# Introduction

In the last session, you spent some time exploring different ways of imagining differently, ending with the (co-)construction of a different story of future practice based on your area of inquiry. In this session, you will use this story as a basis for planning some of the ways in which this imagined future might become a reality. At this stage in the appreciative inquiry process, you will find that some concrete actions begin to emerge, but it is important not to lose sight of the often improvised and generative nature of this kind of inquiry. We hope that by now you will have begun to recognise that we enter inquiry as ‘wide-eyed explorers without final destination’ (Cooperrider and Srivastva, 1987, p. 164). This is as important now as at any other point in the inquiry; you will have a clear sense of your direction of travel, but the exact destination will continue to ‘emerge from the context in unanticipated and unpredictable ways’ (Boud and Hager, 2012, p. 23).

Figure 1 Hot air balloons: going with the flow

This is why we have included the word ‘innovating’ in the title of this session: as we design for a different future, the need to remain creative and open to new and unexpected possibilities is vital.

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

- take a creative and improvisational approach to planning for change
- identify key themes in stories of future practice that will be the focus of the innovating and designing phase
- develop ideas and strategies for moving forwards
- create an action plan to guide the process of change.

This session starts by thinking about common approaches to planning and their relationship, or not, to an appreciative approach.

OpenLearn - An appreciative approach to inquiry
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