Customer Reviews

Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership

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3 star:		(1)
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Does everyone in your organization do the best they can, as they see it, yet the organization still fails to achieve its desired results? Action Inquiry shows why this often happens and how to convert this seeming paradox into a transformational change, taking everyone and the organization to the next level of performance.

Whether we look at the level of the individual, project, organization, network, or society, we each follow a path of development over time. For example, I think about the world in a different way today than I did when I was 10, 20 or 30. Likewise, my organization sees the world different after 10 years of success than we did as a startup. Based on over forty years of observation in the field, Bill Torbert and his associates find that we often get stuck in early levels of understanding of the world, even as we grow older. While it's obvious that it is appropriate to act like a teenager when you are 16 and not when you are 30, when we apply this same developmental logic to organizational life, the authors find that most organizations get stuck in early levels of development (like the teenager) that were appropriate in the first years and not in later years.

To show us what can be done about this and its implications, the authors provide many examples of how the action inquiry approach helped these individuals and organizations grow to the next level, taking on a broader understanding of the reality that faced them, which led to greater value being created for all.

We can see that the evidence is mounting: those leaders who understand and work with an action inquiry approach to leadership and development create significantly more value for their organizations in the short term for the long term, sustainably. Based on rigorous theory and scientific evidence, this is the art and science of transformational leadership for leaders who can handle the truth.

ACTION-INQUIRY is a great book with lots of useful concepts. The editorial and other reviews focus on the content and I won't repeat a lot of that. However, I have some other comments to make that may be useful and I can describe my experience applying the ideas in daily life.

The authors introduce the idea that every action is an inquiry and every inquiry is an action. The premise of the book is that you need to be in inquiry in every moment at different levels to make the best choices and approach decisions with full awareness. This is a useful concept and it is illustrated throughout the book with many real-life business examples.

As a former director in a large company, I can say that these are practical ideas that if applied could be very transformational to an organization. The challenge is to really impliment them and not just pay lip service to the concepts. This must begin with the leaders. If they don't buy into the model, it will be difficult to get other people onboard, but not impossible. The book is about each individual being a change agent through action-inquiry.

What I didn't like about the book is that I found there were too many examples to illustrate the same basic concepts, there was also quite a bit of repetition of concepts and an unnecessary use of jargon where plain everyday language would have done just fine.

I think this book could have been half the length and been just as effective. I also think the author could have presented his ideas more clearly and concisely. In places, he uses different language for the various levels of inquiry and this tends to make the flow more confusing than it has to be. In the next revision, it would be good to see some of these issues addressed.

However, I still recommend this book to business and other leaders. In fact, it is useful for anyone who wants to live with more awareness and choice through tuning into various levels of inquiry in the midst of action. Basically, we are talking about taking a systems approach to life where we have practices that give us access to better quality feedback. This is the essence of the book.

This is probably the best book on leadership that I have ever read, for a few reasons.
1) It focuses on individuals, rather than "Leaders". Therefore, you don't need to already be a senior manager, a director, a partner, a VP, etc. to put these actions into place. You just need to focus on your own behavior and how you react to challenges.
2) It explicitly recognizes the fact that most of us go through life spending a large amount of time on "auto-pilot", not really thinking about how we interpret situations and react to them (never mind thinking about how our reactions are going to be interpreted by others!). Therefore, the basic premise that "every action is an inquiry, and every inquiry is an action" will be a challenge for most of us. However if this challenge is taken up, it will be incredibly powerful.
3) It focuses on simple human behaviors/cognitions that we have control over. It doesn't start with the premise that you can generate a jillion dollars worth of revenue for a massive organizational change effort. It starts with the premise that you have control over your brain and consequently how you interpret and react to situations. Therefore, the advice given here is highly actionable.
A great developmental opportunity awaits you!

Have you ever wondered why individuals fail to change and organizations miss its desired results? Action inquiry is defined by Bill Torbert as: "the kind of behaviour that is simultaneously productive and self-assessing" (p.13). Influenced by the work of giants such as Argyris, Senge, Reason, and Wilber, there are three unique aspects about developmental action inquiry that I found interesting: (a) AI integrates action and inquiry simultaneously, (b) it can be applied by anybody and not just by executives, and (c) its impact reaches social system transformation and not just individual transformation.

Based on years of observation in the field, Bill Torbert and his associates successfully describe how to develop awareness and structurally explain the importance of single-loop feedback ( Behaviours/ operations), second-loop feedback (strategies/structures/goals), and triple-loop feedback (Attention/intention/ vision)and its application in the four territories of experience; namely: (a) outside events, (b) our own sense of performance, (c) our schemes, games and frequent ways of reflecting, and (d) presencing awareness or what he calls Intentional Attention.

I would suggest reading Gregersen's (INSEAD) book: "it starts with one" where the three reasons people and organizations fail to change are revealed. Action Inquiry helps readers understand the importance of developing personal awareness if what is intended is to overcome the fear to see the need to change.

A book that invites readers to develop the courage to face the truth of what is taking place in your world as a preliminary step in your own transformation.

I well written book that requires slow reading as to integrate the many ideas, models and approaches this scholarly work offers.

It Starts with One: Changing Individuals Changes Organizations

I first read Action Inquiry in 2007 and like anything else by Professor Bill Torbert it is worth keeping close to hand. It is not however an easy read - it requires ongoing study before the theory and practice of Action Inquiry reveals itself.

Action Inquiry is an integral theory of 'action' and 'inquiry' in the first-, second- and third-person (i.e., the first-person subjective "I", the second-person inter-subjective "we" and the third-person objective "It"). Business for instance tends to favour 'action' over 'inquiry' whereas researchers favour 'inquiry' over 'action'. Action Inquiry integrates both action and does so in the first-, second- and third-person.

The explicit aim of first-person Action Inquiry is the development of 'integrity' and awareness in the individual (subjective). In second-person Action Inquiry the explicit aim is increase in 'mutuality' in dealing with others (inter-subjective) and in third-person Action Inquiry the explicit aim is the development of 'sustainable' organisational structures (objective).

As applied to leadership, Action Inquiry points to the necessity for sustainable organisational structures, the creation of a culture of mutuality in dealing with others and the need for integrity and awareness on the part of the leader.

The book goes onto to describe practices for each, i.e., practices to help develop integrity and awareness in oneself, mutuality in communicating with others and sustainability in the organisations of which you may be part.

A powerful book...

Whatever the profession, the calibre of the leadership determines the impact of the group. This book assists leaders in getting to know themselves better (opportunist, diplomat,expert, achiever, individualist or strategist) and is encouraging to those who may wish to further develop their leadership abilities. Very good.

Authors have done a geat job with a complicated matter being communicated to prospective users interested in more effective leadership strategies. While at times, both hard reading and very challenging to personally apply, this is an extremely powerful book.

Torbert explains his method vivid and clear. For people who work with professionals in training & coaching settings and looking for an integral approach, this is good material.

Action Inquiry offers a fresh approach to helping individuals and organizations learn in the midst of the cut and thrust of daily action. Bill Torbert and Associates detail a highly accessible process for transforming power into action. Through real-life examples, they illustrate how action inquiry increases personal integrity, relational mutuality, company profitability, and long-term organizational and environmental sustainability.