instrument · all tools
Subject-Object Interview
Also known as: SOI
Kegan's research-grade developmental interview: ~60–90 minutes of structured conversation around prompts (angry, anxious, success, torn…) through which a trained interviewer assesses how a person currently makes meaning — what they can look AT (object) versus what still looks THROUGH them (subject). Used in coaching and research to locate a developmental center of gravity and to make growth edges discussable.
Prerequisites
- Voluntary, informed participation — the interview goes where the person's live material is
- Stage language is easily misused as ranking; results describe meaning-making structure, never worth or potential
- Interpretation without training produces confident nonsense — this is a certified-skill instrument
Practical
- Time
- 60-90 min + 60 landing
- Group
- 1–1 · individual
- Settings
- in-person, online
- Materials
- Certified/trained SOI interviewer; prompt cards
- Mechanisms
- feedback-mirroring, narrative-identity
- Change scope
- state · one-off
Instructions
- Where
- mindsatwork.com
- Availability
- In the source document — the instructions live inside the material linked, on its terms
Source link checked 29 Aug 2026 — unchanged since we recorded it on 28 Aug 2026
This directory describes and points home; the instructions stay with the people who made them.
Origin
Robert Kegan and colleagues (Lahey, Souvaine, Goodman, Felix) — Constructive-developmental psychology (Subject-Object theory); 'A Guide to the Subject-Object Interview' (1988)
In this directory via IDG Phase 2 Research Report & Toolkit (2022)
Related: Immunity to Change Map (pairs-with)
Mentioned in the Phase 2 Toolkit as the measurement instrument of the ITC family. The clearest non-clinical example of holding 4: the exercise is just a conversation; the competence is entirely in the holder.
status: checked · added 2026-08-25