Introduction
In this, the third of four blogs, we examine when vertical development is the right move, for the individual and for the organisation. For an explanation of vertical development, please read part one of this series. For reasons why vertical development is important, read part two. Part four addresses how to drive vertical leadership development.
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.
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.
Vertical development is not a “nice to have”
Vertical development is not a “nice to have”, nor is it a universal solution to every development need. In fact, one of the biggest mistakes organisations make is offering vertical development too early, too late, or without the conditions that make it meaningful.
So when is vertical development actually right – for an individual, and for the organisation around them?
First, a reminder: what vertical development really is
Vertical development is transformational rather than additive. Unlike horizontal development, which builds skills, tools and expertise, vertical development changes how a person makes sense of and operates in the world.
- Horizontal development – Adding branches to the tree (new knowledge, models, competencies)
- Vertical Development – Strengthening the trunk and roots (how we think, decide, relate, and hold complexity)
Or, as Alis Anagnostakis puts it, vertical development is like learning to play a piano. As we develop, we gain access to more “octaves” and “more notes within octaves” of meaning-making. Like a skilled pianist, we can play across the full range of the instrument, choosing the best notes for each situation. As leaders, we can draw on a wider and wider repertoire of perspectives, responses, notions of who we are and ways of making sense, selecting these for each situation.
Vertically developed leaders have the psychological flexibility to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously. They build coalitions around shared values rather than shared enemies and think in systems rather than transactions. The benefits of long-term flourishing take precedence over the pull of short-term wins. Such leaders are humble, and cultivate patience, inquiry and sound judgement in the face of overwhelming complexity.
With that in mind, let’s look at readiness.
When is vertical development right for an individual?
1. When horizontal development no longer solves the problem
Imagine a leader who is highly competent, knowledgeable and experienced. They find themselves in a role and organisation where there is considerable complexity, ambiguity, conflict and/or paradox. Vertical development becomes relevant when giving them more tools, frameworks or training no longer shifts outcomes.
Organisationally, the behaviours you’d notice might be:
- Repeating previous patterns of behaviour despite good intentions.
- Feeling “stuck” or frustrated by familiar challenges and so not taking action.
- Sensing the limits of one’s current way of thinking and acting.
At this point, the issue is no longer what the person is doing, but what is getting in the way of them flexing to a different approach or taking a wider perspective.
Vertical development challenges leaders to step outside of their comfort zones to take valued action towards what’s important, even when the outcome is uncertain and doing so feels uncomfortable or difficult.
2. When the person is facing a real developmental edge
People tend to be ready for vertical development when life or work confronts them with a disorienting dilemma – something that forces them outside of their comfort zone.
In our experience, a common “wake-up call” includes leadership transitions, be it from individual contributor to leader, or from leader to enterprise leader. Such transitions ask leaders to achieve through teams of diverse individuals, deal with conflict whilst also creating inclusion and equity, increasingly influence without authority and to focus on the big picture.
Other wake-up calls might come from persistent conflict or relational strain, a loss of confidence, identity or sense of purpose (for example after redundancy or maternity/parental leave), or feeling outgrown by the role, or pulled in multiple, conflicting directions. Sometimes disorientation is sparked by personal experiences of failure, illness, loss or exclusion.
As Alan Watkins describes, these moments can also be activated by a tension between a person’s values and their lived reality. For example, if an individual feels excluded or unfairly treated in the workplace. Or perhaps they perceive a threat, either personally to their authority or control or more globally to humanity or the harmony of things. Whatever a person’s values, that tension is uncomfortable – and acts as a catalyst for internal change.
Vertical development requires psychological flexibility so that discomfort is met with openness and curiosity rather than avoidance.
3. When the individual is equipped to hold (some) uncertainty and discomfort
Other times, a leader may be in the midst of self-exploration. You may witness them questioning some long-held assumptions, expressing and exploring their emotions in a new way, or perhaps being open and vulnerable to be seen with familiar masks. This readiness or openness to uncertainty and discomfort is necessary for vertical development.
There’s no simple checklist of what this readiness requires, but examples might include:
- Willingness to reflect, not just react.
- Openness to feedback (even when it’s uncomfortable).
- Curiosity about how they contribute to patterns.
- A sense that “something needs to change – and it might be me”.
However, if someone is highly overwhelmed, burnt out, or psychologically unsafe, vertical development may be premature or inappropriate. In those cases, stabilisation and support come first.
Vertical development will not happen for those who want to stay comfortable or always feeling good. It comes with experience of the full range of human emotions.
In short: vertical development is right for an individual when…
- Their current mindset is being outgrown.
- A wake‑up call has motivated them to explore who they are and what they do.
- They are equipped with the psychological flexibility to hold discomfort and uncertainty.
When is vertical development right for the organisation?
Just as importantly: vertical development only works when the organisation is ready. It requires organisations that recognise that the old ways of understanding their people, systems, customers and processes are no longer fit for purpose.
