Vertical Development for Leading in Turbulent Times, with Jessica Bronzert

In this episode of the Change Management Review™ Podcast, Brian Gorman interviews Jessica Bronzert, founder of The Sparks Group. Jessica is passionate about helping leaders and teams develop the capacity and skills they need to be successful. Motivated by the diversity of the human experience and organizational life, Jessica employs specialized change and coaching training, and years of corporate and nonprofit experience to help clients make changes that make a difference. She has worked with and within a variety of industries. Among other things, Jessica is an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership, a regular contributor on WCCB Charlotte, a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), and a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). A trained 1:1 HeartMath mentor, she teaches the Conner Partners change execution course catalog and the Resilience Alliance course catalog on individual and team resilience, and coaches business school students at Queen’s University. In this detailed, fast-paced interview, Jessica walks us through the various stages of vertical development, the relationship between vertical development and change management, why vertical development is essential for the leadership our organizations need in the 21st century, and much more. Questions Asked: What is “vertical development?” Are their different stages? How do people in the self-questioning stage succeed in organizations? Why not just skip that stage? What motivates people to continue to grow from one stage to another vs. just stopping at some point along the way? What is the relationship between vertical development and change management? How do you bring this model of vertical development into your coaching and consulting? Most leadership development programs focus on horizontal development, learning new skills, yet you make it clear that vertical development is essential for the leadership our organizations need in the 21st century. How do we move the needle, shift the focus to increased vertical development of leaders?