Using Appreciative Inquiry in One-to-One Coaching: the Definition Stage

Let’s take a moment to recall the two distinctive features of Appreciative Inquiry described by Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres in Conversations Worth Having: positive framing (‘flipping’ problem statements so that they’re positively phrased, about what we want instead of the problem), and generative questioning (where the questions are designed to provoke new ideas and new ways of thinking.

When we apply the 5-D format to one-to-one coaching, the Definition stage is where coach and coachee together take whatever problem the coaching process is intended to get past, and ‘flip’ it into an ‘affirmative topic‘ that will then open the way for a generative conversation.

Checklist for Successful Affirmative Topics

Scoping the topic is important. The topic has to be about something that is within the power of the coachee to make a difference to.

It is also important to frame the topic in positive language (hence ‘affirmative’). It should be defined in terms of something the coachee can move towards, rather than what they want to get away from. If the starting point is a problem or a performance deficiency, you will need to flip it round to the search for a desired solution or a performance improvement. So, it shouldn’t include any problem language.

The rationale for flipping a problem into an affirmative topic is to activate the ‘Default Mode’ or ’empathic’ network in the coachee’s brain, and get them out of ‘Task Positive’ or ‘analytic’ mode – which is where people normally are when trying to fix problems, deal with threats, or hit targets.

Examples:

• If team meetings take too long and seem irrelevant to most attendees: “What are the causes of ineffective team meetings?” could become “How do we make our team meetings more effective?”
• If a newly-promoted manager is finding that he doesn’t have time to do their own work because their team is constantly coming to him for reassurance: “How do I stop my team pestering me?” could become “How do I encourage my team to become more self-reliant?”
• If performance in a particular area needs to improve: “How do I fix this problem?” could become “How do I improve my performance in this area?”

The topic needs to be relevant and engaging to the coachee, so that they are motivated to do something about it.

Finally, the topic should not suggest a particular route to a solution. If a particular path to improvement is highlighted at the topic stage, it means we are ignoring other potential routes that may be better. In any case, we won’t know what routes are available until we reach the later stages of the 5-D cycle.

So if the coaching client is looking to improve their time management, rather than something like “How do I select the best time management method?”, the topic might be the more wide-ranging “How do I use my time more effectively?”

A proprietary time management system might be part of the eventual solution, but so might, for example, a simple identification of the times of day when the client is at their most effective and productive, or exploring the possibility of delegating tasks. We won’t know what routes to a solution are available until at least the Discovery stage, when we start exploring what’s already working, and what’s worked well for that person in the past.

The Easy Way to Flip a Problem Into an Affirmative Topic

1. Identify the opposite of the problem – you could ask:

“What do you want instead of the problem?”

or “When this problem is completely solved, what will that be like?”

2. Take that ‘opposite of the problem’ and turn it into a question by putting “How can you…?” or “How do you…” in front of it.

So what you end up with is a (generative) question in the format:
“How do you get to [opposite of the problem]?”

Additional Notes if You’re a ‘Manager as Coach’:

• An essential preliminary to any coaching is that the staff member agrees that improvement is needed – until this agreement is secured, coaching in any meaningful sense won’t happen.
• The topic needs to be intrinsically engaging to the staff member – extrinsic motivation, such as the ‘stick’ of reprimand, or even the ‘carrot’ of a pay hike, won’t get nearly such good results from the coaching process.

Try This Exercise:

Take your biggest challenge or problem at the moment and rate how motivated you feel to tackle it on a scale of 0-10, where 0 is ‘not at all’ and 10 is ‘let me at it right now!’

Now ‘flip’ your problem statement into an affirmative topic that’s stated in positive language and doesn’t specify a route to a solution.

Notice how motivated you feel to tackle it now, on a scale of 0 to 10.

I’m hoping, and expecting, that your motivation will have gone up by a point or two.

I’m starting a new Practical Appreciative Inquiry facilitator training soon. If you like my materials and the way I approach things, this is pretty much the only training I’m doing these days – and it gives you a great method for coaching teams and small groups!

“It was a fantastic course. Andy facilitated our learning ensuring we came away with knowledge and tools that we could immediately use in our consultancy and leadership coaching client work.” – Rita J Bailey, Coach, Facilitator, Mediator, MBTI Practitioner, UK