The Rise and Rise of Vertical Development
Vertical leadership development has been around for a while, but in the last few years we have witnessed a wave of big companies bringing it into their organizations. We wanted to get a feel for where things were heading so we reached out to HR Execs at 26 Fortune 500 companies across a range of industries (I use the royal ‘we’ here. Carl Sanders-Edwards led this, and I said, ‘Good work Carl!’). ‘We’ asked them what they were thinking about and doing with Vertical Development (if anything). Here is what they shared:
84% say vertical development is more important than it was 5 years ago?
92% think Vertical Development will increase in importance in the next 5 years
92% will commit budget to vertical development this year (and 41% said vertical development would be 60% or more of their LD budget)
So, what did you make of the above? Surprising? You already knew this? Big opportunity?
One thing I would say, is hold the data lightly. It is smallish sample size and the group who responded were fairly sophisticated practitioners from leading-edge companies. The overall market numbers could be lower.
Even so, there does seem to be a pattern. Large organizations are increasingly using vertical development to grow their leaders. It is no longer just the Innovators and Early Adopters who are using Vertical Development. It is moving into the Early Majority.
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In the diffusion of new ideas, this is called ‘crossing the chasm’. It is really hard to get a product or idea to cross the chasm, but once it does it spreads very fast.
Wayne Gretzky, regarded as the best Ice Hockey player of all time, once said,
“I skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.”
Gretzky had what is known as ‘On ice vision’. He would read the play and take off to where the puck was heading. But just as importantly he spent years building his toolkit and skills such that when the puck arrived, he was ready to deliver. Seems like a pretty smart approach.
The puck is on the move. How about you?
Below is an opportunity to build a toolkit with peers who are skating towards vertical development.
The Vertical Leadership Incubator: This is a 2 month process to learn about and experience vertical development. We have run the Incubator 5 times in the US with leadership practitioners from all around the world. We will host on U.S. Incubator and one for Australasia/ APAC. You will learn about vertical development and design a vertical program for your company (or clients). You can learn more and register here
Making sense of transformation
2yNick, good to see a growing appreciation of this (and like the data caveat!). I also hope that the same group and those beginning to consider how to adopt this are spending a good proportion of that time thinking about a) how to experiment and test this out as a developmental frame, and b) (critically) how to integrate it into their wider organsiational context - developmentally for the individuals, and commercially for the teams and business. The risk of non-integration is a struggle to unlock and apply the potential benefits as a system
I help Senior Executives & Executive Coaches become more Visionary Inspiring Purposeful VIP Leaders who have greater IMPACT and expand their INFLUENCE with an advanced accelerated proven pathway in Vertical Development.
2yGreat to see Vertical Development on the upswing! It's critical for our people and planet!
Commissioner | Non-Executive Director | Consultant
2ySamantha Martin
Human Resources, Executive Coaching, Strategy
2yNice to see that vertical development awareness is becoming more widespread. The vertical development model is one of the most useful models I’ve ever used. It’s a map of where you’ve been and more Importantly, where you can go. So helpful!