Think in 5D

{Free Worksheet Below}

Recently, I’ve been reading a lot about Appreciative Inquiry. As the name suggests, AI is about two things: 1) appreciating what is already working well, and 2) asking good questions.

It could take a whole career to become truly proficient with Appreciative Inquiry and Appreciative Thinking, but I have come to appreciate (!) one simple tool at the heart of the process: The 5D Cycle.

I like the elegance of the cycle – and, as mentioned, I’m a sucker for alliteration. There are many websites online that will tell you about the 5D cycle (which started as the 4D cycle, but I digress).

This post is less about articulating the details of each “D” and more about designing a worksheet that fit all stages on a single sheet: Define, Discover, Dream, Design, Deploy.

Start the worksheet with a wish. Think of something you want to see happen in your world. Define that desired future state and then do some discovery and some dreaming. Once you’ve caught the vision it is time to design and deploy.

Next time you’re complaining about a situation at work (or at home!), break out the Think in 5D worksheet and see what solutions emerge.

We could all use a little more 5D thinking for positive change if you ask me.

Copyright, Use and Distribution

This worksheet is part of my Worksheet Wednesdays experiment. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You are free to copy and redistribute this worksheet. You can remix it or adapt it to your purposes, providing you share your revised version too. If you use this worksheet, please attribute Thirdway Think and link to thirdwaythink.com

Inspiration

AI Commons. (n.d.) “5-D Cycle of Appreciative Inquiry”

Note: This has been updated from an archived post and republished.