Today I would like to explain briefly how I arrived at the thirteen business keys. I didn’t set out to create any particular number of keys. In fact I didn’t even conceive them as ‘keys’ until quite recently. It all started with a concept now known as ‘the Values Journey’. So I should start by explaining what the values journey is. Briefly it represents the stages that individuals and companies must pass through as they progress in their inevitable life-cycle. So just as a person is first an infant, then a child, then a teenager, adult etc, so do organizations have similar stages. It isn’t so much the physical character that changes, but rather the social, psychological, emotional, and intellectual character. Perhaps Clare Graves, as Professor Emeritus at New York University before his death in the 1980s, said it best when he revealed the results of his extensive research, conducted alongside that of his friend and colleague, Abraham Maslow. His resultant theory was termed a model of emergent mature adult bio-psycho-social behaviour. Whereas Maslow’s hierarchy of needs assumed a unitary path for all, Graves was able to distinctly categorise people into 2 main grouping – the expressive and the submissive, based upon their conditioning. In addition, he identified three distinct types within each group, based on the way they perceive of and cope with problems of existence. Thus he was able to construct a ‘map’ consisting of three ‘paradigms’ and six ‘value stations’, which later became known as the psychological map. In discussions with Abraham Maslow, Clare Graves held to the findings of his research that indicated there would most likely be a Maslow Hierarchy of Needs within each Value Station!
How is that possible, you might ask? More about this later.
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Continuing - about the 13 Business keys: Graves died before he could formally publish his findings but left us with his tape-recordings, which were duly transcribed and used to form the basis of the Psychological Map (Don Beck, circa 1986). The main 'value stations' identified were as follows: Submissive - safe-bondng, duty-compliant, peace-loving; Expressive - power-seeking, success-striving, synergy-building. Beck conveniently colour-coded them purple, red, blue, orange, green and yellow. Now that was supposed to simplify the psychological map, but some people were put off by the colours and he turned his attention toward explaining the map and using it to advise governments and societies struggling with change, and did so with great success. Notably this was one of the key tools that allowed South Africa a peaceful transition to democratic government. Yes, Dr. Don Beck was integral to that process! That brings us to 1988, when I first met Don and some of us at the National Productivity Institute saw the significance of the psychological map. I began to see ways in which it connected with other theories and added not only colour but also shape and structure to my (emergent) understanding of the individual and business psyche. Indeed I started to understand myself, eventually as I was already 33 then.
So fo rth epast twenty years I have been a steward of Graves and Beck, carefully maintaining what they reespectively researched and applied, but also advancing the model according to my own research and experiences. Today the six value stations are depicted as a journey, which I will show you next time.
Go well
Dave
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