Appreciative Inquiry
A Positive Revolution
in Change Leadership
Residential
In-Person | 2-3 February 2026
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, UK
Monday 9.00 – 16.00 GMT (followed by dinner)
Tuesday 9.00 – 13.30 GMT
Event
Appreciative Inquiry redefines the way companies manage change. Rather than focusing on problems or obstacles, it leverages an organisation’s core strengths and distinctive capabilities. Appreciative Inquiry asks all relevant and affected stakeholders to rediscover the best of ‘what is’ and to innovate about ‘what could be’.
This workshop is your invitation to discover ‘the other AI’ – a human science-based methodology and theory of change that has been refined over decades of impact with companies such as Apple, the National Grid and thousands of other international organisations part of the UN Global Compact.
In this interactive workshop, you will strengthen your leadership skills and learn how to turn change into something which inspires from within, builds on strength and brings people together – rather than something which triggers fear or resistance.
Learning Objectives
- Experience the 4-D Cycle of Appreciative Inquiry and learn the skills, tools and key phases in the Appreciative Inquiry positive change leadership framework.
- Understand the many applications of Appreciative Inquiry, including for strategy, cultural alignment, high performance, technology and more.
- Discuss how to create lasting change which supports a flourishing organisation – where people innovate and bring their best selves to work – at every level.
- Understand the implications of the new scientific field of the positive psychology of human flourishing.
- Design Appreciative Inquiry interventions for your own organisation. This will include full-scale Appreciative Inquiry summit methods, as well as smaller ways to leverage Appreciative Inquiry for competitive advantage and performance.
To register for this event please ensure you are logged in. If you are not a member and interested in attending, please contact us below.
If you would like to amend or cancel your booking please contact events@crforum.co.uk.
Who is this event for?
OD professionals, those responsible for leading transformation and change, Heads of talent and leadership development
Location
Ashridge House
Berkhamsted
HP4 1NS
We recommend booking accommodation directly with the venue. Discounted rates available for CRF delegates.
Agenda
DAY 1 – Monday 2 February
| 09.00 | Event Registration | ||
| 09.30 | Morning Session | Welcome to a Positive Revolution & Intro to Powerful Stories 2020’s Put Everything in Motion: Unprecedented Disruption All Leadership is Change Leadership: Three Strengths Mindsets Our Opening “AI” Explorations (in Pairs) | |
| 11.00 | Break | ||
| 11.20 | Science of Positive Psychology & Positive Image—>Positive Action | ||
| 12.30 | Lunch | ||
| 13.20 | Afternoon Session | Roundtable Groups: Discoveries and Presentations The Shift: Change the Way You See and What You See Changes Reverse the 80-20 Rule & the Gift of New Eyes The 4-D Cycle of Appreciative Inquiry Framing, Frame-breaking & Reframing: Power of Topic Choice Group Roundtables: Climbing the Topic Choice Ladder Previewing Tomorrow & Appreciate the Many Applications of AI: for building strategy; aligning culture and values; elevating high performance and project success; bringing out the best in teams and operations, corporate mergers, enhancing everyday meetings, embracing new technologies, turning silos into sails—and more. | |
| 16.00 | End of Day 1 |
DAY 2 – Tuesday 3 February
| 09.30 | Morning Session | Launching the Discovery Phase: The Art of Questions that S.O.A.R. Moving From Discovery to Dream and Design The Leader’s Question of Change at the Scale of the Whole: AI Summit Methods and How People Do Not Resist Change…They Resist Being Changed. | |
| 11.00 | Break | ||
| 11.20 | Session 2 | Destiny: Sustaining Change: How to Build Better and Better What Would You like to Change? Conclusion: Why the Power of Appreciative Inquiry: Three Facts About All Human Beings | |
| 13.30 | Event End |
Partner Masterclasses
These partner masterclasses, hosted by Achieve Breakthrough and The Oxford Group are included within the event but require additional registration. Once you have registered for the event, you will be emailed and invited to attend these masterclasses. The masterclasses take place Tuesday 3 February, 8.30 – 9.20am. The main event starts after the masterclasses end at 9.30am.
Why Leadership Development Stalls – and How to Design for Breakthrough Change
Many organisations develop capable leaders — yet still struggle with slow decisions and limited system-wide change.
This interactive session introduces the 4 Levels of Leadership Maturity, offering a practical lens to understand why leadership impact often stalls and how it can deepen from individual insight to system-level influence.
Using an Appreciative Inquiry approach, participants will leave with a clear way to diagnose leadership maturity and apply it immediately in their own context. Because the level at which leaders operate determines the level of impact they can have – especially under pressure.
Small Sparks, Big Shifts: Using Appreciative Inquiry and Trojan Mice to Escape the Transformation Treadmill
Join Caroline Taylor and Chris Nichols from The Oxford Group for a brief and powerful session that cuts through the endless and exhausting cycle of “grand gestures and bold new plans”. Drawing on recent HBR’s insights into the transformation treadmill, this session invites you to explore why constant focus on “transformation” can drain morale and distract from effective action.
We will explore how Appreciative Inquiry redirects attention to what’s already working – and how Trojan Mice, those tiny, tactical, often informal, low risk experiments, unlock real and powerful progress. We intend to offer a practical, human centred approach to change, designed to privilege impact over fanfare. You’ll leave with a handful of small but mighty moves you can use immediately to spark momentum and shift your system for the better.
Speakers
David Cooperrider
Distinguished University Professor and Fairmount Santrol Professorship in Appreciative Inquiry, CWRU
David Cooperrider is a University Distinguished Professor and holds the Fairmount Santrol – David L. Cooperrider Professorship in Appreciative Inquiry at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, where he is the faculty founder of the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit.
David is best known for his original theoretical articulation of “AI” or Appreciative Inquiry with his mentor Suresh Srivastva. Today AI’s approach to strengths-inspired, instead of problematizing change, is being practiced everywhere: the corporate world, the world of public service, of economics, of education, of faith, of philanthropy, and social science scholarship—it is aff ecting them all. Jane Nelson, at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Leadership recently wrote, “David Cooperrider is one of the outstanding scholar-practitioners of our generation.”
David has brought Appreciative Inquiry and served as a business advisor to many Fortune 500 and international companies such as Apple, National Grid, Webasto, Sherwood Williams, Fairmount Santrol, as well as large systems such as the US Navy, the United Nations, and Red Cross. He has also served as advisor to Presidents or Nobel Laureates—leaders such as Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama, and Kofi Annan.
Melissa Bull
Commercial Director, Corporate Research Forum (CRF)
Melissa is responsible for the growth of CRF through the acquisition of new corporate members and sponsoring partners of the annual programme as well as the growth of CRF Learning. Melissa also helps members optimise the value of their CRF membership through events, research, networking, and advisory services. Melissa brings 10 years of experience within the HR Advisory space from her experience at Korn Ferry, Hay Group and CEB.
