Review a decision through three loops of feedback
After a decision plays out, ask in turn whether the action was right, whether the strategy was right, and what your attention was doing.
Why it works
Argyris and Schön distinguished single-loop learning (correcting actions to hit the same goal) from double-loop learning (questioning the goals and assumptions themselves). Torbert adds a third loop: feedback on the quality of attention that chose the strategy in the first place. In his account the Achiever reliably uses single-loop feedback, the Strategist double-loop, and the Alchemist cultivates triple-loop awareness, so practicing the deeper loops exercises the capacity that distinguishes later action logics.
How to do it
- Pick a recent decision whose outcome you now know.
- Single loop: what did you do, what happened, and what action would have closed the gap?
- Double loop: what goal, strategy or assumption made that action seem right, and would a different one have served better?
- Triple loop: what were you paying attention to — and not paying attention to — when you chose that strategy? What were you feeling and wanting in that moment?
- Write one change at each loop, and notice which loop was hardest to answer honestly.
Evidence
Single- and double-loop learning come from Argyris and Schön (1978). Starr and Torbert (2005) set out triple-loop feedback as awareness of attention itself and link each loop to a later action logic; Torbert and Associates (2004) develop the same scheme. The structured review is an application of that theory and has not been tested as an intervention. (mechanistic)
Triple-loop awareness is described by its authors as partly beyond words, and a written review can only point toward it. No controlled study shows this review changes a person’s action logic.
Sources
- Argyris, C., & Schön, D. A. (1978). Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
- Starr, A., & Torbert, B. (2005). Timely and Transforming Leadership Inquiry and Action: Toward Triple-loop Awareness. Integral Review, 1, 85–97.
- Torbert, B., & Associates (2004). Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
Common mistake
Stopping at the first loop and calling it reflection. Most after-action reviews only ask what to do differently next time, which leaves the goal and the attention behind it untouched.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for Torbert’s Seven Action Logics of Leadership
- Spot your default action logic under pressure
Notice how you reliably respond when your authority or safety at work is challenged, and compare it with the seven descriptions.
- Get a scored profile instead of self-typing
If you want an estimate of your action logic, take a sentence-completion profile scored by trained raters — and write down your own guess first.
- Ask colleagues for feedback on your frame, not just your results
Invite people you work with to tell you how you tend to see situations, not only how well you performed.
- Try out the next action logic in a real, lower-stakes role
Take on a real responsibility that demands the next logic’s moves, with regular reflection alongside it.
- Use all four parts of speech in hard conversations
In a difficult conversation, check that you are framing, advocating, illustrating and inquiring — not just advocating.
- Match an organizational change to the action logics leading it
Before leading a deep organizational change, look honestly at whether the people leading it can question their own frame — and bring in someone who can.
- Name each action logic’s strength before its limit
When you see a colleague’s action logic, start with what it does well, so the map informs collaboration instead of ranking people.
Related concepts
- Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory, Made Practical
Moving from being run by your assumptions to being able to examine them
- Terri O’Fallon’s STAGES Model, Made Practical
Twelve stages built from three repeating questions, and how to work with the one you are in
- Adaptive Leadership, Made Practical
Distinguishing adaptive challenges from technical problems — and leading accordingly
- Spiral Dynamics, Made Practical
Understanding how value systems develop and how to navigate across them
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