Dynamic Skill Theory

The ‘Dynamic Skill Theory’, developed by Kurt W. Fischer (Harvard University) in 1980, essentially illustrates the parallel development of individual, initially fragmented functions and competences in the dynamic interaction with their environment, considering personal development via different grades of differentiation and levels of integration.

In classical development theories, children and later adults form competences in specific development cycles in similar ways. So personal development occurs as a kind of differentiation between biologically inherent abilities and the relevant interaction with the environment. This decides which skills are expanded to operate sustainably. Despite possibly similar basic dispositions, every development proceeds individually, and thus the mature or less mature system of the self mirrors the interactive dynamism between basic disposition and response from the direct environment. Fischer’s thesis is that systems and skills develop through the combination and interaction of stable states (e.g. biological parameters) with the most differing variants of environmental conditions (reference persons, culture etc.). According to Fischer, personal skills develop in the initially fragmented strands of a network that may potentially be integrated via different grades of maturity.

The 13 Levels and 4 tiers of development in Fisher's skill theory

Like the 8-stage theory by Erikson, the Theory of Dynamic Skills describes a development in different stages, but, unlike other theories, places a focus on the fragmented, but parallel development of diverse competences, normally considered separately from one another. Hence, in Fischer’s view, development does not proceed according to a classical, singular ladder, as described by e.g. Piaget, but dynamically and in a non-linear manner.

Fischer’s theory postulates four salient stages in development. The first stage describes the fragmented form of information reception, i.e. a natural, binary subdivision into positive and negative emotional bias. The next, second stage represents a simple level of initial integration skill, expressed in the ability autonomously to switch between positive and negative emotional bias. The third stage concerns a form of partial integration and the fourth stage stable integration. Within these four central stages, there are different levels of representation and abstraction ability that can be considered in a framework of a total of twelve different skills and four more abstraction levels.

Personality System Interaction Theory (PSI)

In the model of action control, Kuhl’s PSI Theory describes four central brain systems that are essential for controlling action and hence the individual achievement of goals.

Our brain is highly complex and provided with a multitude of the most differing individual functions that are largely widely distributed over different cerebral areas. Nevertheless, there are networks that perform very specific functions. To make this complexity somewhat more concrete, we have taken the liberty of simplifying the processes a little and will here concentrate on the co-operation between four very central functional areas in your brain that exemplify the process of digesting and learning. Sustainable learning and action resulting from it are only possible when both hemispheres of your brain work together smoothly and thus also the four major areas of intuitive behaviour control, object recognition, holistic processing and strategic networking, described in the following.

The left hemisphere of your brain processes information above all step by step, one item after the other. The left hemisphere of the brain processes numbers, signs, letters and facts in particular. By contrast, the right hemisphere of the brain can process a great deal of different information at the same time and thus very rapidly. It specializes in processing extensive and complex information simultaneously, e.g. images, music or experiences from the environment. For this topic, please also look at our explanatory film from our Coaching Campus Offers.

So that you can understand which systems we refer to in our coaching, we will simplify the action control model as follows.

The yellow system: the inner manager (extension memory)

This system covers all the neuronal networks in our brain that can process in parallel, i.e. that are designed to receive and process several items of information simultaneously. In this system, you have an overview and your emotional state is determined by composure.

The system must be understood as a kind of control centre for your biographical experiences to date. This is where your knowledge about your own desires and needs is stored, but also about your social environment. This system enables you to answer the question as to the ‘meaning’ of what you learn. If you cannot manage to activate this yellow system, the inner manager, the meaning of learning and thus the sustainability of learning success gets lost.

The blue system: the inner controller (object recognition system)

This system subsumes the networks working in a discrepancy-sensitive way, i.e. placing a focus on identifying inconsistencies. So, this system should be understood as the discrepancy detector in our brain. Your emotional state in relation to this area of the brain is dissonant.

