5-D Cycle Quick Reference

The 5-D Cycle at a Glance

The 5-D Cycle is the core methodology of Appreciative Inquiry (AI), developed by David Cooperrider and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University. It provides a structured pathway from problem-as-deficit to change-as-possibility.

The five phases: Define → Discover → Dream → Design → Destiny

Each phase builds on the last. The quality of the final phase (Destiny) depends entirely on the quality of the inquiry in the earlier phases. Don’t rush.

---

Phase 1: DEFINE

“What do we want to inquire into?”

Purpose

Establish the affirmative topic — the positive focus that will anchor the entire inquiry. This is the most underestimated phase of the cycle.

Key Principles

• Frame the topic as an aspiration, not a problem
• Use language that is generative, not deficit-focused
• Topics should be genuinely important to the organization
• Involve key stakeholders in the framing — the topic itself is a signal of what matters

Reframing Examples

Problem Frame	Affirmative Topic Frame
”Employee retention is terrible"	"What makes this a workplace people choose to stay in?"
"Our onboarding process is broken"	"Exceptional first-year experiences — what makes them possible?"
"Communication between teams is poor"	"Cross-team collaboration at its best"
"Trust in leadership is low"	"Leadership that earns trust — what does it look and feel like?”

Facilitation Cue

Ask the group: “If we could achieve anything through this inquiry — if we could amplify what’s best about this organization — what topic would generate the most energy and the most valuable insight?”

Common Pitfall

Letting the problem frame creep back in. Watch for language like “how do we fix” or “what’s going wrong with” — redirect to “when this works at its best, what’s happening?”

---

Phase 2: DISCOVER

“What gives life to this topic? When is it at its best?”

Purpose

Gather rich qualitative data through structured appreciative interviews. Surface the conditions, people, behaviors, and stories that represent the topic at its best.

Core Interview Questions (Customize to Your Topic)

Opening: “Tell me about a time when [topic] was at its best here. What was happening? What made it possible?”

Values: “What do you value most about this organization in relation to [topic] — the thing you’d most want to preserve even if everything else changed?”

Enablers: “What three factors, if they were consistently present, would most reliably produce more of these peak moments?”

Wildcard: “If you had a magic wand and could change anything to make [topic] happen more consistently, what would you change?”

Interview Structure

• Pairs or small triads work best
• 20–45 minutes per interview
• One person interviews, one answers, then swap
• Take notes on stories and exact language — direct quotes are the most valuable data

Data Synthesis

After interviews, look for:

• Recurring themes across stories
• Specific conditions that enabled peak moments
• Surprising insights or counterintuitive findings
• Exact phrases that resonate and could be used in Design phase

Facilitation Cue

After sharing stories in large group: “What patterns are we seeing? What conditions appear in multiple stories? What surprised you?”

Common Pitfall

Letting the interview drift into problem analysis. If someone starts describing what went wrong, gently redirect: “That’s important context — and I’d love to hear: even in that difficult period, were there moments when things worked? What enabled those?”

---

Phase 3: DREAM

“What might be? What is the world calling us to become?”

Purpose

Use the data from Discover to co-create an inspiring, grounded vision. The Dream phase is imaginative but not fantastical — it extrapolates from real peak experiences to their fullest possible expression.

Key Facilitation Approaches

The Future Newspaper: Small groups write a newspaper front page from 5 years in the future, reporting on this organization’s success. What are the headlines? What did it accomplish? Who’s being quoted?

The Best-Self Vision: “Imagine it’s [date] and everything we’ve hoped for through this inquiry has come true. We’re in a meeting celebrating what we’ve achieved. What are people saying? What do visitors notice when they arrive? What does it feel like to work here?”

The Question Walk: Post large paper around the room with open-ended dream questions. Participants walk and respond to each. Return to the center to share.

Facilitation Cue

“We’re not inventing from nothing — we’re extrapolating from our own best moments. What would it look like if those moments were the rule, not the exception?”

Common Pitfall

Dreams that are too vague (“we’ll be a great place to work”) or too operational (“we’ll have better onboarding documentation”). Push for specificity at the human level: what will people experience, feel, and do?

---

Phase 4: DESIGN

“What should be? What are our ideal design principles?”

Purpose

Translate the Dream into bold, declarative “Provocative Propositions” (PPs) — statements that bridge vision and action by declaring, in the present tense, what the organization is committed to being.

Anatomy of a Strong Provocative Proposition

A good PP is:

• Provocative: Stretches beyond the current state
• Grounded: Rooted in real examples from Discover
• Affirmative: Written in the positive present tense
• Desired: Reflects genuine aspiration, not compromise
• Participatory: Co-authored by the people who will live it

Template

“At [organization name], [who] [does/is/provides] [what] because [why it matters].”

Examples

• “At [Company], leaders invest a meaningful portion of every 1:1 in recognition and strength development — because we know people grow fastest when they know what they’re already doing well.”
• “At [Company], cross-team collaboration is designed into how we work, not improvised when things break — because our best outcomes emerge at the intersection of disciplines.”

Facilitation Cue

Present draft PPs to the group and ask: “Does this stretch us? Is it grounded in what we’ve discovered? Does it feel real enough to commit to and bold enough to inspire?”

Common Pitfall

Provocative Propositions that are too safe (“we will improve communication”) or too aspirational with no grounding (“we will be a world-class organization”). Push for the middle: bold but credible.

---

Phase 5: DESTINY (or Deliver)

“How do we empower, learn, and adjust?”

Purpose

Create the conditions for people to act on what’s been discovered, dreamed, and designed. Destiny in AI is not a top-down implementation plan — it’s a distributed web of commitments.

What Makes Destiny Different

In traditional change models, the leader announces the plan and implementation cascades down. In AI Destiny, participants leave the process with self-organized commitments they’ve made publicly to the group. The ownership is inherently different.

Destiny Structures

Commitment Circles: Small groups (3–5 people) spend 15 minutes answering: “Given everything from this inquiry, what specific commitment will you make — to yourself, to this team, to this organization?” Commitments are shared publicly and recorded.

Innovation Teams: Volunteer groups form around specific PPs to design experiments, prototypes, or action plans. They self-organize, with minimal top-down direction.

30/60/90 Day Reviews: Schedule brief check-ins at 30, 60, and 90 days to surface what’s working, what’s not, and what needs adjustment.

Facilitation Cue

“What one action, taken by you specifically, in the next two weeks, would create the most meaningful movement toward our aspirations?”

Common Pitfall

Destiny that collapses into a traditional implementation plan — with tasks, owners, and deadlines but no genuine ownership. The test: do people leave with commitments they chose, or assignments they received?

---

Quick-Reference Summary Table

Phase	Core Question	Key Output	Common Pitfall
Define	What will we inquire into?	Affirmative topic	Problem-frame creeping back in
Discover	When is it at its best?	Stories + enabling conditions	Drifting into problem analysis
Dream	What might be?	Shared vision	Too vague or too operational
Design	What should be?	Provocative Propositions	Too safe or no grounding
Destiny	How do we act?	Distributed commitments	Top-down implementation plan

---

Recommended Reading

• Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change — Cooperrider & Whitney
• The Power of Appreciative Inquiry — Diana Whitney & Amanda Trosten-Bloom
• Appreciative Leadership — Whitney, Trosten-Bloom & Rader
• The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry — Sue Annis Hammond