(reported by John Forman)

Integral Development Associates is a group of four Integral Institute members—Bert Parlee, Paul Landraitis, John Forman, and Steve McIntosh—working with a network of fellow I-I members, such as Susann Cook-Greuter, Michael Ostrolenk, Willow Pearson, Steve March and Tom Goddard, as well as a host of non-I-I associates to provide consulting in the areas of organizational and individual development. As scholar-practitioners, they are bringing integrally informed perspectives into organizations through specific interventions and workshops, and then bringing case histories and data from these live laboratories back to the Integral Institute to help with the refinement of theory and for their own learning.

After an initial AQAL assessment, IDA consultants typically then suggest a set of recommendations that encompasses or specifically addresses aspects of behaviors; social systems and process; organizational culture; and personal values and perceptions. These recommendations are also AQAL in nature, incorporating levels, lines and types either explicitly for the client or implicitly as they work out next steps depending on what is appropriate to the task at hand. For example, they have just concluded an assignment that began, as one physician described it, as "a civil war" but that has ended with the creation of a high-reliability maternity unit that is fully supported by the formerly divided obstetricians, family practitioners, nursing staff and hospital administration. Where administration had initially framed the problem solely in their financial systems, IDA was able to point out the underlying cultural rifts, behavioral aspects and varieties of perspectives that were also at play, and it was this more comprehensive view that led to more intentional shifts that are much more likely to last. They explained the AQAL framework and thinking behind the recommended interventions to a handpicked core group of influential physicians, nurses and administrators who were then able to navigate systemic changes more intentionally. Many of them also, not surprisingly, found themselves seeing other areas of their work and personal lives through these newly acquired AQAL lenses.

"We have found consistently that the majority of organizational change efforts fail, not because they are wrong, but because they are incomplete," says managing partner, John Forman. "Most change efforts simply don't address all the critical dimensions of human systems in a coordinated way," adds partner Paul Landraitis. "There are any number of quite useful, but partial, management tools and approaches," says Forman, "including continuous quality improvement, appreciative inquiry, chaordic alliances, community health partnerships, balanced scorecards and so forth." "So, given that," adds partner Bert Parlee, "what we try to provide are simply elegant and eminently practical ways of integrating what is valuable and robust in all these techniques into a single coherent strategic plan for a specific organization's next step."

Partner Steve McIntosh adds, "Any genuinely AQAL approach will be at once flexible, powerful and comprehensive. Whatever proven approaches are currently being used or that are called for by a given organization's circumstances can be included within the 'open architecture' of integral methodology." "In other words," says Landraitis, "we are less interested in re-inventing wheels, and instead, look to help clients select several key 'wheels' and then integrate these into a customized vehicle that can successfully navigate the real terrain they are currently facing."

"Rather than always insisting on some kind of upliftment scheme, we look to honor the accumulated knowledge and experience already collected by an organization," says Forman, "and also all the sciences and economic/business disciplines that already provide value, as well as the arts, psychology, sociology and even, where it is useful, the world's spiritual traditions -- while at the same time illuminating the partialities and possible confusions of each isolated perspective." 'We are mindful of all this," says Parlee, "because it vastly increases the possibility for effective collaboration across boundaries that are often experienced as insurmountable, whether these boundaries be disciplinary, departmental, corporate or cultural."

IDA's workshops range from 3 and 1/2 day intensive public seminars in integral leadership to shorter events specific to an organization or group. These have been held all over the country and are being planned internationally. IDA uses powerpoint presentations, music/sounds and video to teach AQAL frameworks and integrally informed practices addressing the participants' current situations. (The next public intensive is scheduled for Spring 2004. See www.integraldevelopment.com for details.) IDA also offers one- or two-day events on specific areas of integral thought and practice, such as the recent gathering of Methodist pastors in Austin, Texas, exploring AQAL perspectives on spiritual development and leadership in the church and in the workplace. They are currently developing an AQAL Art workshop with IU Hosts Willow Pearson and Matthew Dallman.