Why Vertical Leadership Development Matters
In your organization, you probably want leaders who: inspire commitment, lead change, manage performance and develop talent. But, how do you get those leaders? One approach is to create leadership programs that focus on these competencies. But what if individual competencies cannot easily be developed in this way? What if these competencies are partly a byproduct of a leader’s stage of development?
In an intriguing research study, Harris and Kuhnert (2008) looked at 74 leaders made up of Officers, Directors, Vice Presidents, Presidents and General Managers. Each had their leadership skills evaluated using 360-degree feedback. They then took a stage assessment. The researchers compared the relationship between the leader’s vertical assessment and their 360 ratings on 8 measures:
- Inspiring commitment
- Leading change
- Managing performance
- Cultivating and retaining talent
- Catalyzing teams
- Creating a compelling vision
- Personal grounding (resilience)
- Seeing a broader context
The results showed that later stages of vertical development predicted higher leadership effectiveness in all 8 competencies. Rooke and Torbert found similar results in their research on leading organizational transformations. It appeared that enhanced competencies may be an outcome of greater vertical development.
These are very interesting findings, but it’s also important to hold them lightly. In my experience, I’ve seen that organizations need leaders at different stages of development for different roles. As my colleague Richard Izard says, “There are heroes at all stages”.
The key insight from the research for me is that these stages of development seem to be a lever that can impact many different competencies at once. While we all want leaders who think strategically, lead change and navigate complexity the most effective way to get there may be to focus on the rising tide that can lift all boats.
To contact Nick, send a LinkedIn message or email [email protected].
Managing Partner at LetsTalkLeadership.org
4 年Nick mentions in his article that perhaps we should 'hold the findings lightly'. Not being a great fan of the concept of vertical development I agree. For example, how does psychological safety impact this model. Where do life experiences, trauma, personality fit in? I have met very young leaders who are incredibly strategic in their thinking and other more experienced leaders who are successful by being entrepreneurial and opportunist. Both inspire commitment, lead change and develop talent. I have met and worked with young leaders who show tremendous maturity and senior executives who exhibit child like behaviour. Presumably the more agile we are the more we can bounce about rather than move through different levels of development? Why do we have a need to identify a leader's 'stages of development'. How does this help them or is it more about providing those of us in leadership development with another 'in' piece of theory? All of these models and theories are interesting and often shed some light onto complex issues but perhaps we should 'hold the findings lightly'?
Director People & Culture at The Selwyn Foundation
4 年Really interesting Nick. It suggest recognizing current level and deliberately exposing/pushing to the next level. I agree with you - probably and rather than or in term of competence development and level progression.
Education Consultant
4 年In my experience in education, we do need leaders at the different stages of development. However, in complex and uncertain times, we need all leaders to be able to stretch and move their development in the direction of understanding and managing the complexities that exist. There are tensions, polarities, short fuses, etc. All of these challenges require that leaders are capable for moving from subject to object...taking something they're experiencing and being able to see it as object...gaining greater clarity or perspective on the challenge at hand. It means not being defensive, listening deeply and asking good questions. This requires a leader to move to a new stage of development. Is it easily done?
Senior Director- Leadership Consulting,Executive Education and Organization Development|Leadership Development Expert | Empowering individuals and teams with impactful leadership development solutions
4 年Ketaki further to our conversation about you wanting to know more about Vertical Development..
Organizational Capability Augmentation Expert: HR transformation, creating and implementing L&D strategies to improve employee skills through Talent Management, Succession Planning, Leadership Development, and Coaching.
4 年Thanks a lot for sharing this very important knowledge.