Assessing Developmental Cultures in Organizations

Hannah Elise Jones

Purpose: Understand the impact of organizational design and culture on meaningful leadership
development.
Question: What organizational conditions are required to support the sustainable vertical
development of employees at all levels?
Interview Sample and Approach:
This study will use a purposive and convenience sampling approach. The interviewees will be learning
and development, talent management, or organizational development professionals at organizations
recognized on Chief Learning Officer (CLO) magazines LearningElite list. CLO identifies organizations
for this list through a robust assessment focused on five dimensional areas: learning strategy, leadership
commitment, learning executive, learning impact and business performance. A panel of judges examine
organizations across 17 questions in each of the five dimensions, with additional questions focusing on
industry contributions and overall performance Judging data is aggregated and complete applications
are placed into a ranked list, indicating organizational performance among their peers
(HMCAdvisoryGroup, 2017). This list was chosen for its comprehensive nature, and the reputable focus
of CLO on strategic learning and development at an organization-wide level. I will use my personal
network to obtain contacts with high-level learning and development, talent management or human
resources leaders at 20 of the 64 LearningElite organizations. In addition to these 20 contacts 5-10
additional participants will be contacted for interviews, via a snowball sampling approach to round out the
sample.

The questions for these interviews are based of the the Vertical Development conditions proposed by
Nick Petri at the Center for Creative Leadership and DDO model created by Robert Kegan and Lisa
Lahey at Harvard. To ensure there is a clear understanding of these concepts, the models will be briefly
introduced to the interviewees at the beginning of the interview. This approach is intended to enhance the
quality of the data by mitigating confusion of approaches and establishing a shared definition of terms.

