Vertical Leadership Development
Want to know more?
My value proposition:
Vertical Development for the Leader
History of Vertical Development
Also known as Adult Ego Development, or simply Adult Development. Adult Developmentis a fascinating field of research in developmental psychology that has evolved from research on child and adolescent development. Let me tell you a little of its history:
It all starts in the 1950s onwards, with Jean Piaget’s theory of child development. This author observed for years the behaviors of children at different ages, and with these observations he proposed his theory, which has been very influential in the field of education.
His contemporaries Lawrence Kohlberg and Erik Erikson contributed their own theories of development: moral development and psychosocial development, respectively. Erikson was the first researcher to put forward a theory of human development that encompasses the entire life cycle, from birth to the end of life. Before him, all theories assumed that development ends at adolescence.
In the 1960s, Jane Loevinger, a developmental psychologist, built her theory, based on Piaget’s research, and extended to the adult: the Theory of Adult Ego Development. Her research at the University of Washington, where she was a professor, led her to produce the first psychometric test designed to establish the stage of adult development: the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT). Using a similar methodology, other shorter and more agile tests have been developed.
After Loevinger, and inspired by his research, in the 1980s and into the 2000s, other researchers such as Robert Kegan, William Torbert and Susanne Cook-Greuter and Ken Wilber have expanded these theories, providing a solid body of research focused on the vertical development of organizational leadership.
Since the 2000s, other researchers such as Jennifer Garvey Berger, who popularized the vertical model in executive coaching, also known as complexity coaching, and Otto Laske who contributes to the research of tools for assessing the complexity of adult development.
What do you evaluate?
Vertical Development explores how the adult mind’s ability to understand and manage the complexity of uncertainty evolves, and
In a vertical development process, we measure much further than just competences and skills; we observe how the leader builds meaning and sustain complexity in action. We will estimate:
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Predominant mental stage: we identify the center of gravity (Opportunist, Diplomat, Expert, Achiever, Redefining, Transforming, Alchemical) and transition signals. This guides the type of challenges that best catalyze growth.
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Key lines of development: awareness of self and others, identity, power and agency, relationship to time, motivation, attention, rules and norms, multiple intelligences, and perspective taking. These lines allow us to see specific strengths and bottlenecks.
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Patterns of meaning and action (single-, double-, triple-loop): we distinguish tactical adjustments, changes in strategy and transformations in the quality of attention that broaden the way of seeing and acting.
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Ability to navigate tensions/paradoxes: from “either/or” to “and/and” (e.g., control and empowerment; centralization and localization). We look for evidence of paradoxical mindset applied to work.
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Aptitude for the “growing edge”: sensitivity to the threshold between the known and the emerging; ability to remain in reflective discomfort and construct new interpretations.
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Developmental readiness: level of productive disequilibrium, supportive environments and meaning construction processes that enable the leap to stages of higher cognitive complexity.
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Relationship to time and priorities: whether the person is “subject to” deadlines and demands or whether he/she can “target” them and reconfigure them according to purpose and system.
Our approach combines stage assessment with dilemma auditing and developmental issues to define learning experiments aligned to the leader’s actual moment.
Why is it important for leadership?
Because the current context is VUCA: more tension, ambiguity and paradoxes. In this field, it is not enough to add skills; we need to expand the cognitive range from which we think, feel and act.
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Increased capacity for complexity: later-stage leaders see systems, multiple time horizons and simultaneous perspectives; they expand their range without losing operational effectiveness.
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Better decisions in paradoxes: a paradoxical mindset transforms chronic tensions into advantages, increasing the performance of organizations, teams and individuals.
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From tactical improvement to transformational change: moving from “doing the same thing better” (single loop) to changing the strategy (double loop) and the way of paying attention (triple loop) enables sustainable results.
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Learning that really changes action: vertical development integrates disequilibrium, reflection and new meanings so that reflection does become different behavior at work.
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Multiplier effect in leadership programs: when the conditions are in place and designs are created that dose risk and support, programs catalyze leapfrogging and not just add competencies.
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Practical impact on time and energy management: advanced leaders link deadlines and priorities with purpose and system, gaining agility without burning out.
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Cultural measurement and traction: specific tools (e.g., mindset indicators) allow mapping the stage, detecting opportunities and aligning culture and leadership practices.
Vercal Development not only improves “what the leader does”, but transforms “from where he does it” This change from “subject to object” in your beliefs, emotions and internal norms, frees up new alternatives of action, and these are key to navigate the present and create a future.
What can you do as you advance in your Vertical Development?
Quality of your Decisions
You detect systemic patterns, integrate dilemmas and data, and decide without paralysis.
Adaptive Learning
You redefine strategies and change the way you pay attention and transform results.
Sustaining Paradoxes
You sustain, contrast and integrate apparent polarities without falling into operational pendulums.
Alignment from Purpose
From micro-management to value-oriented agreements, without losing traction or accountability.
Self-awareness
It recognizes biases and beliefs as “objects”, and ceases to be subject to them.
Personal Energy Management
You prioritize with intention, context and focus, without reactive urgency.
Quality of Conversations
You assume various perspectives, listen more deeply, create psychological security.
Resilience and Presence
Self-regulation in ambiguity using stress as useful information to lead.
ELEVA’s Mission:
Transforming Leadership,
from within
Certified provider of the Leadership Mindset Indicator
(now Vertical Mindset Indicator, VMI)
The Indicator IS NOT a test of abilities, competencies or skills, it is not a psychometric test, nor is it an assessment of personality traits. Personality is a largely fixed mental structure, with very few alterations throughout life.
Vertical Development is a normal psychological phenomenon, and evolves with time, personal experiences and critical situations that require us to create new ways of understanding the world (in Torbert’s Theory: new “Logics of Action”) and is therefore contextual, progressing in a known and recognizable, albeit very individual, way throughout life. It happens spontaneously, but there may be some cognitive tools that stimulate these processes.
How we will use it
Administration
I will send you a link to Adeption.io, the creator of this tool. It will take you 10 to 15 minutes to complete this evaluation. One or a couple of days later, you will receive your completed report, and you will be able to reflect on it in your Adeption client platform.
Personal debriefing
Afterwards, we will arrange a 20 to 30 minutes virtual meeting, personal and private, to discuss your report, and give you the feedback you need on how to interpret your“center of gravity“, and what it may imply to have a “range” of Action Logics. In this activity you will design a developmental experiment for yourself.
Your Development Goals
When you have all the necessary feedback, you will be able to clearly decide what your development challenge is, and then you will be able to set working objectives for a Vertical Leadership Development Coaching process, which will last between 6 and 9 months. During this process, we will use a variety of Executive Coaching and Vertical Development tools, which you will use as an instrument to catalyze either your consolidation in your current state of development, if still needed, or the more challenging project: making the leap to your next stage of Vertical Development.
During my more than 3 decades as a pediatrician, my job has been to support families in promoting healthy neurological, social, emotional and cognitive development for children, adolescents and emerging adults. And at the same time, I have been attentive to the development of parents, to ensure that the matrix in which their children’s development occurs, is also updated. Now, with this same passion for development, I help leaders like you evolve. Not just optimize, but truly evolve.
And remember: The information VMI gives you is only useful if you act on it.
