 5 approaches of AI that may be just the solution you are searching for your Business!
1. The Constructionist Principle: Often in our zeal and enthusiastic nature of diving right into business, we forget that there is a need to communicate and get feedback as well. We tend to think things only the way we want to see it- but forget there may be a different perception of the customers. We need to know not just our view but also what others feel and think they need- so we can align the business to what matches their need and our innovations. For this simply remember the fact,’ Words Create Reality’. The technique this principle focuses on is to construct a conversation, ask them questions
You may fear that asking questions to customers may bring you in more questions and make you realize you are failing. But it’s not so you need to perk up your mind to be more constructive and get the feedback incorporated in your business to make it flourish more! Think Constructive, make constructive conversations with your customers, and construct a better business.
2. The Simultaneity Principle:Indeed the above principle says you need to strike up the conversation. But what can you ask differently that may be unique for the customers to appreciate you? Often we just ask- Did you like my business idea? But sometimes think out of the box and ask- What was the best thing in my business you like?
The difference is that the first question may bring up just the answer of yes or no. The second question will make them feel appreciated that you have asked them their views on the business and will end up telling you what they liked the most. So that you can just note it down and work on it, to strengthen it more.
‘Inquiry brings a change’. This principle focuses on the fact that inquiring with the right questions, will help you guide more to bring a change in the thinking of yourself and the customer. In the process of appreciative inquiry, asking questions is making the customers feel appreciated as well as appreciating you for the strengths you have got in your business simultaneously!
3. The Poetic Principle: The business and the teams are like the open book, and are an endless source of study and learning. What we choose to study matters and that’s what will make the difference. You need to imagine that you are a poet and create your world as beautifully as possible. In the chaos of business, there comes the time when you feel you are slipping away from achieving success. You may feel your motivation is fading away- at this time you need to feel that you are a poem who is creating a beautiful poem that will be your business. You need to then inquire about why you are creating it. Remember – not everyone can create and ensure yourself that by creating an idea you had your business set up. You can still create more and finish the poem of your business. ‘You can choose what you want to create’ is what this principle focuses on and create your journey as you know it.
4. The Anticipatory Principle: ‘Image inspires action’. “The study of psychology has shown that the athletes who mentally rehearse success to do better than those who don’t have a clear image of success, or psych themselves out imagining all things that could go wrong.”
It is important that as an entrepreneur you set up your mind to be determined to achieve success and think positively. Often we crawl in the direction of imagining the picture of an unpleasant situation that may arise and fail us. This will ultimately lead to the point where we will demotivate ourselves and make the success to achieve the unpleasant situation that was imagined. Having a clear and compelling image of the desired future creates a vision that is more anticipatory to achieve success.
As the anticipatory principle notions, it is just sensible to inquire about what you are seeing and imagining about your future. Is it the correct image? Are you imagining your business taking the height of victory? Or are you imagining the future of a downfall of your business?
5. The Positive Principle: By now, I’m sure it is clear that the techniques of the appreciative inquiry mainly pushes you to thrive for a positive change. In business too, there is a need to be able to learn new ways of doing things to be successful. We are usually so used to the old ways of following the same trend of going along the flow of life.
‘Positive questions create positive change’. As a part of this principle it focuses on the fact that asking the questions which are more aligned to positive ones, giving an insight on what you have achieved, best practices, experiences tend to generate a positive effect on yourself. It is not easy to change the way we have been working and requires a high level of positive emotions that will eventually nourish our capabilities and performance.
