Vertical Development Programs
Learn about the Leadership Maturity Framework (LMF) and how to practice Vertical Development
Our programs are for you if you are deeply interested in human development, both for your own self-awareness and evolution, as well as to facilitate growth in other individuals and systems.
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Vertical development is here to stay. Learning about the stages of development human beings go through as they navigate life conditions and their own emergence, spurs development in the learners and those they touch.
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Whether you are a coach, consultant, leadership development facilitator, learning designer, psychologist, social worker, counselor, or psychotherapist, our distinct offerings are a great invitation to integrate vertical development into your professional work in developing individuals, teams and organizations.
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Our programs are designed to equip you to learn about human maturity and how to facilitate your own and others’ vertical development with clarity, appreciation, humility, ethics, and nuance.
VeDA's 2024-25 Programs
​Whether you are simply curious and would like to cultivate a deeper understanding of the stages of development, or you would like to dive deeper and expand the impact of your current work with a tailored, developmental approach, you'll walk away with...
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Your own Maturity Profile (MAP) and a personalized report with a 1:1 debrief. Your MAP experience will be your doorway into a more sensitive nurturing of your unfolding.
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A deeper and richer appreciation of the stages of development as described by the LMF.
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Insights and discoveries that come with deeper and meaningful conversations with others on the same journey of increasing self-awareness, guided by a robust theory as a shared reference point.
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Targeted Key Developmental Practices (KDPs) designed to generate new pathways to later stage perspective taking, for application to self and others.
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Having experienced developmental movement and being able to name it, in the moment, during the course of the program experience, and in the wake of your engagement with self and others.
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A more acute sense of the potential for true shifts in thinking, feeling, and being that become available with appreciating and applying the lens of ego maturity.
VeDA brings 20 years of experience and expertise in vertical development and measurement.
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Our mission is to make vertical development relevant, practical, accessible, applicable, and transformative for individuals and organizations. Our work is rooted in decades of empirical research, scientific measurement, sound theory, robust practice, and rich learning experience of how to bring our body of work alive in service of every individual and collective we connect with.
Our Three-fold Focus
These are three critical aspects we will focus on to support your practice in vertical development...
1 Appreciating the Leadership Maturity Framework as a sense-making lens to comprehend self, others, and the world
The Leadership Maturity Framework is an empirically derived framework that reveals the evolution of perspectives and mindsets that individuals grow through while navigating the high stakes of the average human life. This framework reveals how individuals make meaning of their life experience, including the events and contexts that make up their world. With a deep understanding of the stage related beliefs and identifications, you can begin to parse how you and others interpret past, present, and emerging realities.
2 Attending to your own development, informed by the MAP
Your own vertical developmental stage and journey informs every field of your action and reflection, and also carries the potential of your ongoing growth. You will begin by taking the MAP - the instrument that indicates the unique stage profile of an individual. You will get a clear picture, based on your MAP responses, of your developmental journey, what is ahead for you, what might be holding you back, the stage-related perspectives you carry that may be limiting and those that may be promising, and you will receive personalized recommendations for your ongoing growth. Your own MAP experience will enable you to to appreciate your client’s journey more, and relate to their growth process much more powerfully and authentically.
3 Tailoring your offering to facilitate your client’s developmental journey
Whether you are a coach practitioner or mentor; a learning designer or consultant designing leadership development for individuals and teams; a psychologist, social worker, counselor or psychotherapist, you can deepen and expand what you offer to your clients for significantly more comprehensive outcomes. In Level 2, our practice building program, you will take a deep-dive into the stages of maturity, and learn how to support your clients in your particular role, in a way that is most effective and transformational for their operating worldview. We have distinct offerings for diverse professionals seeking to include the LMF and the MAP in their approach and repertoire.
VeDA's Approach In Brief
Vertical Development
Vertical development involves the growth of new perspectives and a greater ability to handle difficult problems. In contrast, horizontal development --defined as acquiring experience and knowledge, as well as new skills and competencies -- does not lead to shifts in how one sees the world and engages with its challenges. In today’s increasingly complex work and life contexts, vertical development becomes essential. Research over the last four decades has shown that vertical development can be traced as a logical sequence of stages through which leaders can interpret and gain insights about themselves, others and the world around them.
2024-25 Program Information
Level One
LEVEL ONE:
LMF Foundations
Our LMF Foundations Program offers you a solid grounding in the Leadership Maturity Framework and its applications. You will learn about the fundamentals of adult development, the empirically derived Leadership Maturity Framework, the research, the measurement used in the research and for application, and the ethical stance required to adopt and apply this body of work.
This program is for you if . . .
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You want to discover where you show up on the stage trajectory, and learn more about how you can support yourself in your own growth process
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You are curious, and want to get a good overview of the context, content, and application of the stages of adult development as described by the LMF
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You want to get a better understanding of vertical development before diving into a practitioner training intensive
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You want to learn the fundamentals in preparation for our Level-Two Practitioner Program
DURATION
3 months or 4 days
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LOCATION
Online or In-Person
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CERTIFICATE
LMF Foundations Certificate
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STARTS
November (Online)
January 2025 (In-person)
This program is a pre-requisite for Level Two
Level Two
LEVEL TWO
Maturity Coaching Intensive (MCI)
Our Maturity Coaching Intensive for Coach Practitioners is a 4-month or 6-day integrative learning experience, where you will build on Level One, take a deeper dive into the stages of maturity, and learn how to tailor your coaching based on the LMF. You will learn to support and challenge your clients in a way that will be most effective and transformational for their operating worldview, and for their particular challenges and potential.