1. When the organisation is facing real complexity
Think: climate change, AI governance, migrations, future pandemic preparedness, geopolitical instability. Vertical development is particularly relevant when an organisation must:
- Navigate ambiguity rather than execute certainty.
- Balance competing values and paradoxes (e.g. performance and wellbeing, growth and sustainability).
- Lead through change that cannot be solved by best practice alone.
As a business leader, you might spot the need for vertical development as you look around the business. You might notice that the senior leaders of the business have high technical skill but low adaptability. Your investment in traditional leadership programmes may no longer be creating the shift in behaviour that you need. You may perceive employees as poor at decision making, maybe too risk averse or controlling, or perhaps ‘stuck’ in their ways of working. You may lament the fact that your repeated attempts at culture change haven’t provided lasting solutions.
On the face of it, it is easy to think these are technical problems – but they are not. They are adaptive challenges – requiring leaders to develop greater cognitive, emotional and relational complexity.
2. When L&D views leaders as humans, not just performers
Vertical development demands a fundamentally different learning and development (L&D) culture within an organisation.
It requires organisations to value learning that:
- Treats leaders as more than just the roles they perform.
- Values inner development as much as outer results.
- Recognises vulnerability and not-knowing as legitimate parts of growth.
Practically, this requires a shift in the L&D approach, where senior leaders are required to actively engage in their own development within an intentionally cultivated psychologically safe environment. In this space, weaknesses are encouraged as learning edges, not liabilities. Reflection, dialogue and experimentation are valued as tools for growth and exploration of boundaries and potential.
Without this shift in the L&D culture, vertical development becomes performative or risky, and there is a danger that people retreat rather than grow.
3. When systems and practices don’t punish people’s growth
Systemically, organisations need to take a long hard look at some of their ‘taken-for-granted’ and often core processes underpinning development. For example, the best vertical development programme in the world will fail if the organisation rewards certainty, control and speed above all else. There needs to be space for risk-taking and honest reflection, and vertical development will stall if either of these are punished – either overtly through espoused values and rhetoric, or covertly through promotion, performance and rewards policies.
For vertical development to land, there must be alignment between:
- Development strategies
- Performance management
- Talent and promotion decisions
- Day-to-day ways of working
At the end of the day, people will not take developmental risks if the system only rewards short-term predictability. Vertical development is “real work”.
4. When the organisation can balance challenge and support
Leaders will struggle to develop vertically if the conditions for taking them outside of the comfort zone are not in place in the organisation. Effective vertical development environments create:
- Heat – real challenges that disrupt habitual ways of doing things and stretch existing thinking
- Colliding perspectives – exposure to different worldviews, opinions and backgrounds that challenge mental models
- Elevated sensemaking – space to reflect, integrate and stabilise learning within a wider and more capacious perspective
- Normalised discomfort – recognising that struggle is part of growth
In this type of development environment, organisational wake-up calls may come as a personal leadership challenge to see what’s missing in a situation or the genuine exploration of what people are not saying to you – what Watkins calls an “I” wake-up call. On the other hand, there should also be space to explore a “WE” wake-up call, such as a breach of a working relationship or more personally, a call from a divorce lawyer or sick person in hospital. Further, an “IT” wake-up call such as falling sales numbers or a disastrous engagement score could be the catalyst for colliding perspectives to be considered, with space to reflect and develop from this.
The organisational environment ingredients must be optimal. Without challenge, there is no development. Without support, people regress or disengage.
In short: vertical development is right for an organisation when…
- Complexity can no longer be managed through skills alone
- Senior leaders are willing to “go first”
- Intentional spaces for vulnerability and openness are built
- Systems support experimentation and learning
- The organisation can think long-term about people and culture as well as performance
A final thought
Vertical development is not about making people “better”. It is about enabling them to become more fully who they already are, with greater freedom, flexibility, perspective and responsibility.
For individuals, it begins with a wakeup call and a willingness to look inward.
For organisations, it begins with humility: recognising that the future cannot be led from yesterday’s ways of meaning making.
When both are true, vertical development becomes not just possible – but transformative.
Reflecting on the ‘when’ of vertical development
This blog explores the conditions that promote vertical development. What thoughts or reflections has it prompted for you? You might like to consider the following questions:
- Can you think of a time when learning more tools or skills was not the answer for you? Or a time when you faced your own ‘wake up call’?
- What complex challenges is your organisation facing, where skills development alone will not suffice?
- What steps could your organisation take to create an environment where vertical development could occur?
If you missed it, our first blog explained the ‘what’ of vertical development, and our second blog looked at the ‘why’. This series will continue with a blog exploring ‘how’ to do vertical development.
Our upcoming Safe Space event will explore ‘when’ and ‘how’ in person. This event is an opportunity for HR, L&D & DEIB leaders to discuss vertical leadership development in an open, curious and supportive environment. Click here to register.
If you have specific questions that you want us to address, please do get in touch,
