In the Initiate phase, people are introduced to the Appreciative Inquiry theory and how it can help in the company. This phase is important to develop planning and strategies. It debuts new plans and ideas the employees have about the company and what can be improved upon (or even changed). These ideas are usually backed up with previous experiences, employee research and documented successes or failures. From this, upper management can begin to formulate a plan for themselves and what they can do to aid in the process.

Examples:

• “What plans have been laid out for the company?”
• “What is my role in this?”
• “What should we focus on first?”