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JULY 2010
Hi Folks; Spring has brought in an amazing summer. Lush emerald green lawns and forests surround northeast Ohio. With it, there are hints of the economy stirring. Several colleagues have noticed more calls for work, suggesting the possibility for work to return for many in OD as industry is starting to churn greater productivity and a trend towards growth. In this issue, we continue to look at the developmental stages of leaders utilizing the Leadership Development Profile1 created by Suzanne Cooke-Greuter2 and Bill Torbert3. In my work, I use a variety of assessment tools, including development assessments, to get a sense of what is the primary frame of perception driving the executive. Often, when given a developmental view, it enables the client to sense a new way of being that might be possible. Using the work of Harthill Consulting, the base for the work of Bill Torbert, we will explore adult development and the creation of action logics that depict each stage of development. In the prior issue, we explored the “opportunist and diplomat” action logics. In this issue, we will explore the two common action-logics—the Expert and the Achiever. We will explore 2-3 of the action logics in subsequent issues until we have looked at all of them. Refresher of the Nine Action Logics
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Overview of the key Action Logics of the Leadership Development Framework |
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Action Logic | Key Traits | Leadership Style |
Opportunist | Wins any way possible. Self-oriented; manipulative; ‘might makes right’. | Short term horizon; focus on concrete things; deceptive; rejects feedback; externalizes blame; distrustful; fragile self-control; possibly hostile humor or ‘happy-go-lucky’; views luck as central; views rules as loss of freedom; punishes according to ‘eye for eye’ ethic; treats what they can get away with as legitimate. Seeks personal advantage: takes an opportunity when it arises. |
Diplomat | Avoids overt conflict. Wants to belong; obeys group norm; rarely rocks the boat. | Observes protocol; avoids inner and outer conflict; works to group standard; speaks in clichés and platitudes; conforms; feels shame if they violate norm; avoids hurting others; seeks membership and status; face-saving essential; loyalty is to immediate group, not distant organization or principles. Attends to social affairs of group and individuals. Provides supportive social glue. |
Expert | Rules by logic and expertise. Searches for improvement and rational efficiency. | Is immersed in the self referential logic of their own belief system, regarding it as the only valid way of thinking. Interested in problem solving; critical of self and others based on their belief system; chooses efficiency over effectiveness; perfectionist; accepts feedback only from ‘objective’ experts in their own field; dogmatic; values decisions based on the incontrovertible facts; wants to stand out and be unique as an expert; sense of obligation to wider, internally consistent moral order. Consistent in pursuit of improvement. Strong individual contributor. |
Achiever | Meets strategic goals. Delivery of results by most effective means. Success focused. | Effectiveness and results oriented; long-term goals; future is vivid, inspiring; welcomes behavioral feedback; feels like initiator, not pawn; begins to appreciate complexity and systems; seeks increasing mutuality in relationships; feels guilt if does not meet own standards; blind to own shadow, to the subjectivity behind objectivity; seeks to find ways around problems in order to deliver, may be unorthodox. Adopts rather than creates goals. |
Individualist | Innovates processes. Relativistic position with fewer fixed truths. Self, relationships and interaction with the system. | Focus on self and less on goals; increased understanding of complexity, systems operating and working through relationships; deepening personal relationships; takes on different role in different situations; increasingly questions own assumptions (part of rise in self absorption) and assumptions of others; attracted by change and difference more than by stability and similarity; increasingly aware of own shadow. |
Strategist | Creates personal and organizational transformations. Links between principles, contracts, theories and judgement. | Recognizes importance of principle, contract, theory and judgement - not just rules and customs; creative at conflict resolution; process oriented as well as goal oriented; aware of paradox and contradiction; aware that what one sees depends upon one’s world view; high value on individuality, unique market niches, particular historical movements; enjoys playing a variety of roles; witty, existential humor (as contrasted to prefabricated jokes); aware of dark side of power and may be tempted by it - may misuse their own abilities and manipulate others. Postconventional. |
Alchemist | Generates social transformations. Interplay of awareness, thought, action and effect. Transforming self and others. | Seeks participation in historical / spiritual transformations; creator of events which become mythical and reframe situations; anchoring in inclusive present, seeing the light and dark in situations; works with order and chaos; blends opposites, creating ‘positive-sum’ games; exercises own attention continually; researches interplay of institution, thought, action and effects on outside world; treats time and events as symbolic, analogical, metaphorical (not merely linear, digital, literal), involved in spiritual quest, often helps others in their life quests. |
37% of people in a mixed sample of 4510 people profile at the Expert Action Logic.5
In moving from the Diplomat to the Expert Action Logic individuals trade conformity to group norms for a willingness to actively experiment and seek more independent, but rational ways of doing things. Still needy of approval and beholden to traditional values, they do so, however, looking back over their shoulders to their reference groups. Unlike Diplomats, Experts no longer identify with what makes them the same as others in a group, but rather with what makes them stand out and be unique. This quest may be the source of original contributions to their chosen field of knowledge or expertise.
Experts admire ‘craft logic’. They focus on the specific procedures and knowledge in their area of interest or expertise (i.e. ‘craft’). A belief in the superiority of their ‘craft’ and their know-how becomes central to their lives. Problems and dilemmas have one logical answer that can be gained from authoritative sources (manuals, laws, reference books and authorities in the field). Experts often seek perfectionist standards in their chosen area and are very critical of unfamiliar ways of handling a situation or approaching a problem. They rely on established explanations and procedures and defend against having their professional knowledge questioned.
