Introduction
In this, the first of four blogs, we focus on defining and exploring what is vertical leadership development. Future blogs in this series will address why it is important, when we can or should do it, and how to drive vertical leadership development. Links to future blogs will be added in due course.
This blog series accompanies two Safe Space events. These are opportunities for HR, L&D & DEIB leaders to discuss vertical leadership development in an open, curious and supportive environment. Click here to register for the next event.
These blogs are designed to start a conversation. If you are curious about vertical leadership development and how it could help your leaders, please do get in touch, we’d love to talk.
Development is a human function
Humans develop all the time. Throughout our lives we grow and change, impacted by life events, education, society, family, friends, and much more.
Organisations often seek to accelerate or guide that development in order to help individuals fulfil particular roles. Typically, the learning and development function is charged with developing the skills and competencies that the business has defined as important.
Horizontal Development
Traditionally, most learning and development offered in organisations is horizontal development.
Horizontal development is about acquiring new skills, tools and knowledge.
The goal of horizontal development is to get better at, or master, a specific subject matter. For example: communication, negotiation, decision making, conflict handling, influencing, team management and more. The premise is that if we equip people with skills and tools, these will later transfer into improved competency and performance.
Horizontal development is additive. A metaphor that we often us is ‘adding branches to the tree’. It is like seeking a nugget of gold – what is the special framework or model that will enable this individual to master this skill and perform it consistently?
Vertical Development
In contrast, organisations rarely, if ever, offer vertical development. We believe this is a critical gap that needs to be addressed.
Vertical development is about developing deeper, more comprehensive
and complex ways of making sense of and operating in the world.
Vertical development is about learning to see the world through a different lens and having the flexibility to challenge the interpretations and meanings that we ascribe to life experiences.
It is about taking an internal journey of change, developing a deeper understanding of who and how you are and a different relationship with your thoughts. It is about the ability to be present, not caught in the past or wishing for the future, to experience all that you are facing, and to take action on things that are truly important. It is about having the flexibility to deal with complexity and ambiguity, and accept the ‘both/and’ of paradox.
Vertical development is transformative. The metaphor that we like to use is ‘strengthening the trunk or roots of the tree’. It is about changing ‘how’ we know something, rather than expanding our fund of knowledge.
Stages of vertical development
At Becoming, we work with Robert Kegan’s stages of adult development. The three stages that are most relevant in the workplace are the transitions through the socialised mind, the self-authoring mind and the self-transforming mind.
Socialised mind
Kegan suggests that most of us enter adulthood at the stage of the socialised mind.
In this stage we are strongly influenced by others’ perceptions and societal norms. We seek identity within a group, we align our behaviour to expectations.
Organisations value this stage for individuals at the start of their career. Here, clarity of expectation (e.g. through values frameworks and competency statements) leads to consistency of performance. Here, horizontal development is valuable for setting standards and aligning approaches.
Self-authoring mind
However, at some stage in adulthood, we come to question the socialised mind. We face challenges that make us want to view the world differently from others’, and that make us question the norms and expectations that have guided us to date. Kegan describes this as a move from the socialised mind to the self-authoring mind.
At the stage of the self-authoring mind, we are able to question the worldview that we have taken for granted. We can articulate our own beliefs and values more clearly. We can see nuance and alternative perspectives. We can disagree and sit with the discomfort of different opinions. We can make decisions that are challenging for others to accept.
Often, these are qualities that organisations seek as people progress in their careers. They enable leaders to deal with complexity and ambiguity, make tough decisions and adapt to change. And yet, these qualities are not developed through horizontal development, and most organisations do not have an approach to vertical development that supports a shift to this stage (or indeed any further).
Self-transforming mind
Kegan goes on to describe a further stage: the self-transforming mind. In this stage, we are able to hold our own beliefs, values and perspectives within the context of the wider system of potential perspectives. We can recognise the limitations of our own process of making meaning of the world and stay open to multiple views of reality.
Although this stage comprises only a tiny percentage of the population (5-8%), individuals here are the most able to lead in complex contemporary environments.
Reflecting on vertical development
This blog introduces the “what” of vertical development. What thoughts or reflections has it prompted for you? You might like to consider the following questions:
- How would you describe your own experiences of development (leadership or otherwise) – horizontal or vertical?
- If you think about the leaders in your organisation, where would you say they are in their journey of vertical development?
- How well do you think your organisation supports leaders’ vertical development, in contrast to their horizontal development?
In this series of blogs we will go on to explore the ‘why’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ of vertical leadership development. If you have specific questions that you want us to address, please do get in touch.
