Why Vertical Development?

We’re all aware of the increasing complexity and unpredictability of our world. That’s not news, but if we take a moment and step back, there are a few deeper questions you might like to consider.

Like - 

• Is what you’re doing still working? 

• Have you hit a block - what’s got you here isn’t enough to get you to the next level?

• Have your values and goals shifted somehow but you’re not clear about how so or the way ahead?

• You’re bumping up against unsettling realisations - such as the quality or future of relationships, lifestyle, or career changes?

• Or perhaps if you’re a leader trying to navigate significant systemic shifts which include how might you inspire and retain your people in this challenging environment world when they have so many options?

• And, along with this, wondering how you personally might you continue to not only look after, but also motivate, yourself?

The answers may no longer lie in traditional approaches. With so much change,complexity and uncertainty, we may feel increasingly overwhelmed, confused, and disengaged. Do you see signs of this in your environment? Chronic stress, burnout, conflict or retention and engagement problems. 

There might just be something else going on here and something that my clients sometimes describe as “eye-opening”. Have you heard of the concept of horizontal versus vertical development?

Using a cup or a glass as a metaphor, you could think of horizontal development as learning. It’s about filling our cup by learning new skills, such as how to frame up a difficult conversation, or how to use a new software system, or how to schedule your time more efficiently. These are all important things! However, on their own, they are not enough for true growth.

Vertical development, on the other hand, is about expanding the size of the glass - making it taller and larger. It’s about expanding our capacity to deal with complexity and uncertainty so we don’t get as thrown by problems and stresses but can approach issues with new approaches and a mindset of wisdom and maturity. 

Vertical development builds capacity. It grows your ability to be able to be in the thick of things AND to be able to stand back, and choose in the moment, when to zoom in or out, and to be more balanced as you do so. To develop vertically, we generally expand our perspectives. We grow into becoming curious, open and wider in our thinking. It might feel like opening doors to new pathways. New ways that you had no idea existed before.

And, it’s a journey. Some clients describe it as quite uncomfortable. That’s why coaching helps because it requires leaning into the discomfort, over and over again.

It’s uncomfortable but if we are willing to sit in the grey and murky spaces where nothing is clear or certain, it opens up new doorways to whole new ideas and capacities. Those murky spaces where uncomfortable experiments, honest vulnerabilities and new collaborations are common. This is a space for vertical development of wiser, more conscious leaders. Leaders who are calmer, more human and more expansive. Leaders who are more able to see and consider options alongside their teams and colleagues and have the ability to make a bigger impact on their worlds.

#verticaldevelopment #leadershipcoach #personalgrowth