Anyone who has followed the debate about engagement methods in recent years knows that Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is sometimes given mixed reviews. Indeed one reviewer in 2000 called it ‘too Pollyanna-ish’ and others claimed it relied too much on ‘warm fuzzy group hugs.’ (2006)

But that was then and things have moved on, as illustrated in an excellent survey of the literature and case studies published by the Glasgow-based Institute for Research & Innovation in Social Services. Its 2016 Report on improving lives demonstrates how this flexible, creative method of positive problem solving works well in contemporary change management.

Nowhere seems better suited to this than the worlds of Health and Social Care.

Those needing to figure out new ways of delivering public services must be at their wits end to navigate the labyrinth of negativity as people recount their horror stories and enumerate the barriers to better care. AI breaks through this by focusing on what works, why it works and how design new methods without tripping across traditional power structures.

The Consultation Institute has long recognised that public consultation works best when alternative options have been developed through co-production or other forms of public and patient involvement.

There is no shortage of tools, but AI has the benefit of being easy to absorb, adaptable to use and effective for team-building and partnership working.

Sherry Fuller, who delivers the Institute training course sees it as a way to help Managers and staff to tackle transformational change in a non-threatening way, and has helped hundreds of small groups to understand what AI has to offer.

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