Why am I passionately driven to this model of Spiral Dynamics ? In order to even explore the foundation of this fundamental model , I would like to start from the historical precursor events that led to the emergence of this gold mine .
Clare W. Graves based on his research and insights predicted that mankind was preparing for a `momentous leap’ and we should more attention towards our future . His decades of research had explored the changes in human nature which has created a paradigm shift in the way we look at cultural natures of human kind. Human history when we have a meta perspective on the events captures intervals of turbulence and diasporas. Sometimes mild adjustments of the status quo restore balance to major chaos erupts to trigger cataclysmal changes.
Graves relentless nature of finding to the mind of the matter and to explore what makes people different and why there is a pattern of stagnation of growth in few and exponential growth in others and what needs to be there to navigate through the emergence of complex versions of human existence. As Graves put it : `Briefly, what I am proposing is that the psychology of the mature human being is an unfolding, emergent, oscillating spiralling process marked by progressive subordination of older, lower-order behavior systems to newer, higher-order systems as man’s existential problems change.’
According to Clare W. Graves a person’s behaviour could be predicted based on his or her levels of existence in this world and their past life experiences that shape that existence. Graves described this view as follows as highlighted in the research paper by Ian Kincaid Kotzé in his thesis “Spiral dynamics: An expression of world views”:
“1. That man’s nature is not a set thing, that it is ever emergent, that it is an open system, not a closed system. 2. That man’s nature evolves by saccadic, quantum-like jumps from one steady state to another. 3. That man’s values change from system to system as his total psychology emerges in new form with each quantum-like jump to a new steady state of being”.
According to the research, a person starts to change their behaviour pattern as their conditions of existence changes . This model describes, explains, and suggests means for managing the biopsychosocial development of the species homo sapiens (Graves, 1981). The development of the theory of Spiral dynamics has a rich history that contributes to its richness . This theory stems from the original work and research questions of Dr.Graves and the deep dive by researchers to make sense of his findings. Don Edward Beck and Christopher C. Cowan were Graves’s PhD students who further researched this theory based on their own unique understanding of Spiral dynamics and their knowledge of Graves’s research. The original research question which led Dr.Grave down this path of Spiral dynamics was: “What is a Psychological healthy human being?”. This question was put forth to his students who would then need to present their research and opinion on it which through multi layers of research and the passion work of Don & Cowan gave birth to Spiral Dynamics .
Researcher Ian concludes that Graves found two categories with two subtypes each. The first category was referred by him as “Deny-self” or “Sacrifice-self” category. This category further had two subtypes, with first subtype “deny-self or sacrifice-self for reward later” which involved denying or sacrificing the self in order to get some kind of reward at a later stage and second subtype “deny self or sacrifice self” was to deny the self or sacrifice the self to get acceptance now . The second category was expressing self with the first subcategory referred as “express self as self desires in a calculating fashion at the expense of others” and the second subtype referred as “express self as self desires, but not at the expense of others”. One of the pivotal shifts based on Graves’s research was his idea that psychological health is a process which is a hierarchical process which is open-ended . The steps in the researchers words could be described as:
Express self impulsively at any cost (Changed to) Deny/Sacrifice self for reward later (Changed to) Express self for gain, but calculated/ rationally (Changed to) Deny/Sacrifice self to get acceptance now (Changed to) Express self with concern for others and not at the expense of others (Changed to) Deny/Sacrifice self to existential realities.
According to Graves: “I tried to rationalise my data with all the existing theories of personality with which I was acquainted. And I would get into them…and I would be in trouble in every one of them. Always I had a mass of data left over unaccounted for by any theory of personality within which I tried to rationalise the information. So…I finally said the obvious thing to myself at this date. Just let the data talk! Let the data tell you what personality should conceive to be” (Seminar on Levels of Human Existence, 1971).
Graves tried to rationalise his data with the existing theories at that time but there was always gaps that existing theory of personality failed in accounting for the mass of data unaccounted within those personalities . Hence he concluded that : “Conceptualise adult behaviour so as to show increased degrees of behavioral freedom in each successive system, particularly in the express-self not at the expense of others system; the freedom to behave and problem-solving data” (Seminar on Levels of Human Existence, 1971).
Graves started to notice that people do not attempt to change unless they have a reason to do so. According to the researcher in analysing Grave’s insights from his data, there seems to be a factor of improved conditions for existence which were part of the element of change. These were few of the initial aspects of Grave’s research that led to the expansive Levels of Human Existence framework . Beck and Cowan furthered Grave’s research by combined with the concept of ‘memes’ introduced by British biologist Richard Dawkings and later amplified by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in introducing the notion of v-Meme ( values-attracting-meta-meme) systems .
According to the understanding of the researcher :
a meme will contain behavioural instructions that are passed on from one generation to the next and like an intellectual virus will reproduce itself through cultural norms, language, social movements and moral statements of how living should be done. It is here where Beck and Cowan combine Spiral dynamics with the v-Meme thinking, in that they argue Spiral dynamics proposes the existence of another kind of wave-like meta-meme, or a systems or ‘values meme’.
As a personal advocate of the famous Peter Drucker quote that says that “culture eats strategy for breakfast” , I believe in learning the history of how Spiral Dynamics evolved , enables coaches like me to perceive the cultural values playing out in any organization we enter by just listening to leaders talk to their Leadership team , the team leaders responding to leadership direction and the teams response in the execution process of those initiatives . It becomes crucial as a coach to meet anyone/any organization at the level they resonate , identify the blind spots , work out the small incremental steps to move through the behavioural and principle driven actions which in turn reflects over time in the shift in the cultural value drive of an organization .
In this aspect , I am humbly grateful to my mentors who introduced me to the vast expanse of knowledge that came to existence through these unique ideas into a model of the evolutionary development of individuals, organizations, and societies .
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