Spiral Dynamics 1 Course Outline

The study of Spiral Dynamics not only enables us to understand human development and motivation, but to gain profound insights into our selves and our relationships with others. Almost from the moment of birth, we are repeatedly faced with the need to reorganize the way we think in order to perform the new and changing tasks that life and our many environments constantly present. Spiral Dynamics helps us open a window into the roots of human behavior, which is fundamentally a process of change, reorganization and increased awareness.

Twelve Gravesian Principles—Building your Knowledge Core

5 levels of understanding from myth to research
Biopsychosocial systems perspectives and applications: the biology, psychology, sociology, and systems view of who we are as individuals, as participants in organizations and society, and as a global species

Foundations of the Model—Covering the Basics

Complex adaptive intelligences—AQ, EQ, IQ, SQ, 3Q, RQ, and Spiral Quotient
Differentiating between VMEMEs, memes, and the science of Memetics
Contents versus containers
6 principles of VMEME detection
3 levels of values complexity (from values to value systems)
7 postulates of systems lifecycles
Importance of double helix theory and emergent systems to individual, team, corporate, social, and global development
Understanding connections to management development, leadership training, organizational transformation, culture, and organizational development
What Spiral Dynamics is and isn’t

Dr. Clare W. Graves

History, origins, and background
A decade of work with Dr. Graves
Research methods, empirical findings, and theory building
Keys to human psychosocial development
Conditions OF existence and conditions FOR existence
Creation and resolution of existential problems
Uncovering lost materials, new findings, and insights

Spiral Dynamics Foundations

Operational definitions of human nature (redefining reality): worldviews, values, and thinking in collaboration and collision
Avoiding common pitfalls and traps in analyzing the systems
The systems: beige, purple, red, blue, orange, green, yellow, turquoise
Out of 8 "types" and into the flow through transition states
Management, leadership, training, coaching, and working with the systems
Understanding differences and what they mean in human interactions
The "languages" of Spiral Dynamics—when and where to speak them
Entering, nodal, and exiting phases as applied to your issue(s) of concern
Debating the first tier "subsistence levels" and second tier "being levels"
Life conditions and characteristics of 18 sub-systems
Behavioural recognition principles—identifying core concepts
Communication strategies, motivators, and demotivators of vMEMEs
Role playing the systems in the workplace
Facilitating transitions as a manager, trainer, coach, or leader
Working with the double-helix
Basic conception interpretation and analyzing worldviews: phrasing, locus/focus, processing and decision-making, triggers for change, hot-buttons, recognizing systems, comparison to other worldviews, pinpointing markers of the systems, and the dynamics of change
Congruent management from a bio-psycho-social-systems perspective
Topical issues and discussion tailored to your group (e.g., globalization, terrorism, 9-11, War in Iraq, education, community development, understanding culture, organizational transformation, and anything that comes up worthy of discussion)

Comparative Analysis of Graves and Spiral Dynamics

The wave versus particle view and its importance in analysis
Using the systems versus stacks notion in coaching, management and change
Differences in assessment and evaluation
Centralization versus mixes for individual and group assessment
Uses, strengths and weaknesses of various approaches in dealing with others
Spiral Dynamics extensions and current research
Clearing up distortions resulting from popularization

Assessment and Psychometrics

Values Profiles (first level certification)

Uses and applications of 3 key instruments to:
- Training, management, organizational change, personal and professional development, research, leadership, coaching, and education
- Interpreting the results and review of normative data
Appropriate and inappropriate uses of the psychometrics
Completion and analysis of your profile
Defining the present and desired existential states for intervention

Change State Indicator (first level certification)

Characteristics of the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and New Alpha states
Differentiating between order and chaos
Awareness of the impact of first, second, and third order change
Analyzing your results
Interpreting the results
Giving feedback (for coaches, managers, leaders, trainers, and organizational development consultants)

Mastering the Change Equation—The Dynamics of Individual and Group Transformation

6 conditions for change: an introduction
Overcoming resistance to change
Open, closed, and arrested conditions in human systems
10 tests for and 3 signs of closedness
5 change states: recognizing and learning how to interface at multiple levels
Regression and stressors (good versus non-productive pressures)
Analyzing and dealing with resistance to change
Using the Change State Indicator as a coaching and organizational tool
Variations of change
The sequence of vMEME change
The gap between problems of existence and congruent coping in organizations
Building a comprehensive framework for mapping change at the individual, group, team, organizational, and society levels

Adopting an Approach that Works for You

Introduction to P-O-A formula for management/leadership
Communicating change
5 processes for Applying Spiral Dynamics
7 markers of Spiral Dynamics mastery
Connections to complementary theories and models
The design question (breaking down the essentials of a project)
Management, leadership, and organizational alignment using Spiral Dynamics
Phases of leadership