Here, you control your actions and plans, and it is here that your error analysis has its home. The blue system shows you any inconsistency from the ‘norm’ you have established from your experience to date. The inner controller can stop you from implementing new knowledge, if it is insufficiently integrated.

The red system: the inner planner (intention memory)

This system covers all the functional areas that work sequentially, i.e. step by step.

This portion of your brain houses conscious thinking and planning. Here, you are in a position to devise precise work plans and steps of action before putting them into effect. This system costs a lot of effort and is very heavily involved in any intake of ‘new knowledge’. Your emotional state in this area of the brain is characterized by objective sober-mindedness.

Whether the ‘new knowledge’ can be incorporated in a sustainable way is contingent on how well the link between the red system, the inner planner, and the yellow system, the inner manager, works.

The green system: the inner doer (intuitive behaviour control system)

This system covers all the networks that work fully automatically and intuitively.

This area of your brain accommodates your intuitive behaviour control. The system becomes active as soon as you can actually apply your recently acquired knowledge. Your emotional state in this area is positive and full of joy.

The more you use this system, the stronger networking becomes, i.e. the stability of what you have learnt. And you will acquire the skill to transfer this new knowledge into a routine, permitting you to have this knowledge available without major effort.
You can simply act.

The 8-stage Personality Theory by Erik Erikson

Although Erik Erikson (Berkeley and Harvard University) is ranked among the so-called Freudian psychologists and in his 8-stage theory, like Freud, includes differing stages of development, his theoretical considerations go beyond adolescence into advanced adult age. Erikson places his focus less purely on instinctive urges or the subconscious, but additionally takes a psychosocial or psycho-historical component into account. Moreover, in his consideration of development he rather proceeds from so-called epigenetic stages, i.e. from a sequence in which coping with a development task and learning at one stage act as the foundation for the next stage. His theory postulates that any development task in itself may be linked to conflicts and crises and that sometimes no complete coping takes place at one stage, but that as complete a coping as possible with the development task at one stage facilitates entry to the next stage.

A closer scrutiny of the 8 stages shows that his model appears to go beyond a pure ego consideration, as the development tasks sketched on the different stages can hardly be attributed to an explicit, sequentially and analytically functioning ego alone. Rather, the identity development conflicts described indicate an expanded consideration of personality, additionally taking implicit aspects of the self into account.

The Leadership Circle Profile™

Illuminating leadership effectiveness and highlighting opportunities for development

The Leadership Circle Profile™ (LCP) is a holistic and unique 360° leadership assessment. The LCP captures critical leadership competencies and reveals the relation between patterns of action and internal assumption that drive behaviour. This allows leaders to see how his/her inner world of thought impacts their personal leadership style. This meaningfully distinguishes the LCP from other 360° feedback methods, as it does not only show the “What”, but also answers the “Why” to get greater leverage on change and growth.

EOS (development-oriented scanning) Potential Analysis

The EOS (development-oriented scanning) Potential Analysis is a support tool for organizational, personnel and personality development and was devised by Prof. Dr. Julius Kuhl, an internationally renowned personality researcher in over 25 years of fundamental and application research at the Max Planck Institute of Psychological Research in Munich. Within the framework of the EOS Potential Diagnostics, individual behaviour is considered on the basis of physiological processes in the brain. This helps to explain for the first time the causes of behaviour, so as to be able to change them subsequently by targeted potential development.
The EOS method dispenses with forming types, which are ultimately based on reducing different features to a behavioural tendency. Instead, Prof. Kuhl’s method measures more than 100 personality traits separately from one another, traits that make up the specific behaviour of a person in flexible, systemic and context-contingent interaction.

Individual temperament dispositions and personal style are measured on an initial response level (i.e. spontaneous response). On a second response level (i.e. targeted behaviour), self-regulation competences are gauged under workload and stress. Here, psychological basic motives (such as the assertion of one’s own goals, performance motivation and relationship motivation) are recorded on both the conscious and subconscious levels.