Change profile
This instrument gives insight into how a change process unfolds within an individual. At the same time, it is an indicator of the well-being of a person at a certain point in time. For this, we use the change states defined by Don Beck and Chris Cowan in their book Spiral Dynamics. The change profile consists of:
Score per change state
The graph shows how a person’s energy is divided across the five change states: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, new alpha, and flex (as defined in Spiral Dynamics).
The vertical axis indicates the extent to which a person is in harmony with his or her life conditions; the higher the score in the top indicators (alpha and new alpha), the more a person perceives his or her life conditions as harmonious. Higher scores in the bottom indicators are a sign of friction concerning current conditions.
The horizontal axis shows the flow of a change process. Major changes often go through this entire dynamic process, indicated by the blue lines, from harmony to friction and back to harmony.
In this example, scores in alpha and beta are higher compared to other scores, which indicates some satisfaction with the current situation (alpha), but that there is also quite a bit of friction, uncertainty, or dissatisfaction. The person has no idea yet how things will change (low flex and delta) or what a possible new situation may look like (low new alpha).
ValueMatch has grouped the change states in stability, tension, and movement. This makes it easier to get an overview of what is happening. Besides that yellow or red flags indicate change states that require attention, such as the red flag with ‘beta’ in the example above.
Change characteristics
The tables for “Change Characteristics” and “Change characteristics” below are interpretations of scores shown in the table above.
The table “Type of change” shows a person’s preference either to improve the current situation or to change to a wholly new situation instead. It corresponds with the First Order and Second Order change as defined in Spiral Dynamics.
The table “Emphasis in Change Process” is an indicator showing which areas of a person’s life will be affected by possible change.
The interpretation of these profiles should always be performed by an experienced expert within a coaching dialogue or workshop relating to change processes. ValueMatch works with a group of specialized professionals who can facilitate this. We also offer training courses for professionals who are interested in acquiring such skills.
