First-Person Insights From Appreciative Inquiry as Insider Action Research: How to Integrate the Shadow Into Appreciation

This study explores the application of appreciative inquiry (Ai) as an insider action research approach in a Dutch asylum center for unaccompanied refugee children. In a reflexive account of facilitating an Ai initiative among the refugee’s mentors, we offer a frank description of the opportunities and challenges that embedded researchers may face. In contrast to external Ai facilitators, insiders are uniquely positioned to witness and study what happens after Ai workshops, when participants return to their daily work. Therefore, they can positively influence the informal dialogue which may play a crucial role in organizational change. Meanwhile, they are exposed to the “shadow processes” of organizational life – like gossip, complaints, frustrations, and suppressed emotions. An ongoing closeness to this shadow can get under the skin of insiders in ways that challenge their upholding of an appreciative stance. To address this tension, we developed first-person pathways to rediscover appreciation so that insiders can facilitate a fruitful change-oriented integration of shadow processes in appreciative conversations. Hence, this study enriches the Ai literature with actionable knowledge for how to work with a more nuanced understanding of “appreciation” when explicitly considering the rich range of “deficits” as manifested in the informal sphere of daily practice.