What is ‘vertical development’ ?
For a very long time, the word ‘development’ was associated with childhood. It was universally accepted that children grew not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and socially - that they transformed into increasingly mature versions of themselves until they finally became ‘grown ups’ and somehow development stopped. Today we know that, in fact, ‘growing up’ never ends. We keep on transforming throughout our lives, breaking down and breaking through, shedding old ways of being and evolving into new, ever more complex and, with a bit of luck, ever wiser ones.
This process has been called ‘adult development’ or, more recently, ‘vertical development’. Unlike ‘horizontal development’ which aims to add knowledge, information or skills to one’s existing worldview, ‘vertical development’ signals a fundamental evolution in the worldview itself. It comes about when we can LOOK AT a mindset we were before LOOKING THROUGH.
HORIZONTAL is about WHAT we know. VERTICAL is about HOW we know.
Vertical development describes how human beings grow into ever more complex stages of cognitive, emotional, interpersonal and spiritual maturity, whereby they become able to respond to the world in ever more sophisticated ways. While a common criticism of vertical development is its seemingly hierarchical nature, we believe at its core this type of human growth is less like climbing a ladder and more like playing a piano.
Horizontal development is akin to learning new techniques for playing piano, all within the same octaves.
Vertical development is all about discovering new notes and octaves, opening up alternative musical universes.
WHY DO WE EXIST?
VDI HAS A TWO-PRONGED MISSION
We aim to accelerate research in the field of vertical development. We support researchers’ growth, foster new scientific collaborations, curate existing research across multiple schools of thought and make it all accessible to the widest public.
We turn research into practice. We empower leaders, coaches, and educators to master the practices of vertical development, transforming their work, and building the developmental teams and cultures of tomorrow, today.
Why does vertical development matter?
Vertical development has been studied by educators and psychologists for the past few decades, but hardly spoken about outside academia. Now we seem to have reached a point in our history when the complex challenges we are collectively facing as a species simply cannot be solved with our old ways of thinking and being. It seems vertical development towards later, more complex and mature stages is more needed than ever.
Solid research shows that later-stage leaders are more able to think systemically, thrive in complexity, tolerate ambiguity, manage paradox, balance personal and collective interests, sit in dialogue with others and harness group intelligence to co-create solutions for the common good. At this pivotal time, when humanity is facing myriad challenges - from climate change and ecosystem destruction to global health, technological disruption, economic inequality or societal polarisation - we need the wisdom of human maturity more than ever before.
Such maturity comes about through profound transformative processes which we have barely begun to understand. To access all the potential adult development holds, we need to invest in research and accelerate its translation into practice. Thus we can hope to transform learning, educating more complex humans, who can navigate a disrupted world and collaboratively solve the gnarliest problems of our day.
Our founder
The Vertical Development Institute was born out of one researcher and practitioner’s quest to understand what it might take to foster wiser, more conscious leadership, at scale. Dr. Alis Anagnostakis has spent many years as a professional facilitator and executive coach, working with leaders and organisations across countries and industries, supporting them on their journeys of transformation.
In her work she noticed the same learning environments or approaches that fostered breakthroughs for some people seemed to have no impact on others. Too often the insights and energy for change in the training room waned as soon as leaders returned to their day to day. She encountered very few organisations with thriving, self-sustaining learning cultures, or that took a truly strategic approach to their learning and development.
How do adults continue to change and grow? What is it that makes the difference between leaders who transform and leaders who don’t? How can one build more effective developmental programs, at scale? How can effective learning cultures be sustained, from the inside-out?
Alis pursued these questions into her Ph.D., where she studied the lived process of vertical development. She had privileged access to the stories, journals and personal experiences tens of leaders generously shared over multiple months, as they undertook one of Australia and New Zealand’s most prestigious executive leadership programs. What she discovered was a messy, but breathtakingly beautiful process, where thought, emotion, peer support and personal choice converge to create genuine transformation.
VDI origin story
Throughout her work, Alis has found that there is much need and scope for accelerating research into vertical development. Currently there are surprisingly few scientists exploring this topic globally. The precious body of knowledge produced over decades by the giants in the field lays scattered all over the internet. Multiple schools of thought offer valuable and complementary insights/ tools/ approaches, yet few of them make explicit links to each-other. Meanwhile, collaborations between practitioners and researchers in the field are still rare.
Vertical development holds exceptional promise to accelerate the collective growth and transformative learning people and organisations need at this complex time in history. To scale it, the first step is making vertical development widely known. The second step is fostering radical collaboration amongst researchers and practitioners - pushing the boundaries of science and accelerating practical implementation. The Vertical Development Institute was born out of these aspirations.
VDI’s mission is to produce new research and curate existing one, sharing the most valuable findings regardless of school of thought, as well as to bring together people who can turn the science into practice. Our vertical development programs focus on empowering leaders to own their own transformation, equip them to make informed decisions around the developmental practices in their organisations and inspire them to become developmental agents, creating lasting change.
If you are a researcher interested in collaborating or a leader on your own growth path, seeking ways to better support your team’s or organisation’s development, we look forward hearing from you.
