Who's Who

Rudolf Laban#

Rudolf Laban's pioneering work began in the 1940s with his extraordinary insights into the nature of human initiative and his development of methods for recording it. A refugee from Nazi Europe, he was asked by the UK Government to find ways of increasing industrial production for the UK’s war effort. He worked with Tyresoles, Hoover, and Mars, preparing for the invasion of France. Laban’s work involved analysing tiny variations in non-verbal signals. Thus, the early form of Action Profile®, through his analysis of decision making and teamwork, was born.

Warren Lamb#

Warren Lamb's pioneering discovery was the relationship of posture-gesture merger in movements to authenticity in behaviour. He added the dimension of shaping the initiative to Laban’s original concept of making the effort. He was the first to develop a top team planning approach to senior management effectiveness. He created a method of predicting behaviour from patterns of physical movement. His work was often too ahead of its time to be easily accepted, but the underlying concepts are clear: each person has a distinct way of moving that is constant, like a signature; this pattern can be observed and identified through disciplined analysis; and the resultant Movement Pattern is a reliable predictor of how people will behave in a variety of situations. Lamb was always emphatic in distinguishing his work from the popular "body language" literature. It is not fixed gestures that matter, he believed; the patterns of dynamic movement hold the key to understanding behaviour.

Lamb applied his method successfully in management consultancy. He was employed by many leading multinationals – American Express, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Heineken, Kodak and Saatchi & Saatchi. "I don't understand his method – but it works so I'll use it," was a typical response of CEOs.

"In recent years his work had received increased attention from governments, the US government in particular, which commissioned him to study the movement of leaders of former communist countries. A profile of Vladimir Putin was especially appreciated. Academic interest also grew, with recent studies (the latest one led by Harvard and Brown universities in the USA) pointing to the strong validity of Lamb's method." (Wednesday 05 February 2014 - The Independent newspaper Obituary)

Pamela Ramsden#

As a professional Psychologist Pamela Ramsden was originally employed by Warren Lamb to further the research into the Action Profile®. Pamela had the aptitude to become the second person in the world to be able to analyse decision-making in this way. Through intensive painstaking analysis Ramsden then brought the system to the Action Profile® that we know of today with the definition of the Framework of Initiative.

Pamela crystallised the theory of Action Motivation, which placed the Action Profile® in the context of other major theories of motivation, notably Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs with its idea of self actualising behaviour. Then she established the concept of Layers of Personality with Action Motivation at the core.

She brought the Action Profile® system to its present state with:

  • the current definitions of the Framework of Initiative and the Framework of Interaction
  • the discovery of the types of Interaction: Sharing, Private, Neutral, Versatile, and Adjustable
  • the addition of the Perspective aspect to the Framework of Overall Factors: Dynamism, Adaptability and Identifying
  • the addition of the twelve types of Action Thinking (Polarities) and the creation of the Polarities Wheel.
  • the rules for calculating the scores for the full Action Profile

“In 1975, Pamela ran her first course on Action Motivation Assessment. Due to limitations of the original behavioural definitions it was not a great success. However, she experimented, and developed a much more properly structured model of what became known as Action Profiling.” (Bill Halson, Director W.D Scott and Co and early recipient of a Lamb profile)

Pamela developed the concept of Integrated Movement. This is based on the ability to observe specific moments when a whole-body movement (Posture) coincides in the instant with a movement of an isolated part of the body (Gesture), the two fusing together. Being able to directly observe specific moments when melding of Gesture and Posture occur is the first step in measuring elements of movement to produce an Action Profile score. The next step is being able to discern which of 16 movement qualities are present in those integrated moments. This enables the precise determination of the nature of a particular Integrated Movement. The movement elements present in each occurrence of an Integrated Movement are counted, forming the basis of percentage scores for the 12 polarites, of the Action Profile. The overall factors Dynamism, Adaptability and Identifying are also assessed in this way.

This manner of observing enables greater accuracy of measurement and provides inter-observer reliability. As a result, in collaboration with Action Profile colleagues she established the standard of reliability as being +/- 3 percentage points, and refined the method for calculating the scores to produce a full Action Profile.

In time (around 1992) this way of seeing movement led to Pamela’s addition of the 12 modes of Action Thinking (Polarities) to the Framework of Initiative followed by the creation of the Polarities Wheel.

Pamela developed methods of teaching the system (movement observation, and the interpretation of results) for Action Profile practitioners, Action Profile Trainers and for clients. She has conducted training courses in the UK, Australia, South Africa, Holland, Germany and North America and has been teaching practitioners and clients since 1975. In addition she has devised many programmes of individual self development, as well as team development, for clients.

She humanised the system by making it approachable and accessible for people working together on decisions and tasks - for example demonstrating the power of the Action Profile by grouping people of similar profiles together to work on a problem requiring a particular set of motivations.

“Initially the “Profile” reports were confidential. When Pamela Ramsden came on the scene we learned to use the profiles for team work and team building. At meetings we would know who to turn to for a particular part of the decision process. For instance when we were beginning to understand an issue we would get those high in Investigating and Exploring to do the work and tell those high in Commitment to sit on their hands.” (Ian Marks, CEO Trebor Sharps)

In collaboration with colleagues, Pamela pioneered a method, known as Decision Framing, for planning decisions to make sure all areas of decision making are covered in the most effective way for a particular team.

She conducted many years of observation and research into the subtle movement elements in Mastery of Performance in the arts, sport, politics, and management, leading to the Model for Mastery© and ways of teaching Mastery for clients.

In 1981 she co-founded Action Profilers International (API) which became a lively crucible for collaborative research and development of the Action Profile® system. Pamela encouraged and led a wide range of projects. One such was an investigation into Action Profile commonalities for different occupations eg, Barristers, Airline Pilots and Offshore Oil Platform Commanders. Another was an appreciation of multicultural movement patterns and decision making for the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. In addition comprehensive descriptions of combinations of two action motivations known as the “grid” were created and the standard for reliability was maintained.

Pamela is currently working with Action Profiling colleagues in the UK and North America to expand the concept of Adaptability, especially in relation to the Covid 19 restrictions. She has so far delineated a number of Adaptability Types.

Pamela has worked with numerous clients ranging from large multinationals such as Mars, Cadbury Schweppes, IBM, CIGA Hotels, Hewlett Packard, Amerada Hess, Legal and General Insurance and Zurich Insurance to medium sized/family companies such as Trebor Sharps, Associated MediaBase and Vertex Inc, plus start-ups such as Powderject and British Biotec and utilities such as Centrica, Anglian Water and British Waterways.

"Pamela’s book Action Profiling co-authored with Jody Zacharias is still considered the reference book that founded the science of 'body language' profiling as a predictor of upper managers' success... Action Profiling became so highly regarded in the field of human resources that it became required reading for the Harvard Business School MBA programme for several years" (Todd Benschneider: Research Projects and Case Studies in Economics and Management)

Her books and articles documenting her findings and discoveries include the following:

Top Team Planning, a study of the power of individual motivation in management - Cassell Publishing 1973

Harvard Business Review - Article on Action Profiling and top team development, 1974

The Action Profile system of movement assessment for Self Development, in Dance Movement Therapy: theory and practice edited by Helen Payne - 1992

Action Profiling: generating competitive edge through realising management potential (co-authored with Jody Zacharias) - Gower Press, 1993

Cultural Decision Making Framework of Trinidad and Tobago (API paper co-authored with Ellen Goldman)

Moments of Wholeness, how awareness of Action Profile® Integrated Movement and related modes of thinking can enhance performance - in The International Conference on Movement Analysis in Education, Therapy and Science “Moving from Within” 2007