Managers with Expert Action Logic may be excellent in their specialization, are sticklers for detail and take great pride in doing their jobs well. They would say ‘a job worth doing is a job worth doing properly’. They have a strong desire to seek incremental improvements and to find perfection. Thus, they play a vital role in the development of products, techniques and services. No modern society or organization could run without Experts, in the form of technicians, engineers, bureaucrats and specialists handling the day-to-day running of its affairs.
On the less positive side, Expert managers may be more impressed with efficiency, technical wizardry and perfection than with effectiveness. Typically, they will write a report extensively and well, but will not consider the relative value of doing the report at all; they will perfect a product from an engineering point of view, while the competition brings a less perfect, but functional model to market. Experts will operate within the framework as defined by their discipline and be drawn to perfection and details rather than goals and targets. A manager at this stage is likely to micro manage and be unable to prioritize among competing efforts or to grasp the bigger picture. However their contribution, built upon their depth of knowledge, may be outstanding and critical to the business. Few modern organizations thrive without Experts adding incremental competitive advantage.
Paradoxically, people at the Expert stage may be highly critical of their performance within their specialization, yet they resent feedback in general, especially from those not of a higher craft status than themselves. They are also hypercritical of others in their field of expertise. One-upmanship is common, as is the ‘yes-but’ syndrome, providing endless alternative solutions or arguments. Moreover, Experts tend to overstep the boundaries in giving unsolicited advice about what they know.
Experts:
They may feel labeled and criticized, or resent that they are being ‘defined’ by someone else’s theory. However, some Experts become interested in the technical detail of the framework and concerned with its logical validity and reliability. If convinced on technical grounds, they may be open to acquire the system as another tool or skill set. If they are supported, they may become more open to experimenting. Research indicates that Experts in general express great distrust of a developmental perspective and strongly defend their own style.
30% of people in a mixed sample of 4510 people profile at the Achiever Action Logic.6
In most organizations, Experts and Achievers are responsible for delivering day-to-day business success. While Experts focus on the exacting detail of getting a job done well, Achievers are concerned with successful plans and outcomes. They focus on output measured in terms of profit, turnover, volume, market share and personal career satisfaction.
Achievers share the Experts’ interest in experimenting. Unlike Experts, however, who work on improving given procedures, Achievers design whole new methods and approaches to solving a problem and to streamlining processes.
The greatest strength of Achievers is also their greatest weakness: a singularity of purpose, focus and drive. In pursuit of their personal favorite goals, Achievers will disregard other important areas of business and/or personal life. For example, an Achiever coordinator of an international aid charity was so dedicated to raising funds for the needy that he did not see how hard he pushed himself and his own staff and at what costs to himself, his home life and the organization.
Achievers apply energy in a consistent direction to solve problems and use the tools of science and/or their trade creatively. They initiate change and seek to move mountains. Their determination and energy is often inspiring to others.
Achievers are open to learning and discovering - they welcome behavioral and tactical feedback, especially if it can bring them closer to their envisioned goals. However they may well resist feedback that questions the very framework within which they operate.
Achievers believe deeply in linear cause and effect and objective rationality. From their point of view, the natural world, including the behavior of people, is governed by predictable patterns and laws. These can be researched, made explicit and applied to influence and control outcomes. Thus, results are secured by relying on an objective ‘scientific’ approach and by applying one’s personal conviction and energy to refining the knowledge base.
As managers they tend to be matter of fact, concerned with getting things done, but also fair and perceptive in engaging others. They will listen to others’ reasons. Achievers seek to prioritize among competing projects and tasks, cooperate around mutual goals and delegate work in a way that Experts cannot. Sometimes, they anticipate unintended outcomes or side effects. They may enjoy teaching or coaching others to greater performance. They realize that there are multiple causes for human behavior.
Achievers:
Achievers will scrutinize the framework for a rational logic and seek to understand how they can learn to be more productive from it. If they find that its perspectives offer personal insight, greater influence or effectiveness, they may embrace it with enthusiasm.
On the other hand, if they interpret the framework as challenging their Achiever world view and values, and if they are not themselves in transition to the next Action Logic, they may be irritated by its complexity and defend their position by rational means and logic.
Beginning with the Achiever stage, behavioral and interpretive feedback is acknowledged as useful data and welcomed more than at earlier stages. Consistent with their often competitive nature Achievers may experience mild to keen disappointment that they have not achieved a profile they had anticipated or believed they deserved.
In the Next Issue, we will examine the Individualist and Strategist.
1 I am indebted to Bill Torbert, David Rooke, Elaine Barker, and Jackie Keeley at Harthill for their gracious permission to reprint the descriptions of their leadership development framework, including the leadership action-logics that depicts the stages of executive development. Information in how to become certified in the LDF can be found on their website: www.harthill.co.uk
3 See David Rooke and Bill Torbert, Seven Transformation of Leadership, in the Harvard Business Review for an abbreviated description of the action-logics of leader development.
4 See Fisher, Dalmar, Rooke, David, and Tobert, Bill, 2003 Personal and Organisational Transformations through Action Inquiry.Edge/Work Press
5 It is helpful to realize that these statistics correlate well with typical organization leadership; ergo 37% of leaders in organizations are experts.
6 It is helpful to realize that these statistics correlate well with typical organization leadership; ergo 30% of leaders in organizations are achievers.
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