Vertical Development

I often use the term vertical development from Spiral Dynamics, but I’ve never really explained why it’s so important and my personal feelings about it. So, here we go! 

I believe that for today’s leaders, success and sustained growth hinge on embracing vertical personal development.

I’m sure you’ve come across terms from this model before. So let’s get to the bottom of what we’re talking about.

What is Spiral Dynamics?

Spiral Dynamics is a model initially developed by Don Edward Beck and Christopher Cowan to explore the evolutionary growth of individuals, organizations, and societies. In their book, Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change, they introduced a color-coded system to represent different levels of consciousness. These levels reflect the values and thought patterns that shape how individuals and societies behave.

Horizontal Development

Horizontal development focuses on expanding skills, knowledge, and abilities within your current mindset. Think of it as growth within your existing framework — it’s not about changing perspectives but about deepening your expertise. Examples of this could include learning new languages, enhancing technical skills, or improving interpersonal abilities.

Vertical Development

Vertical development, on the other hand, involves shifting to an entirely new frame of mind. In Spiral Dynamics, each level of consciousness is represented by a different color, and moving “up” involves adopting new worldviews and realizations. For example, moving from orange (success and achievement-oriented) to green (harmony and community-focused) can radically change a person’s approach to work and personal relationships.

Why Both Types of Growth Matter

Both horizontal and vertical development are essential for well-rounded growth. Vertical development provides new lenses to see the world, and horizontal one allows us to be more effective within these new perspectives. Focusing exclusively on one development type, we risk becoming overly ambitious but lacking practical skills (vertical development) or highly skilled but limited in our worldview (horizontal development).

For example, learning new management techniques, hard and soft-skills is horizontal development. Shifting towards working on your inner self  — your values, mental models, and personal growth — vertical.So, dear managers, it’s time to stop obsessing over frameworks. Let’s focus on ourselves. That’s where true growth happens!