Deliberately Developmental

There are five principles that help summarize the theoretical underpinnings of Kegan’s (1982, 1994) Constructive-Developmental theory, Kegan and Lahey’s (2009) Immunity to Change (ITC) technology, and the Subject-Object Interview (SOI) (Lahey et al., 2011). These principles inform, in a fundamental way, how we envision, plan, and execute every expedition we offer.

1.     Principle One: Changes to how we know what we know (our meaning-making system or constructive-developmental perspective), rather than to simply what we know (our fund of knowledge) are among the most helpful and powerful changes people can make in the effort to improve human performance (Kegan, 1982, 1994). 

2.     Principle Two: Desired changes to our meaning-making system are often foiled by a psychological mechanism protecting us from anticipated harm that is unlikely to occur. This “immunity to change” requires reflective action, over time, to overcome (Kegan & Lahey, 2009). 

3.     Principle Three: Substantive change, of the kind Kegan (1982, 1994) and Kegan and Lahey (2009) advocate, occurs most readily within holding environments constituted by ingenious blends of challenge and support and, so far as we know, takes a long time to unfold. 

4.     Principle Four: Understanding how a person makes sense of their experience (their constructive-developmental perspective) can give us insight into their capacity; what they are able to do and what they are unable to do. The SOI is an instrument designed to identify a person’s meaning-making system, or constructive-developmental perspective (Lahey et al., 2011).

5.     Principle Five: As we move through each developmental stage, changes to our constructive-developmental perspective or meaning-making system, always move in the direction of greater complexity. Once we have reached a new level of mental complexity, there is no going back. People advance through stages at differing rates and advancement to any particular stage is not a surety.