Developmental communities of inquiry

I host, or help you to host, what I call developmental communities of inquiry.

These provide a safe place for a small group (6-8) of leaders to support each other in paying attention to their ongoing development. My objective is to generate living communities of inquiry among senior  management teams, professional communities of practice (especially among coaches and consultants) and in friendship circles.

The discussion/dialogue in these communities spans three scales and types of inquiry:

• Internal, subjective,  first-person inquiry and practice;
• Interpersonal, intersubjective, political inquiry and practice; and
• External, objective,  scientific inquiry and practice.

My approach is based in the tradition of action research, action science and action inquiry. It is grounded in:

• The results of a range of studies into how development can continue in adulthood. In particular, into how the presence of more aware leaders, practicing systemic forms of understanding and exercising mutual forms of power, can enable organisations and communities to cope better with complexity and ambiguity and generate ongoing transformation and change.
• A growing understanding of the embodied nature of our ways of engaging with each other and the world around us. These communities engage with emerging practices for connecting that kind of “felt” knowledge and awareness with our ability to articulate emerging understandings and new possibilities.
• A sense of the connection between our need for meaning and purpose in our work, especially in our later years, and the wide variety of spiritual paths and practices many of us pursue.
• My own experience of being challenged and supported in communities of inquiry and of inventing new activity structures and ways of working in organisations, networks and friendship groups.

---