What do we need to be able to grow?

First, a brief note about “What is Vertical Development”

Over the course of a lifetime, adults may embark on an “adult development” otherwise known as “vertical development” journey. Adults don’t have to grow. They don’t have to go on the journey, but workplaces and personal life can provide considerable opportunities to do so.

For more about “what is vertical development”, go here or here (1, 2). Vertical development (from Adult Development Research) is a framework explaining how adults may grow and mature in perspective and capacities. We all know that children develop - for example, a baby cries when their main caregiver leaves the room, but at some stage in normal development, a child realises that although the caregiver is out of sight, they still exist, and they will probably be back. It’s similar in some ways to the process of adult development. As we grow towards later stages of development we start to see (and understand) things we could not see before. Speaking very generally, each stage brings expanded views and awareness of more options.

What are the necessary conditions for vertical development?

How do we grow our development capacity?

There are several prerequisites to move from one stage of adult development onto the next. One of the key ones is discomfort which we have plenty of right now.

Leaders are facing ongoing and significant disruption, complexity and unpredictability. When a leader starts to realise that their current way of operating is not working anymore, and the pain of their experience is worse than the perceived pain of change, they can open up to a more sophisticated and mature way of being and making sense.

Growth is messy. It’s uncomfortable and it often makes us feel foolish (which is why we sometimes unconsciously try to avoid it). But feeling foolish, uncertain, irritable or just plain uncomfortable is an extricable part of the process. 

Jennifer Garvey Berger is a leading expert in this field.

“I think the biggest obstacle to our growth is how scary it is to grow,” she says. “I have a sense that people stay the same until the idea of growing is less painful than the place that they’re in. Also, I think people grow because they kind of have to due to their circumstances. For most of us, there is a lot of loss that comes with growth, and as we imagine ourselves being different we have to let go of who we are today. This is very difficult as we get more and more attached to ourselves over time.” (3)

Another key ingredient in the adult development journey is ongoing reflection. When leaders and managers use coaches and other processes to help them make sense, then it helps them to see and navigate more complex and expanded worldviews. As John Dewey famously said: “We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.”

Exposure to a diverse range of perspectives is also important. Interactions with people who hold different worldviews and opinions, including interactions with people at later stages of vertical development, can help you progress and expand your own capacity.

People also need support systems that provide ‘good company’ for the developmental journey. This includes developmental coaching and using vertical development tools and learning partnerships. (A metaphor could be creating fertile soil, in which we have a better chance of growing. A fertile soil too, gives us better capacity for weathering adverse conditions - think feedback as an example. If a relationship is strong (fertile soil), then difficult conversations may support healthier growth).

The final component is personal impact. Does improving your vertical development matter to you? Do you want and need to improve? If it does not, an individual is unlikely (at a conscious or subconscious level) to risk the time, energy or discomfort that embarking on vertical development is likely to involve.

1. https://www.springleadership.com/insights/what-is-vertical-development

2. https://www.springleadership.com/insights/2021-spring-leadership-magazine

3. https://managemagazine.com/interview/interview-jennifer-garvey-berger-how-to-overcome-obstacles-adult-development/

Photo by Evie S. on Unsplash (thank you).