This article responds to recent calls for analyzing impact from a processual perspective, drawing on Follettian concepts of ‘power with’ and ‘circular responses’. It proposes a framework that outlines three key principles to enable mutual engagement between researchers and participants: emotional attunement, reciprocal reflexivity, and responsive adaptiveness. The article provides tools and methods for translating these principles into actionable practices and discusses how the framework contributes to performing prospective co-theorizing, advancing theory development beyond conservative incrementalism, and addressing silence and power dynamics in organizational research. The article concludes by identifying the boundary conditions for applying the proposed framework.