This program is for you if . . .
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You are a professional coach and want to bring an intentionally developmental approach to your coaching
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You want to be able to intuit the worldview that your client's challenges and aspirations might be coming from, and tailor your coaching to best serve their growth
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You want to see what's next for you in your own development that can lead to better coaching outcomes for your clients
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You would like to get the benefit of having MAPs for your clients in order to deliver Leadership Maturity Coaching
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You would like to have the training required to be able to learn how to debrief the MAP instrument
DURATION
4 months or 6 days
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LOCATION
Online or In-Person
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CERTIFICATE
LMF Practitioner Certificate: "Professional Maturity Coach"
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STARTS
March 2025
Level One and Level Two are a pre-requisite for Level Three
Stay tuned for upcoming Level Two workshops for:
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Learning Designers and Leadership Development Consultants
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Psychotherapists, Psychologists, and Counselors
Level Three
This program is for you if . . .
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You would like to use the MAP Instrument explicitly with your clients
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You would like to add the MAP debrief as an additional offering in your coaching services
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You would like to become a member of VeDA's Network of Certified Coaches, and get the benefits on ongoing learning in the community
LEVEL THREE
MAP Debrief Certification
DURATION
3-days plus Supervision
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LOCATION
Online only
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CERTIFICATE
MAP Debriefing
Certificate
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STARTS
July 2025
Program Description and Details Coming Soon...
Level One and Level Two Programs are a pre-requisite for Level Three
We've created a rich learning experience for you!
VeDA's Programs offer a rich and varied mix of learning elements to ensure you have a transformative learning experience. They are designed to equip you with the skills, capabilities, insights, depth, and confidence to facilitate vertical development in yourself as well as your clients—both explicitly and implicitly. You will learn from your peer learners as much as from your faculty!
Live Workshops
You will engage in online or in-person workshops with Beena Sharma, VeDA Programs Lead Faculty and president of VeDA. Beena brings long, deep, and wide experience as well as thought leadership in the area of leadership maturity development.
Interactive Materials
Our pedagogical approach is rich, diverse, interactive, integrative, reflective and stimulating with a wide variety of learning practices that energize participants. We depend on insights emerging from the dance of individual and collective learning.
Pod and Peer Learning
You will participate in a small group(your Pod), which will offer you a collaborative learning experience and community support. The program will create opportunities for you to use action learning in your pod. You will also work with a learning partner.
Guest Faculty
You will have an opportunity to learn from Dr. Susanne Cook-Greuter, global authority in ego development and creator of the MAP instrument. You will also learn from the VeDA network of certified scorers and coaches as members of our guest faculty team.
Special Faculty
You will have an opportunity to learn from other experts and resources from different contexts, (depending on the workshop you are part of), like: Researchers, Psychotherapists, and Leadership / Organizational consultants.
Course Environment
VeDA uses the Thinkific platform to support the online learning programs. You will have your own account to access your learning materials. The curriculum and materials will be organized and archived for your benefit.
Learn From VeDA's
World-Class Faculty
Beena Sharma
Founder | VeDA
Program Leader, Master Coach
Beena is the president of Vertical Development Academy and an international coach and consultant. Beena brings 31 years of experience in facilitating human and organizational development. She is committed to designing and delivering exceptional programs to build deep capability in individuals and organizations committed to evolving and creating a sustainable future for all.
Dr. Susanne Cook-Greuter
Strategic Advisor | VeDA
Guest Faculty
Dr. Susanne Cook-Greuter is the creator of the MAP instrument and its assessment methodology. Dr. Cook-Greuter is known worldwide for her seminal work in adult development theory and is a keynote speaker at conferences internationally. She has charted new territory in defining mature adult development.
Certified Leadership Maturity Coaches (LMC), Certified Scorers, and Special Faculty Invitees
Guest Faculty | Program Resource
Our certified Maturity Coaches are outstanding coach practitioners who bring invaluable knowledge and insights to support you in your learning and development journey as an individual and as a coach. Our guest faculty also include trained assessors of the MAP who bring deep theoretical knowledge empirically derived from research. Other Special Invitees include well-known resources in specific fields; details coming soon!
What our coach participants are
saying about their experience
Erkan Kadir
Enterprise Agile Coach
"I give my highest recommendations to this program for any coach who's interested in a scientifically-backed, concrete and practical system to meet their clients where they're at and help them to take on powerful new perspectives... I'm more powerful as a coach now because I'm acutely aware of why each of the approaches I've been using tends to land with some clients and not with others. For those in the #agilecoaching community who may have read the book Reinventing Organizations and are looking for proven ways to help groups move through the stages of vertical development - look no further than Beena Sharma and the Vertical Development Academy. Looking forward to DLM II.”
Join a free webinar to learn more about these programs!
Engage with us and learn more about our 2024-25 programs before they start! In this webinar you will learn a bit about our framework: the Leadership Maturity Framework (LMF), our assessment instrument: the Maturity Profile (MAP), and our advanced approach to coaching: Maturity Coaching. This webinar will also provide an orientation to our upcoming three-level vertical development program.
JOIN US WHEN IT FITS YOUR SCHEDULE AND TIME ZONE
DATES & TIMES
We offer two convenient times each day!
8:00am – 9:00am (US Pacific)
4:00pm – 5:00pm (US Pacific)
July 2*
July 11
July 19
July 26
Aug 1
Aug 8
Aug 15
Sep 5
*No afternoon session July 2