Interview Process and Questions

Information:
Name
Organization
Role
Tenure

Conceptual Background:
Before we dive in the the questions, I would like to share a little background on my research. I am
interested in the concept of vertical development as a means to creating more effective organizational
leaders. By vertical development I am referring to the advancement in a persons thinking capability.
The outcome of this kind of development is the ability to think in more complex, systemic, strategic and
interdependent ways (Petri, 2014). The focus of my questions is around this kind of vertical
development, as opposed to what is in contrast called, horizontal development. Horizontal development
refers to the adding of more knowledge, skills and competencies (Petri, 2014). Horizontal
development is about what you know, and vertical development is about how you think.
Are you familiar with these two concepts and the distinction between them?
Do you have any initial questions that you would like answered before we move into the
interview?
 I am conducting these interviews to gain a better understanding of how the concept of vertical Commented [1]:
development is being used in organizations, and what organizational conditions support and inhibit its Do I need to call this out, or is it too leading/literal?
use. The questions we will go through today are focused on the kinds of development programs your Commented [2]:
organization uses, as well as other cultural elements of your organization that are known to influence Changing the section headers but leaving the
and shape developmental approaches. components that correspond to the DDO model
Commented [3]:
In this question I want to understand how they think
Current State (Aspirations): about development from a strategic perspective, why
they see it as important to their organization and how
Tell me about the vertical development strategy of your organization. By strategy, I mean an they are acting on that vision. This is why I am
intentionally approach and/or process for individual development in your organization. continually using the word strategy.
How did this strategy come to be? Commented [4]:
I am looking for the things they focus on in their
What are the components you focus on in the development of your people? Can you provide development, like systems thinking, perspective-taking,
deep listening, self-awareness, etc. This might come
me with some examples? up in the previous question about strategy, but if I
How were these components identified? doesnt I want to address it here. Not sure if
components is the right word, as it could be too
general. I am trying to avoid saying skills or
How do business leaders engage with the development strategy? behaviors which leans more to horizontal
Do you, and the L&D/OD team, go to them, or do they drive it on their own? development
Who sells/advocates for this work in your organization, you/your team or business Commented [5]:
leaders? This question is intended to understand how
development is owned outside of L&D. The idea of
How does your organization connect individual growth and development to the success of the embedding development into culture and holding
everyone accountable for it is an important one in both
business? Petris model of vertical development and Kegan and
In what ways do you track and monitor individual development and its impact on the Laheys DDO model.
business? Commented [6]:
This is a straightforward question, in that it is intended
Cultural Context (Community): to solicit pretty much what it says. The ability to
connect development to business success is a big
How does your organization respond to risk taking? How does that response influence your component of the DDO model, and I have a hunch it
approach to development? could be a differentiating factor in how fully
What is the norm in your organization around acknowledging and learning from mistakes? organizations have embraced vertical development
approaches.
Can you give me an example of that?
Commented [7]:
Asking about the organization broadly here as opposed
What are the norms around leaders discussing interpersonal and relational leadership to just leaders because creating a culture of
challenges? Can you share a specific example to illustrate this? developmental risk-taking is part of both Petris vertical
How common is it for leaders to share their growth goals with one another? Could you development approach and the DDO. Its not just about
leaders being willing to take risks, its about a culture
share what that looks like here, and how people might do it? that supports developmental risks.
Can you share an example of how teams support each other with individual growth
Commented [8]:
goals? This question is looking for examples of peer coaching
communities part of Petris model. Deep listening
How do people speak up about areas of organizational improvement? How common is it for practices could also come up here.
employees to suggest better ways of doing things? Commented [9]:
Can you provide examples of how employees are enabled to share their thoughts and ideas In this version I looked more carefully at where I said
with leaders? leaders vs employees. Some of the questions, like this
one, use employees as a way to learn about broader
What is the general attitude leaders have towards feedback in your organization? Can you cultural patterns, as opposed to something that would
provide me with some examples of this? specifically impact leaders. In this question I am looking
to see whether employees feel comfortable providing
feedback and information that would contribute to a
Specific Approaches (Practices): frame-breaking experience for a leader, which is a key
part of vertical development.
 How does your development strategy integrate development into a leaders day-to-day job?
What tools or practices do you use to formalize development in the context of an leaders
work?
How have you helped leaders to see their own limitations and opportunities in the context
of their job and their development? Can you provide specific examples?
How do you utilize coaching and mentorship in your organization? Please describe your
approach and what role it plays in your overall development strategy.
What is the criteria for being a mentor/mentee?
Please describe how leaders in the organization are involved with coaching/mentoring.
How do you factor individual development into the ways you promote and assign employees to
new roles or projects?
Do you have a practice of providing stretch assignments? If so, can you provide some
examples of stretch assignments and how they were identified and assigned?
In what ways do you help employees see, and shape their development path? Do you use
specific tools in this process?
Please describe your promotion process and how it supports your overall development
strategy.
How do you encourage or enable employees to understand the work of the organization beyond
their role/team? Specifically, what does this look like in your organization?
Motivations/Barriers (Immunity Mapping):
What is the one thing you believe would make the biggest difference in your organizations
ability to develop your people more deeply and more effectively?
What would your organization need to start doing in order for this change to occur?
What is your organization doing instead of those things that are inhibiting change from
occurring?
Commented [10]:
This question is looking for specific examples of how
they have overcome the challenge of leadership
development existing outside of someones normal
work, and therefore getting continually pushed to the
back burner. This is a key foundational element of
DDOs, the ability to integrate task and development
opportunities.
Commented [11]:
Present in both models and widely recognized as an
effective tool in vertical development strategies. I
intentionally asked how they use coaching, not whether
they use coaching, so that if they dont happen to use
it, they can explain that choice directly, as I think that
will be useful information as well.
Commented [12]:
This assesses some of the cultural practices Petri talks
about like Giving Assignments to the Least Qualified
Person and Manufacture Heat in the Classroom.
Also shows how deep the organizational commitment
to development is. If it isnt part of the way they
promote, assign, and reward employees, it is not fully
embedded in the organizational systems.
Commented [13]:
This gets at the develop a systems perspective aspect
of vertical development.
Commented [14]:
Left these questions the same. I think it will be a good
way to end the interview addressing aspects my
questions may not have surfaced. It allows them to add
some additional context in a structured manner that still
facilitates some depth.