Posted by
GTR Editor on Feb 14, 2022 in
Issue 2, December 2021,
Volume 20 |
Comments Off on Evolating: A Classic Grounded Theory of Personal Transformation
Judith Wright, Wright Graduate University for the Realization of Human Potential, USA Robert Wright, Wright Graduate University for the Realization of Human Potential, USA Gordon Medlock, Wright Graduate University for the Realization of Human Potential, USA Abstract The phases of learning and transformation emerged from this classic grounded theory study of historic transformers and exceptional students revealing the theory of evolating: a multiphase process through which individuals consciously engage in their own transformation and attain otherwise improbable levels of human potential. The theory defines a 6-phase, non-linear process with stages of yearning, engaging, revelating, liberating, rematrixing, and dedicating. While many adults experience the early phases, few proceed through rematrixing and dedicating. The data indicate that evolating among exceptional students who do engage in all the phases predictably leads to a deeper, more accomplished life of greater meaning and purpose. The theory also provides a framework for strategizing learning and growing as well as explaining periods of stagnancy and ineffectual efforts to change attempted by both individuals and institutions. The theory has been used to structure the experiential and academic educational programs of the Foundation, including a graduate-level university curriculum in transformational coaching and leadership and an organizational consulting practice. Further contributions of the theory for the fields of learning psychology, business education, coaching, transformational leadership, and organizational change have been identified as areas for further study, based on this research. Keywords: Classic Grounded Theory, Transformation, Personal Growth, Change, Evolating, Yearning, Introduction The desire for transformation and growth is a common yearning within the human experience. While many individuals may aim for excellence, very few are successful in attaining the highest levels of internal development to realize lives of ever-increasing quality, greatness, and meaning. Understanding what distinguishes the journey of the most accomplished can benefit all adults as well as the educators, coaches, and leaders who work on behalf of their growth. For more than 35 years in the academic setting, we’ve studied well-known transformers and observed, mentored, and supported extraordinary individuals in their progression to advanced levels of development and leadership. In this study, we decipher the stages of personal growth and learning that are unique to the highest achievers among us. Using classic grounded theory (CGT), we analyzed the interviews of exceptional individuals to gain insight into their experiences, phases of growth, and cycles of progress. This multistage, non-linear journey emerged in the theory of evolating: a six-phase process of yearning, engaging, revelating, liberating, rematrixing, and dedicating. Although many adult individuals may encounter and progress through the first four of these stages, fewer advance through all six stages. In the primary stage of yearning, individuals often experience a vague dissatisfaction or motivational impulse that obscures deeper longing underneath. This impulse clarifies with growing social-emotional learning and extends beyond mere wanting or goal setting to deeper here-and-now expression that can yield a lifelong focus on inner growth. Yearning propels the individual into engagement where action, discovery, and a more profound self-knowledge tap new levels of yearning. Revelating follows engagement and is marked by a wide array of learning, from simple lessons to deeply affecting lessons that shift an individual’s view of what is possible. In liberating, individuals continue their transformation by breaking away from deeply ingrained ways of seeing and believing and engage in new, more empowering ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that further redefine their sense of self. Following liberating, select individuals progress to rematrixing, strategically liberating, and dedicating. It is during these phases that they attempt...