After returning from the summit, I was excited to apply these Appreciative Inquiry principles to my own work in Learning & Development (L&D). Whether you’re an instructional designer, a trainer, or an eLearning developer, AI offers practical techniques to enhance course design, facilitation, and even virtual learning and community building. Here are some of the key applications and takeaways for L&D professionals:
· Designing Learner-Centered Experiences: Appreciative Inquiry aligns beautifully with learner-centered design. As L&D professionals, we know that adult learners bring rich experiences to the table and want to be involved in their own learning. AI gives us concrete ways to do that. For instance, when designing a new training program, you might start by gathering stories of success from the learners or stakeholders: “Tell me about a time when you learned something in this organization that really stuck with you – what made that possible?” By doing so, you acknowledge that participants bring a “wealth of opportunity and vision” with them (education.wm.edu). Those stories can uncover what already engages your learners, which you can then build into your course design. This appreciative approach contrasts with the usual focus on “gaps” or “deficiencies.” Instead of beginning with a list of what employees can’t do, you begin with what they’re already doing well and their aspirations, and design from there. The result is training content that feels relevant, empowering, and tailored to learners’ real strengths and needs.
· Facilitation and Classroom Engagement: In the training room (physical or virtual), Appreciative Inquiry techniques can dramatically boost engagement and create a positive learning atmosphere. One technique I’ve incorporated is the “Appreciative Interview”: pairing participants to interview each other with a few uplifting questions (e.g., “What’s a success you’ve had on a project, and what enabled it?”). This mirrors what we did at the summit and the effect is instant – the room warms up with conversation, and people who barely know each other start connecting and finding common ground. I’ve noticed that using these positive questions at the start of a workshop builds trust and energy among learners. Research confirms this dynamic: even in online AI sessions, participants report
feeling “camaraderie, support, and great energy from hearing and sharing each other’s stories,” (thecorecollaborative.com). By contrast, think about traditional trainings where an icebreaker might be listing your “biggest work problem” – that often yields awkward silence or negativity. The appreciative approach gets people smiling, talking, and even laughing, which is a much stronger foundation for deep learning. In fact, AI can help create “open, supportive, fun, positive learning environments” – even online. This is a perfect way to create that connection. As a facilitator, I also implement “brainstorm the positive” moments: for example, after a role-play exercise, I ask groups to share what worked in the scenario before looking at improvements. This flips the usual critique session into an opportunity to reinforce effective behaviors and then build on them.
· Virtual Training and Distributed Teams: The Appreciative Inquiry approach is not limited to in-person events; it’s actually fantastic for virtual training and remote team development. Many of us have struggled with disengagement in virtual sessions (tired faces on Zoom, anyone?). Incorporating AI can change the game. For instance, using breakout rooms for paired storytelling or small-group “dream” dialogues can energize your virtual workshop. I’ve started using an activity called “Virtual Discovery” where I send people into breakout pairs with an appreciative question (like “Share a peak moment of collaboration on our team”). When we come back, the chat box and raised hands explode with positive insights and shout-outs. This approach ensures that even quiet team members have a voice in a smaller setting, then come back feeling more confident to speak to the larger group. It also offsets the fatigue of screen time by focusing on human connection and meaning. One practical tip: encourage participants to turn on their cameras and even use visual props (e.g., each person holding up an object that represents a success story) – it adds a personal touch and keeps things lively. In my experience, an appreciative virtual session leaves people feeling “uplifted” rather than drained, because it activates emotions like hope, curiosity, and gratitude. That emotional engagement is key to learning retention and overall satisfaction with the training.
· Building Learning Communities: Beyond standalone workshops, Appreciative Inquiry can help in building vibrant learning communities or communities of practice. A big insight I gained at the summit is the importance of inviting members to co-create the community’s purpose and activities. For example, if you’re launching a new online community for trainers or a knowledge-sharing forum in your company, consider hosting an AI-inspired kickoff summit. In that kickoff, you could lead participants through the 5I process: Initiate by identifying the shared “positive core” of the community (what passions or values do we share?), Inquire by having members share stories of times they’ve learned the most from peers, Imagine the kind of community they want to build together, and so on. This process not only generates great ideas for the community’s direction, but it also ensures everyone feels essential to the community’s foundation. As xchange often says, it helps “tap into the wisdom of the community” from day one (xchangeapproach.com). I applied this recently in a cohort of new leaders I’m training – we used an appreciative kickoff meeting to set group norms and goals. The outcome was that members felt a strong sense of ownership and belonging; in fact, a few commented that this community felt different – more supportive and energizing – than others they’d been part of, simply because of how we started on such
a positive, inclusive note. Over time, you can keep the momentum by regularly asking the community appreciative questions (e.g., a monthly discussion prompt like “What’s a new technique that worked well for you this month?”) to keep spotlighting successes and learning from them. This sustains an ongoing cycle of shared learning and positive change, which is what every L&D professional hopes for in a learning community.
· Innovative Course Development and Problem-Solving: Finally, Appreciative Inquiry can transform how we tackle challenges in L&D projects. Instead of the usual post-mortem of “what went wrong in our last training launch?”, consider doing an Appreciative Retrospective. I tried this with my team after a complex eLearning rollout. We asked, “What were the moments when this project really shined, and what can they teach us for next time?” This led us to identify some effective collaboration practices we had overlooked – assets we can intentionally use in future projects. It created a solutions-oriented conversation that still addressed improvements but without the blame game. This kind of appreciative reflection builds the team up while fixing issues, which means morale stays high and people are more open to learning from mistakes (since we frame mistakes as “discoveries” about how to do better). Moreover, using AI in course development encourages us to involve actual learners and stakeholders in the design process (e.g., running a mini-summit with a pilot group to co-create the course content). When learners help design, the result is content with higher relevance and impact – and as a bonus, you’ve got built-in champions for the program because people commit to what they help create (sequoiagroupsingapore.medium.com).
In all these ways, big and small, Appreciative Inquiry enhances our L&D toolkit. It reminds us that whether we’re crafting a workshop, facilitating a class, or fostering an online community, engagement and learning flourish when we focus on strengths, involve learners as co-creators, and nurture a positive vision. This doesn’t mean we ignore problems or gaps; rather, it means we approach them through the lens of potential and resilience. By doing so, we not only solve the immediate issue but often discover opportunities for innovation we might otherwise miss.
Embracing an Appreciative Mindset in L&D
To wrap up, my journey through the Appreciative Inquiry Summit was a professional and personal growth opportunity. I learned that every training or development initiative can be a “summit” of sorts – an opportunity to bring people together, spark meaningful conversations, and collaboratively design the future. For those of us in L&D, adopting an appreciative mindset is more than a feel-good tactic; it’s a strategic approach to create learner-centric, high-engagement, and high-impact learning experiences. The summit taught me that when we ask the right questions and trust our learners, we create conditions for transformational learning – the kind that sticks long after the workshop ends.
If you’re looking to reinvigorate your programs or address tough challenges in your organization, you might try “flipping the script” in the Appreciative Inquiry way: gather your team (or learners), pose a question about what’s possible, listen deeply to their answers, and build from there. You may be surprised at how quickly people light up and how solutions begin to emerge. As I experienced firsthand, when everyone is invited to contribute their best, the outcome is not just better training – it’s a more engaged, inspired, and connected group of people ready to make change happen.
Want to do something like this with your team? The AI summit is very customizable to your goals and objectives, budget, and time expectations. Reach out to ZPS for a free consultation call.