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Program InformationProgram Faculty
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Action Inquiry: Transforming Leadership in the Midst of Actionwith Bill Torbert & Mary StaceyAction inquiry is a disciplined practice that will accelerate your learning and transformation as a leader. It also powerfully supports the developmental transformation that is needed in our organizations and large-scale systems today. No matter what the level of your positional power — within your family, community, organization, global network — this practice will enable you to better access the potential in every situation. Action inquiry enables you to assess, in real time, the effectiveness of your actions and to create opportunities for mutual letting-go into higher levels of relationship and organization, providing both a competitive and a collaborative advantage. In this module, we will create a community of inquiry together. You will share your leadership stories and diagnose difficult conversations. You will learn how to take and share leadership in particular situations. You will also diagnose your own, your associates', your team's, and your organization's developmental "action-logics" (strategies for making sense of the world and responding to it). In the process you will learn how to foster your own and others' developmental transformation. You will leave with a greater capacity to facilitate collaboration in every relationship and next steps for transforming your organizational settings. You are encouraged to read Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership before you arrive or, if you have less time, to read the Harvard Business Review article Seven Transformations of Leadership (April 2005) and Action Learning and Inquiry: Addressing Today's Business Challenges While Developing Leaders for Tomorrow (2007). Interested in assessing your leadership development? Module participants have the option of completing the Harthill Leadership Development Profile (LDP), a highly validated instrument based on the Loevinger and Torbert developmental frameworks. For more information, click here. “As a leader of a community based organization funded by government I look for training and education that is practical and has immediate applicability. In 2009 I attended ALIA and participated in the Action Inquiry Module led by Bill Torbert and Mary Stacey. AI not only met my expectations but exceeded them by a long shot. The past year has been particularly difficult for our organization as we struggle with government mandated cuts and increased demand for services. Very often, in difficult times, leaders revert to a transactional style of leadership and become less inclusive in their decision making. By drawing upon and sharing in my organization the rich learning and experiences that came out of the AI module I was able to avoid this pitfall; as a result our organization has become stronger and more resilient as we work together in addressing our challenges. Mary and Bill create a dynamic learning environment where all participants feel comfortable sharing their challenges and experiences. The AI module at ALIA has added value to my leadership and more importantly to my organization.” 
Bill Torbert is professor emeritus at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and former Graduate Dean and Director of the College's PhD Program in Organizational Transformation. He received his BA and PhD from Yale University, and taught at Yale, Southern Methodist University, and Harvard prior to joining the Boston College faculty in 1978. He founded the Yale Upward Bound (War on Poverty) program and the Theatre of Inquiry. He has won numerous teaching and research awards. Bill has consulted widely and served on the Boards of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and P.B.Svigals & Associates (architects), as well as Trillium Asset Management (the first and largest independent social investing advisor). He currently focuses his consulting contributions through his roles as consultant to the Center for Creative Leadership and as Director of Research and Senior Consultant at Harthill UK. He is the author of the award winning Managing the Corporate Dream (Dow Jones-Irwin, 1987, the Terry Award Finalist book The Power of Balance: Transforming Self, Society, and Scientific Inquiry (Sage, 1991), and Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership (Berrett-Koehler, 2004). His April 2005 HBR article "Seven Transformations of Leadership" won the worldwide Association of Executive Search Consultants Award for Best Published Research on Leadership and Corporate Governance. 
Mary Stacey's work in executive and organizational development builds leadership capacity to generate personal, organizational, and systemic transformation. As managing director of Context Management Consulting Inc. she designs initiatives that lead to high engagement and bottom line results. “Mary has a light touch and a powerful impact.” Her action learning program was designated an enterprise best practice by the CEO of the 57,000 member Canadian Tire Corporation. Her leadership development designs have been profiled by the US-based Information Management Forum and a case study of her strategic change results is published in The Change Handbook: Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems (2007). As a professor and faculty development specialist at Sheridan College, Mary founded the Collaborative Learning Network to evolve leadership learning within the framework of human development. She served on the Board of the Center for Emerging Leadership and the YWCA's Women of Distinction Committee and currently volunteers with the American Marketing Association's (GTA) Mentoring Exchange Advisory Committee. Mary's MA in organizational leadership and learning, BA in psycholinguistics, and diploma in counseling are complemented by her International Coach Federation (ICF) membership and Leadership Development Profile (LDP) and Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI) certifications. With the ALIA Institute, Context offers the Remarkable Leadership Series to senior leaders from all sectors who are expanding their capacity to address complex realities. Mary hosted ALIA's 2008 Intergenerational Leadership Exchange in Ontario. Module ListAction Inquiry: Transforming Leadership in the Midst of Action Adaptive Action, Artful Perception Building Capacity for Wise and Skillful Action with Circle, Brush, and Sword Catalyzing Organizational Change Embodying Power and Love: Two Essentials for Effective Leadership Leader as Shambhala Warrior Solving Tough Problems: Co-creating New Realities in Complex Systems Women and Leadership: Life Cycles, Power, and Work |
“The Authentic Leadership in Action programs are an extreme learning experience that shakes up the way that we think, act and are with each other and ourselves. Participation in the program has changed the way that I am, and that is pretty powerful.” |