Published articles

We wish to make resources easily available. Most can be downloaded directly from this site.

Where articles are subject to copyright (such as our HBR article) we can provide a direct link to the publishers' website upon receipt of your email address.

Click on the areas to the right for summaries and access to downloads and purchasing.

Organisational Transformation requires Strategists and Alchemists

Rooke (1997) Organisations and People

Here we argue that leading transformational change in organisations requires senior managers that have post-conventional capacities. These are labelled 'Strategist' and 'Alchemist' in the 'Leadership Development Framework'. The article goes on to explore how these capacities can be developed in senior managers.

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Seven Transformations of Leadership

Rooke and Torbert (2005) HBR

In this article we explore our proposition that leaders are made, not born, and that how they develop is critical for organisational change. The article characterises the broad patterns of leadership exercised by adults at seven different developmental positions, with examples of such leadership in action. We propose that transformation from one stage to another is possible and explore the outcome of this for individual leaders and the organisations they inhabit. Our research is based in part on the Leadership Development Profile.

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The CEO's Role in Organizational Transformation

Rooke and Torbert (1999) The Systems Thinker

Considers the importance of the stage of development of the most senior executives in an organization and their ability to create organizational transformation. The article examines the barriers to transformation in organizations and looks at how the 'Action Logics' of a leader impact not only their ability to lead change but also to learn.

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Inspired Leadership under the Spotlight

Allen (2007) Criminal Justice Management

Despite operating under intense scrutiny, inspired leaders can breathe a new passion and effectiveness into public service organisations.

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In Search of the Holy Grail: Leading Common Sense Transformation

Allen (2008) Government and Public Sector Journal

A successful strategy does more than turn the handle on performance - it envisions a future that has meaning for the leaders and staff of an organisation and focuses their energies and capabilities in converting aspiration into actions that they are proud of.

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Practical Differences in Leadership Performance

Herdman-Barker and Torbert (2008) SUNY Academic Press

An informal narrative on the historical basis of our work, the evolution of Loevinger's Sentence Completion Test to the Harthill Leadership Development Profile and new understandings of post-conventional leadership based on current studies.

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Action Inquiry: Interweaving Multiple Qualities of Attention for Timely Action

Torbert and Taylor (2008) Handbook of Action Research

For a relatively deep dive into Action Inquiry read this article. It is published in the Second edition of the Handbook of Action Research, available from Amazon.

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Detailed Descriptions of the Developmental Stages or Action Logics of the Leadership Development Framework

Simcox (2005)

Presented at the W. Edwards Deming Research Institute this paper describes an on-going inquiry into the polarities and tensions between the processes of Managing and Leading seen through the lens of the LDF and Deming.

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Developmental Action Inquiry:

A Distinct Integral Theory That Integrates Developmental Theory, Practice, and Research In Action

Award-winning paper delivered at the Integral Theory in Practice Conference August 2008, Pleasant Hill CA.