Focused and tailored personal development 
using the Action Profile® Footprint

"I suppose I knew a lot of this, for myself; but to see it set out 
in a system that you can actually use - that's terrific!"

The AP® Footprint is a graphical representation of an Action Profile®.  There are over 12 million variations, that describe an Individual's natural  decision making and communication process.  

The AP® Footprint does not change so it provides a stable foundation on which both personal and team development can be based.  

Attention is the stage in the decision process where the focus is on information and discovery of possibilities

Intention is the stage in the decision process where information and ideas are evaluated and determination is built.

Commitment is the stage in the decision process where objectives are set and action is taken

Tony Web's Action Profile^®      

This is an actual profile published
with permission - the individual's 
real name has been changed.

'Attention' to Gather / Create Info.

Tony appears to gather information that will be focused on his goals and what he is trying to achieve. He has a strong ability to make links between pieces of information and present data in a useable form. Although he may appear at times to be over-complicating an issue by making irrelevant connections.

He seems to generally have all the angles covered. He is likely to be happiest when he has ideas to build on and to have time to follow a diversity of interests

'Intention' to Build Resolve

Tony appears to be flexible and able to change course easily and is unlikely to be stubborn. He may not insist enough and runs the risk of not generating confidence in others

He is unlikely to pre-judge any issue and is happy to leave things in abeyance and see how they develop. He may sometimes miss the nub of the issue and could have a tendency to try to do everything because he has not assessed any priority

'Commitment' to Take Action

Tony likes to speed up the pace and grasp opportunities as he sees them He will make time to follow his many interests and may find it hard to be patient and wait for the "right time"

He has the capacity to see outcomes and question where he is going. He will set goals although he may create confusion by creating too many goals in a number of different directions and acting on them without having thought through the advantages and disadvantages of his chosen course of action.

A unique feature of the Action Profile® is the effect of an individual's interaction style at each stage of the decision making process.  

The differing interaction styles (there are 9 variations for each stage of the decision making process) have enormous implications for both individuals and teams.

You will notice that we have added a background pattern or colour to the graphs on the Footprint. This background represents how the individual is likely to interact with others at that stage of his decision process. It gives an indication of whether the individual wants to share the process with others or whether he has a need for independence of thought.

When he is gathering information or exploring alternatives Tony is equally comfortable working through the process with others as working independently, although most of the time he will prefer to seek input from others as share his own thinking thereby creating a good environment for innovation. His inclination for independence of thought on occasion could lead to confusion in others who may sometimes wonder if their ideas have been heard.

Here, at the point of decision, Tony can provide support for building mutual agreement or allow equally for independence of thought. Again this can be confusing for others who may feel uncertain of where they stand with him or lacking clarity over what his intentions are.

(More than half the senior managers profiled are more inclined to make decisions on their own and run the risk of not building joint resolve with their colleagues. With this understanding it is not difficult to see why real commitment to decisions in meeting is difficult to achieve. This is easy to overcome with simple facilitation techniques relevant to this issue).

Tony's privacy in the Commitment Stage of the decision process leads him to 'just get on' with what needs to be done, regardless of what others think.  He likes to work independently and does not think to tell people what he is doing. This can feel like he really takes care of things, equally it can create suspicion and seem manipulative to others. He is in danger of springing surprises on his colleagues when he has gone off and done things that they were not ready to commit to and have no idea that he has done it until too late.

Tony has always been excited by new ideas and has diverse interests which he actively pursues.  As a child he was always persuing projects (privately) in a shed at the bottom of the garden.  His inventions worked.

As a research director for a large engineering company, he found himself constantly frustrated by the desire to get things done that he could see were absolutely necessary because he foresaw the future trend.  He found himself either being held back by his colleagues, or, more often going ahead on his own without thinking to tell anyone what he was doing.  This often resulted in friction between himself and other areas of the business.  His ideas, eventually, were mostly seen to be necessary, however much time and resources were lost because of inadequate communication.

When Tony finally had the opportunity to set up his own engineering consultancy business he was able to set up a laboratory/ workshop - known in the company as "Tony's shed".  Being free to act in accordance with his underlying natural talents particularly in terms of decision process, has enabled him, within a year, to have a turnover in excess of £1,000,000.

Acknowledgement and understanding of his own personal strengths through this system has enabled him to make the most of his talents and find coping mechanisms for the areas that require more effort from him.

Please note that this account represents a very brief summary of one or two of the key findings in this profile.

See the impact of Interaction
on a team on the next page