In the latest in this column on team coaching curated by Team Coaching Studio, Georgina Woudstra explores senior team coaching through a vertical lens
In today’s fast-paced world, senior teams frequently find themselves navigating turbulent waters. Traditional leadership development approaches, while valuable, can fall short when it comes to dealing with the deeper complexities we’re facing. That’s where vertical development comes in – a transformational approach that doesn’t just add tools to the toolkit but actually shifts the way leaders think, relate and show up.
The challenge of leadership in complex times
Let’s be real: with globalisation, technology, and societal shifts hitting us from all sides, how can leaders stay effective? It’s not just about learning more stuff, it’s about thinking differently. Traditional development, often called horizontal development, is like pouring more water into a plastic cup, as vertical development expert Nick Petrie (Petrie, 2005) metaphorically describes. This approach expands knowledge and skills by filling the cup with more content.
When challenges outgrow the cup’s capacity, vertical development steps in; not by adding more water, but by expanding the cup itself. It’s about increasing a leader’s capacity to hold more complex, nuanced, and systemic thinking.
Understanding vertical development
Vertical development transcends buzzwords, it represents fundamental shifts. It’s about moving through stages of maturity, where each stage offers a more sophisticated way of seeing the world. Imagine a leader who once saw everything in black and white increasingly recognising more or all shades of grey. Such shifts help them embrace more ambiguity, see the bigger picture, and lead with deeper wisdom.
Take a senior team facing major organisational change. At a basic level, they might focus on immediate tactics: who does what, by when. But as members develop vertically, they start asking bigger questions: How will this change impact our culture? What are the long-term implications for stakeholders? This shift, from tactical to strategic, from short-term to long-term thinking, is the essence of vertical development. It’s about growing the cup, not just pouring in more water.
Bringing vertical development into your team coaching
To put a vertical lens on senior team coaching, picture a team where each member is highly skilled – experts in their own right. But when it comes to making decisions together, they get stuck. Horizontal development, like learning new communication techniques, might help, but it’s probably not enough.
What if instead, you could help the team evolve together, developing a shared mindset that allows them to work as a cohesive, integrated unit? Through vertical development, the team starts thinking systemically, seeing the connections between their decisions and the larger organisational ecosystem. This shift in consciousness is where the real magic happens, when a team moves from mere collaboration to true synergy.
Bluckert’s Vertical Development in the Workplace (2019) highlights how advancing a team’s developmental stage can transform the way they tackle complex challenges, moving from reactive problem-solving to proactive, systemic thinking.
As Nick Petrie (2015) says, “the most effective way to shift the vertical development of an organization is to shift the mindset of the executive team.” Through vertical development, the team starts making meaning more systemically, elevating their thinking, which then lifts the ceiling for everyone else, unlocking potential that’s been waiting to be unleashed.
To integrate these concepts into your team coaching, consider the following approaches:
1. Strategic alignment: Invite the executive team to review the business strategy and map out the leadership culture needed to execute it. Essentially, you’re guiding them to ask, ‘What stage of vertical development does our strategy require?’
2. Modelling advanced leadership: Help the team see that advancing their leadership culture isn’t just about what they say – it’s about getting their beliefs and behaviours in sync with the culture they want to create.
3. Awareness and experimentation: As the team discusses a real business issue, coach them to raise their awareness of the underlying beliefs driving their actions. Then, support them in experimenting with new mindsets that align with the culture they’re aiming for.
Aligning vertical development with coaching philosophy
In Mastering the Art of Team Coaching (Woudstra, 2021), I describe team coaching as a transformational approach that unlocks potential and fosters deep, systemic change. Vertical development aligns perfectly with this philosophy, offering a way for teams to not just get better but to truly evolve.
Think of coaching as tending to a garden. Horizontal development is like planting more seeds – important, but only part of the story. Vertical development, on the other hand, is about enriching the soil, making sure the roots grow deep and strong. It’s about creating the conditions for lasting growth, where teams reach their goals in a sustainable and meaningful way.
This approach isn’t about quick fixes or surface-level changes. It’s about guiding teams to think more deeply, act more intentionally, and lead with purpose. As coaches, our job is to help teams navigate this journey, emerging not just as better leaders but as wiser, more integrated leaders.
Conclusion
As we continue to navigate the complexities of leadership, it’s clear that the path forward isn’t just about doing more; it’s about being more. Vertical development offers senior teams the chance to step up their game, to go beyond their current ways of thinking and embrace a more holistic, transformational approach. By integrating this with a coaching philosophy, we can help teams not just survive the storms of change, but thrive in them, emerging stronger, more cohesive, and ready to lead their organisations into the future.
Next time you coach a senior team, ask yourself: Are you merely adding more rooms, or expanding the very capacity of their cup?
About the author
Georgina Woudstra, MCC, ACTC, is the founder and principal of the Team Coaching Studio, and organisation founded to provide a pathway to mastery for team coaches.
TCS is an organisation founded to provide a pathway to mastery for team coaches. For accredited training in team coaching, please visit: www.teamcoachingstudio.com
References
- Bluckert, P. (2019). Vertical Development in the Workplace. Peter Bluckert
- Petrie, N. (2015). Vertical Leadership Development – Part 2: Developing Leaders for a Complex World. [online] MDV Consulting. Available at: https://bit.ly/3A3gvqb [Accessed 26 Aug. 2024]
- Woudstra, G. (2021). Mastering the Art of Team Coaching: A comprehensive guide to unleashing the power, purpose and potential in any team. SRA Books