Spiral Dynamics: Graves' Levels in Coaching
Spiral Dynamics builds on Graves' levels of existence, a theory of adult values and how they change, set out by the psychologist Clare Graves in 1970. Don Beck and Christopher Cowan later built a model from his work, and coaches now use that model to read values in organisations and in individuals. The stage model has little research testing it. No controlled study of coaching that uses it turned up in a Crossref search.
What it is
The theory proposes that values develop in levels, and that each level is a whole way of making sense of life, shaped by the conditions a person and their community face. In a coaching session, the coach uses the levels to help you see why a value that feels obvious to you may look different to someone else.
The approach is a lens, not a test. It asks what a situation calls for and which values are doing the work in it, and it does not treat any single level as the one to reach. Because the stage model is thinly tested, sessions are best treated as a structured way of looking at values rather than as a diagnosis.
Where it comes from
Clare W. Graves set out an open-system theory of values in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology in 1970 (Graves, 1970). The paper is the theory's source, written as a theory rather than as a coaching method.
Don Beck and Christopher Cowan later developed a model from Graves' work, described in their book (Beck & Cowan, 2005). Cowan and Todorovic (2000) describe a psychological theory of values in levels and how those values affect leaders and followers. Coaching uses come from that practitioner line.
The principles underneath
Values develop in levels
Graves proposed that adult values change through levels, rather than being fixed traits that a person carries unchanged.
Each level makes sense on its own terms
A value that looks like a problem from one level is usually a strength from inside it.
A person can work from more than one level
Context decides which values lead at a given moment.
Read the system, not a list
The model looks at which values are working together in a situation, rather than sorting people by a single value.
How a session runs
- Describe a situation where you and someone else seem to want different things.
- Name the values you think each of you is acting from in that situation.
- Ask what each set of values protects, and what it makes hard to see.
- Look at what the situation actually asks for, and whether your current way of reading it fits.
- Explore what a wider reading would keep from your current values, and what it would add.
- Test one small change in how you respond this week, and note what shifted in your reasoning, not only the outcome.
When it tends to fit
- You keep meeting the same disagreement with people who seem to be working from a different set of priorities.
- A change at work or at home is bringing values you have not examined to the surface.
- You want a way to describe differences in values without deciding who is right.
What the research shows
Evidence: Practitioner tradition — little or no outcome research
The theory's source is Graves' 1970 paper (Graves, 1970). The coaching use draws on Beck and Cowan's book, cited from its title (Beck & Cowan, 2005), and on practitioner writing such as Cowan and Todorovic (2000), whose abstract describes a theory of levels of values and their effect on leaders and followers. Pushkar and colleagues (2003) examined emergent values and ageing; that study is cited from its title only. No controlled study testing the stage model in coaching turned up in a Crossref search, and the evidence for the stage model itself is thin.
Where the evidence is thin: Independent validation of the stage model has not been demonstrated in the published research, as far as a Crossref search can show. The books and practitioner papers describe its use, and the research cited is limited to the theory's origin and one title-level study. Use it as a way of thinking about values, not as a measure of a person.
Sources
- Graves, C. W. (1970). Levels of existence: An open system theory of values. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 10(2), 131–155.
- Beck, D. E., & Cowan, C. C. (2005). Spiral dynamics: Mastering values, leadership and change. Wiley-Blackwell.
- Cowan, C. C., & Todorovic, N. (2000). Spiral dynamics. Strategy & Leadership, 28(1), 4–12.
- Pushkar, D., Basevitz, P., Conway, M., Mason, S., & Chaikelson, J. (2003). Emergent values and the experience of aging. Journal of Adult Development, 10(4), 249–259.
Where it stops
The stage model is thinly tested. Do not use it to judge someone's capacity, character or suitability for a role.
Labels can harden into judgements of people. Keep the focus on the situation and the values in it, not on who sits where.
If a values conflict is tied to abuse, control or a relationship that feels unsafe, a coaching conversation is not the right place for it. A qualified clinician or a safety service comes first.
Practices for this approach
- Spiral Dynamics, Made Practical
Understanding how value systems develop and how to navigate across them
- Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory, Made Practical
Moving from being run by your assumptions to being able to examine them
- Self-Authorship: Moving From the Socialized to the Self-Authored Mind
Kegan’s stages, subject-object moves, and authoring your own life