Action Logics: Torbert

Leadership action-logics adapted from Loevinger / Cook-Greuter for how leaders interpret their surroundings and act.

The stages, earliest to latest

1. Opportunist OWins any way possible; self-oriented and manipulative; others are means to an end.
2. Diplomat DBelonging and harmony first: avoids overt conflict, honours the group and its leaders, seeks approval.
3. Expert ERules by logic and expertise; one right way; perfectionism and craft standards.
4. Achiever AGoal- and results-driven through teams: sets direction, mobilizes others, measures success; the frame itself is not questioned.
5. Individualist (Redefining) INotices that frames are relative: questions own and organizational assumptions, holds several interpretations.
6. Strategist (Transforming) SReflexive systems leadership: treats own role, frame and actions as part of the system being changed, and invites mutual inquiry and feedback on them.
7. Alchemist AlGenerates social transformations; attuned to the moment and to symbolic meaning across many stakeholders.
8. Ironist IrWitnesses and plays with action-logics themselves: deliberately takes up a frame, acts through it, and sets it down, with humor about the whole business, including the noticing.

Sources

• Rooke, D., & Torbert, W. R. (2005). Seven Transformations of Leadership. Harvard Business Review.
• Torbert, W. R. (2004). Action Inquiry.

Stage descriptions are paraphrased summaries for orientation, written for Worldview Lens; they are not the official scoring manuals. Example sentences were written to illustrate each stage.