Focus More on Range than Stage
Leaders love vertical stage assessments. Most leaders have done many 360’s, so they are enthused to experience something new and different. However, one concern that some have is about ‘what stage’ they will be assessed at. I feel this is a problem we have created for ourselves. Facilitators and coaches are always talking about people being AT a stage of development. While leaders have a center of gravity from which they are most comfortable operating from, in the real world the best leaders operate from many different stages depending on the situation.
The best leaders I observe are not the ones ‘at’ the highest stage, but the ones who have the most range and the most skill at each.
Range – how many stages you have access to. Since later stage leaders have developed through more stages they have the potential to move between many different mindsets.
Skill – how good you are at leveraging each stage. Whether you have the ability and confidence to effectively lead from various altitudes depending on what the situation calls for.
Many leaders don’t exhibit much range. They have not grown beyond the Achiever stage, so the solution is always to work harder and get everyone else to do the same.
In contrast, leaders with high Range x Skill adjust their approach and mindset depending on what their context calls for. For example:
Leaders love the idea of range because it doesn’t put them in ‘a box’ and is much closer to their lived experience. In my own life, it has freed me up from thinking that I only operate from one stage and instead motivated me to increase my skill at all of them.
Reflection Question: How does the idea of Range fit with your personal experience or your observations of leaders?
The above is an excerpt from my upcoming whitepaper: 7 Lessons in Vertical Leadership Development.
To speak to Nick about bringing vertical leadership development into your organization send a LinkedIn message or email [email protected].
Organizational Development | Facilitator | Executive Coach NCC? PCC
4 年Hi Nick, one analogy I use with leaders about developing range is that of playing notes on a piano. I say that developing range in behaviours, perspectives, mindsets, emotions, embodiment, language.... is like learning to play more notes on a piano that in turn allow you to create new tunes. I ask them to reflect about the "notes" they've been "playing" (like keys in a piano) most of their life and then reflect about the possibilities of expanding the range of notes as they flex muscles in their fingers and hands as an analogy to flexing all who they are and exploring different and new ways of being that can be of better service to who they want to be and what they want to do. I think the Observer - Actions - Results and the Body - Emotions - Language lenses of ontological coaching would be of interest to you. Here's an article from an ontological coach that explains these lenses quite clearly https://www.qdcoaching.com/pdf/Ont-ThoughtLoopsF.pdf
Enabling leaders to genuinely lead themselves & others very effectively
4 年Christine Livingston, a last prompt as I'm sure you're already on it!
Technical Leader at Cisco
4 年A one-trick pony on any stage is still a one-trick pony. :)
Cultivating wise leadership, designing creative learning, facilitating change
4 年Great way of thinking about this Nick, thank you, really useful articulation. I've certainly experienced people who have moved beyond a stage but not re-owned and re-integrated the earlier stages in such a way that they can see the gifts of those stages as well as the drawbacks of being limited by that world-view. I'd be interested to hear more about (and this may be coming in the white paper!) how you work with people who believe they have that range but don't. I especially see very competitive leaders as sometimes declaring that they are able to adopt the later stage world-views (I think, as much as anything, because they see status in that), when I my experience of them they don't seem to even understand what is implied by the world-view of those stages. I am increasingly inclined to work with ideas around wisdom and that just being an ongoing journey but I still see the value and potential in stage based developmental thinking. Thanks for 'working out loud'. It's really helpful!
Executive Leadership and Team Coach. Director at Harthill Consulting at Harthill Consulting Ltd
4 年Great wisdom in that Nick. I think because people are used to being boxed off by psychometrics they tend to see themselves as being a 'this' or a 'that' which is not helpful when it comes to building meaning making capacity, the full range is available to everyone, we just need to practice, work on our capabilities and capacity will emerge !