What Is Vertical Development?

When we talk about human development, we distinguish between lateral/horizontal and vertical development. Horizontal growth and expansion happens through many channels, such as schooling, training, self-directed and lifelong learning as well as simply through exposure to life. Vertical development in adults is much rarer. It refers to how we learn to see the world through new eyes, how we change our interpretations of experience and how we transform our views of reality. It describes increases in what we are aware of, or what we can pay attention to, and therefore what we can influence and integrate. In general, transformations of human consciousness or changes in our view of reality are more powerful than any amount of horizontal growth and learning.

The Leadership Maturity Framework is based on Jane Loevinger’s ego development theory and incorporates more recent research by Dr. Susanne Cook-Greuter. It describes nine ways of adult meaning-making, and shows how adults mature throughout the lifespan, making meaning in evermore meaningful and flexible ways.

One’s stage of development significantly affects how individuals understand their role and function in the workplace, how they interact with others, and how they deal with adversity and complex issues. Indeed it predicts what one defines as a problem to be solved or simply as an unavoidable polarity to be managed. Studies show that the stage of meaning making is often more powerful in explaining individual differences in behavior than personality traits and intelligence combined. We consider each stage to be a constellation of developmental tasks that individuals need to master on their journey towards maturity. The stages are idealizations – no one masters all aspects of the stage before moving on to the next stage. Each meaning making system, world view, or stage is more comprehensive, more differentiated and more effective in dealing with the complexities of life than its predecessors.

From the Vertical Development Academy