Amara welcomes Jean-Simon Fortin, PhD
It’s inspiring to see someone with such a multifaceted career trajectory choose Amara
to further their journey in vertical/self-development!
Join us in welcoming Jean-Simon by discovering more of him in the next article.
How it all began
Most of my consultant career, I served the pharmaceutical industry within different scientific communication agencies. I wrote content, visualised concepts, designed solutions, planned my clients’ activities, managed their stakeholders, and even spoke on their behalf. My ultimate goal was to ensure that they were happy with my work. For a while, this was giving me a lot of satisfaction. Until it didn’t.
Under this mindset, I would typically do anything for clients, too many times at my own expense, that of my team or partner.
After a big account that I managed fell apart – and while grieving at the loss – my reflections led me to realise that maybe it wasn’t just about clients. Maybe it was also about the people around me, supporting me, in my own workplace. In other words, maybe I could start watering the grass in my own yard instead of doing so almost exclusively for clients.
At the time, I thought I had found the ideal solution, a plan that would give me back a sense of purpose in my work and a scheme where I wouldn’t depend so much on the ups and downs of client work, all the while getting to collaborate more closely with my own team.
Setting things into motion and beginning to practice action inquiry
I pitched an idea to the board, and we set up an internal experimentation structure that would enable me to do just that: The Lab.
For 3 years, through the Lab, I have thrived with the aim to find how we can develop the best communication material there is (ironically, for the benefit of clients). I learned, explored, and got to work closely with everyone in the agency. I have also kept serving new clients in a more purposeful manner and contributed to my organisation’s development and success inter-dependently.
Early on, I discovered action inquiry. In the literature, action inquiry is described as a disciplined leadership practice that has demonstrated to increase the wider effectiveness of our actions (Torbert and Associates 2004).
What I got from this at the time, was that it could be my secret weapon, my superpower in my new role. Who wouldn’t want their actions to be more effective, especially when going for something big, risky and uncertain?
So, I studied action inquiry, started practicing it intentionally and sought out counsel, coaching and training (Amara, CoachT, Vertical Development Institute). Through the lens of action inquiry and the Lab, I began to participate in the learning and development side of the agency and drove a company-wide transformation in how we develop content more visually, communicate, and befriend the creative process.
What we have achieved together
A keen observer would quickly notice how the four parts of speech, a pillar of action inquiry (Fig. 1) have been integrated across communications, how the team aims for intersubjectivity – not objectivity – and how the 3 levels of inquiries are considered (Fig. 2) in the creative process.
Figure 1. Using the 4 parts of speech in conversations and written communications for greater mutuality, collaboration, alignment and clarity.
Figure 2. Using the 3 levels of inquiry throughout the creative process.
Left: The 4-step creative process that resulted from a year-long collective inquiry (nspm). Inspired by the scientific method and the double-diamond model and, in which, multiple rounds between the idea generation and evaluation are encouraged in order to minimise knee-jerk solutions. We begin on top, from a well-defined objective, then move to the expansive, idea generation side where we gather many ideas within the boundaries and focus of a project. We encourage to explore beyond these boundaries (dashed line) because it is often at the edge that we find great ideas. Exploring too far outside – or staying outside too long – is akin to heading down the rabbit hole and a lot of time can be wasted with little chance to finding an idea that meets the initial brief. We then evaluate each idea using the 3 levels of inquiry until the most appropriate idea is found. Right: Selection of identified prompts to help evaluate ideas, solutions and strategies.
Adapting moment-to-moment while following the framework
To ensure that my colleagues would notice the practicality, usefulness, and pertinence of action inquiry, I have learned (and still learning) to tweak my language to keep the framework itself generally concealed. With practice, I came to realise that what is useful for me to keep a sense of structure and predictability was often counterproductive in conversations given its very abstract nature.
Using action inquiry as a scaffold for change in my organisation was a lot of fun and very transformative. And even if I can’t fully guarantee that it’s why I succeeded, two things are sure: i) I gained a unique experience leading and living through a 3 year-long organisational transformation and ii) I found it useful, especially so in challenging times.
When I started to practice action inquiry, I also mapped out the Lab’s lifecycle vaguely around the organisational developmental action logics (Fig. 3; Torbert and Associates 2004, Ian Harcus, 2020). I totally geeked out and with hindsight, am stunned to see how the framework was insightful.
Figure 3. A superficial map describing the tangible, measurable milestones of the Lab from the dream (Conception, impulsive action logic) to my retirement (Collaborative inquiry, transforming action logic).
Maybe one day, I’ll share about its messy side, the one that can’t be visualised so easily on a timeline.
Co-creating the future of the Lab and the next steps
Last spring, the Collaborative Inquiry phase was initiated. A phase in which the structure and definition of the Lab was reflected upon, and its reins were passed on to more than capable successors while I was gradually retiring from my functions. A transition that will decide whether the Lab sustains its action logic, further evolves, or falls back to the conventional Systematic Productivity stage.
So yeah, I have retired, at 40, from leading the Lab.
Was it because my departure was needed for its continued success? Possibly. A mid-life crisis? Who knows… But it was for at least one other reason. The luxurious green grass we tendered together gave me the sense of purpose, stability and team spirit I had been looking for.
Paradoxically, I had become lonely and I started to long for something more meaningful, more integrated in the big picture. I longed for more actions and timeliness to fight today’s oh too common inertia. I wanted to talk about action inquiry, to compare notes and to share my learnings. I also wanted to start experimenting at scale, across more organisations, not just within a system in which I grew both too comfortable and uncomfortable.
Joining Amara to further my vertical development journey
Today, as I officially take a leap into new territories and join Amara, I share my story to symbolically mark this milestone in my career. An organic continuation of my journey where my focus will be about sharing this awesome transformational leadership experience, my scientific communicator expertise and passion for visual storytelling through writing, organisational consulting and developmental coaching.
So if you’re contemplating the idea of integrating action inquiry into your organisation – or just want to know more about it, what nudge would you need?
What about starting with a short exploration call?
References:
Torbert, W. R. (2004). Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership. Ukraine: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Harcus, I. (2020). Transforming Conversations: The Bridge from Individual Leadership to Organisational Change. United Kingdom: Three Loops Limited.