I am pleased to announce the release of my latest whitepaper Lessons in Vertical Development. We are living in unprecedented times. There is a global pandemic, unstable economies, stay at home orders, virtual workplaces, and an unknown future. We used to say that the world was VUCA, and that was before the pandemic sho
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In this White paper, Nick Petrie explores the concept of vertical development and some of the insights he has gained from his experiences supporting leaders to build their capacity to lead through complexity.
A key idea for me is the situational approach, with great leaders having range; being able to flex between developmental stages, so they can respond to the needs of the role/task.
Nick also talks about what can occur if their is misalignment between organisational stage of cultural evolution, role complexity and the individual's stage of development.
In an increasingly automated workplace, leaders should concentrate on uniquely human skillsets.
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This article explores the importance of emotional complexity as a tool for leading, surviving and thriving in the future of work. It highlights that old models of leadership reinforce certainty, whereas discomfort will provide a foundation for growth and innovation
What kind of thinkers do you need in your business? What types of leadership will get you desired results? To answer these questions, you’ve got to be thinking about a…
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Horizontal Leadership Development - Knowledge, Skills, Information versus Vertical Development - complex and sophisticated ways of thinking. It’s called vertical development because it is based on levels, or stages, of thinking. It involves gaining new perspectives and leadership mindsets needed to make the business strategy work.
Includes links to two white papers by Nick Petrie, who has also written extensively about leadership in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world.
Vertical development is becoming more well-known and talked about within leadership development. I’ve heard various people talking about the wonders and benefits and others talking about all the risks and dangers. Which is true? After using vertical development tools and models for 10 years, I thought I'd share the 7 most important things I’ve learned.
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Nick Petrie shares the 7 most important things he has learned about vertical development.
1. Leaders find it helpful on many levels
2. It is just a model: it is not ‘the answer’ or the only way of understanding humans.
3. Hold the stages lightly
4. You are too complex for any assessment to capture
Overview of a leadership development program, that includes Immunity To Change and the Leadership Circle profile, to respond to adaptive challenges and support vertical development
There are three primary conditions that when combined in different ways, produce different flavors of vertical leadership development. The three primary conditions are: 1. Heat Experiences (The What) The leader faces a complex situation that disrupts and disorients their habitual way of thinking. The leader discovers t
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A brief overview of the three conditions that enable vertical development.
I've been fortunate over the last two years to have worked closely with a leadership team. When the team formed, the Executive GM reinforced that the primary responsibility of team members was their role on the leadership team. Their job title (technical role) was secondary to the work they would do on the leadership team, being to build the capacity of the function to deliver, adapt and grow. This was a powerful platform.
Rather than a separate leadership program, we have used the work of the team, as the foundation for vertical development. Learning as part of Working. I introduced the concept of heat and the team came up with the idea of 'hard chats' as a simple way to open up tough conversations to enable/support productive discomfort and encourage multiple perspectives. I have used a range of adaptive facilitation techniques as well - Case in Point, Balcony and Dancefloor (or for the Australian/NZ context, Coach's Box and Playing Field), Immunity To Change and in the moment reflection (i.e. what did we observe in that discussion).
We certainly haven't nailed it, but it has been rewarding to see development really be the work of the team, rather than something separate/extra; developing and implementing strategy, responding to business challenges, diagnosing the culture and implementing a plan for building capacity (evolving culture). There has been a significant shift in the way the team operates.
I have also had to be conscious of how I need to show up, if, when and how to intervene and to hold the work lightly. This process has been as much about my development as it has been the team's.
Nicholas Petrie's blog about leadership development, ongoing research, and edgy assertions around what it means to lead.
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Nick Petrie shares the 14 tools he has found most powerful and practical for developing leaders. Each of them creates different drivers of vertical growth: Heat, Colliding Perspectives and Reflection.
Leaders in different organizations fall in love with different tools and it is hard to know ahead of time which ones they will grab onto. The 5 Nick has found to be the most popular with leaders in order are:
Too often we think that changing leaders is about putting things into the leader’s practice—new skills, new understandings, new behaviors. The piece we often miss is that for leaders to be transformational, they also need to be transforming themselves. But how?
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Leadership development often focuses on technical (knowledge, skills, tools) rather than adaptive (mindsets, fears, assumptions, stages of adult development) needs. Vertical development focuses on unlocking the potential for adaptive leaders.
Jennifer's book is easy to read and a valuable resource.
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Two case studies exploring how Tennis Australia and Aurecon have used adult (vertical) development to support leadership development