Spiral Dynamics is one of several human development models and tools illustrating the evolution of Homo sapien sapien in various domains including behavior, thought, and conciousness. It is also partly relates to child development and is a useful lense for seeing where as adults we fit in to this model. This is a flexible and compassionate model. The higher levels of development represent a continuous flowing evolutionary movement and do not represent rigidly defined levels. While hierarchical, each level combines aspects of the levels that preceeded it. Without the contributions of positive aspects of the previous level the next levels could not exist. In general as you move up the spiral the possibilities increase for more awareness. positive social change, collaboration and world centric views.
As coaches this model helps us to understand at what development stage our clients mostly reside in, and in which domains of their lives are they at a particular level. For example an executive may be great at business (orange meme), loyal to his family and community (blue meme) and largely operating in an power and control leadership model with employees (red meme). As coaches we would help this client to become more congruent in all of the domains in which they live, and support them to move up the spiral.
Chart and associated text © Don Beck and What is Enlightenment Magazine. Reproduction without permission prohibited