The 5-I Approach

The 4D cycle (Discover, Dream, Design, Destiny) gives the basic shape of appreciative inquiry. The 5-I approach is a more detailed framework built on the SOAR strategy. It splits each broad phase into a sharper step and adds an explicit stage for building commitment to act.

What the 5-I approach is

The 5-I approach is named for its five phases, each beginning with the letter I.

1. Initiate. Get the project started.
2. Inquire. Find out what works.
3. Imagine. Envision what could be.
4. Innovate. Design specific changes.
5. Inspire to Implement. Build commitment to act.

The approach provides a more detailed framework for AI than the 4D cycle. Where 4D is broad, 5-I is granular. Where 4D works for a quick reflective conversation, 5-I works for a substantial project that needs structure across weeks or months.

The SOAR foundation

The 5-I approach is based on SOAR. SOAR is a strategic planning framework that asks four questions.

Strengths. What does this system do well? What are its core capacities?

Opportunities. What openings exist in the wider environment? Where could the system grow?

Aspirations. What does the team want to become? What are the dreams?

Results. What concrete outcomes will mark progress? How will we know we got there?

SOAR is sometimes presented as the strength-based alternative to SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). The shift from SWOT to SOAR is a smaller version of the same shift from problem-solving to AI: replace the deficit categories (Weaknesses, Threats) with the appreciative ones (Aspirations, Results).

The 5-I approach takes the SOAR questions and walks a team through them in sequence.

Phase 1: Initiate

The Initiate phase is about getting the project started.

This includes clarifying the scope, naming the team, deciding the time frame, and stating the purpose. A school running a 5-I project on student engagement decides whether the scope is one classroom, one year level, or the whole school. The team decides who is involved. The time frame may be three weeks or three months.

Skipping Initiate is common and costly. A project that drifts into existence without an explicit start tends to drift out the same way.

Phase 2: Inquire

The Inquire phase corresponds to Discover in the 4D cycle. The team gathers stories of what works.

Inquire usually involves structured conversations: paired interviews, small group discussions, written reflections. Each member of the team is asked to describe a peak experience of student engagement (or whatever the focus is), to identify the conditions that made it possible, and to listen for patterns across the stories.

The output is a set of strengths the team can name and point to.

Phase 3: Imagine

The Imagine phase corresponds to Dream in the 4D cycle. The team builds vivid images of what could be.

The shift from Inquire to Imagine is from what is to what might be. The strengths from Inquire become the seed for the future image. If pair-teaching produced peak engagement in three classrooms, what would the school look like if pair-teaching were the default for half the lessons? If parent meetings worked best when parents brought a single example of their child’s work, what would happen if every parent meeting opened that way?

The Imagine phase produces a description of the future state, vivid enough that team members can picture themselves living in it.

Phase 4: Innovate

The Innovate phase corresponds to Design in the 4D cycle. The team builds the actual changes.

This is where the project moves from imagination to specifics. What policies need to change? What schedules need to shift? What training do teachers need? What conversations with parents need to happen? Which of these can the team commit to?

The Innovate phase often surfaces conflict. The image from Imagine was attractive. The specific changes have costs. People have to give things up, learn new skills, or accept new accountabilities. A team that has built trust through Initiate and Inquire can hold these conversations. A team that skipped those phases usually cannot.

Phase 5: Inspire to Implement

This is the phase that distinguishes the 5-I approach from the 4D cycle. Where 4D ends with Destiny (implementation), 5-I adds an explicit stage for inspiring people to actually do the implementing.

This phase recognises that designs do not implement themselves. Even a strong design needs sustained commitment from the people who will carry it out. Inspire to Implement is about that commitment.

It usually involves naming who will do what, building communication channels, creating quick-win moments that show the design is working, and protecting the work from the inevitable pushback. It also involves celebrating early progress, which keeps energy alive.

A 5-I project that rushes through Inspire to Implement tends to produce a beautiful design document and no actual change.

Flashcard

What does the fifth I in the 5-I approach add to the 4D cycle?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Inspire to Implement: an explicit phase for building the commitment to actually do the work

The 4D cycle ends with Destiny (implementation). 5-I adds Inspire to Implement, which acknowledges that even good designs do not implement themselves. The phase builds commitment through clear assignments, communication, quick wins, and protection from pushback. Without it, projects often produce documents and no change.

How long the cycle takes

The 5-I approach can be done quickly or over an extended period. The choice depends on purpose and goal.

A quick version might take a single afternoon. A team uses 30 minutes for each of the first four phases and an hour for Inspire to Implement. The output is a small action plan with clear assignments.

An extended version takes weeks or months. Each phase has dedicated meetings, structured data gathering, and written outputs. The output is a substantial change in how the school works.

Both are legitimate. The mistake is using a quick-version mindset for an extended-version problem, or vice versa.

Working with stakeholders

The 5-I approach is at its strongest when teams or breakout groups address each set of questions. This is the best opportunity to involve various stakeholders, including students, parents, support staff, and community members where relevant.

A school using 5-I to plan a new approach to assessment will produce a much stronger result if students are included in the Imagine and Innovate phases than if the work is done only by teachers. Students know what current assessments produce in their lives. Their voices change the design.

Where 5-I fits in the chapter

The chapter has moved from the basic shift (Introduction), to the comparison with problem-solving, to the principles, to the combination with critical inquiry, and now to a more detailed methodology. The 5-I approach is the operational tool a reflective practitioner reaches for when running an actual AI project at school level.

A teacher who is just trying out AI in their own classroom can stay with the 4D cycle. A team running a school-wide project benefits from the structure and the explicit implementation phase that 5-I adds.