Embodying parts of Stage Orange to move up

[ElenaO]

It is said that in order to move up the Spiral you'll need to go through the stage fully. I rank myself somewhere between Orange and Green with some Yellow. 

I haven't embodied in my life a few things that are specific to Orange: playing politics at work, marketing yourself, networking with management (read subtle manipulation). Neither have I strived to be the best. I definitely have high standards but not aiming at the pedestal. I also do not do enough networking in general, and do no consider myself very gregarious, charismatic, chatty, talkative, social. And these are important to be successful in the corporate world.

Does this mean I cannot move up if I do not work on these? This sounds silly to me. I haven't embodied other things either, such as being very fit (which I do value), looking your best, but those I may work on. However, the highly strategic and calculated steps such as networking with your management sound distasteful to me. I know I won't likely be promoted because I disagree with them, yet...

What do you think?

Edited August 16, 2020 by ElenaO

[Artsu]

It is silly.

Take from orange the impetus to move forward.

[ElenaO]

I think the same. Though I think I won't be navigating well in the corporate world if I don't come up with something.

[electroBeam]

I think hating orange is a great opportunity to try to fully love and accept it the way it is. Try and love orange to bits. Once you've done that, then transcend it. 

[ElenaO]

well I don't hate all of it. I definitely share quite a lot of values. I only hate the manipulation and the fake relationships you gotta build at work to move forward. But I guess I'll have to abide by them to move on the career ladder. Which makes me wanna puke. 

[DrewNows]

Play the apple among oranges, not only be willing to make friends and enemies, but trigger/piss people off, if that means speaking your truth. Don’t be a follower, lead by example. Conquer your fears and demand what you deserve. No do overs and no mistakes, you’re golden 

(I did not read anything you wrote, you have all the answers, just do jt) 

Edited August 16, 2020 by DrewNows

[ElenaO]

23 minutes ago, DrewNows said:

Play the apple among oranges, not only be willing to make friends and enemies, but trigger/piss people off, if that means speaking your truth. Don’t be a follower, lead by example. Conquer your fears and demand what you deserve. No do overs and no mistakes, you’re golden 

(I did not read anything you wrote, you have all the answers, just do jt) 

 laughed at the part that you didn't read what I wrote. 
Well I am in doubts that's why wrote here. Maybe to make myself understand it better and realize what I should be doing. 
I definitely won't be kissing my managers' asses, but I'll need to be smarter in how I interact with others. In other words I'll still need to play some games to be promoted. 

[allislove]

@ElenaO

A few thoughts come to mind...
 
If the company is solid orange moving towards green and a person is solid green, then I can expect promotion for that person. 
Spiral Dynamics is just a model that shows the general tendency. If the person already studied Spiral Dynamics nothing stops this person to move up without fully integrating the stages below.
The person that networks with the management can be any stage: orange, green, yellow, turquoise. In order to determine where this person on the Spiral Dynamics model we have to ask the question: "What are your motives for networking with the management? Why are you doing that?". I can expect that a turquoise person will answer something like this: "I just love it. I understand that there is no difference between me and management, that everyone and everything is me, I just love to network with my management. I feel that everyone is my child in a sense. I love giving love."

[Johnny5]

@ElenaO The point is simply that your spiral stage is a value system, and when you have strong emotional charge (positive or negative) about certain things then that indicates places in your value system where you are liable to get stuck, unless you confront them.

It doesn't mean you need to "embody" every possible thing from every possible stage, you can still be you (by all means!). But it means when something clashes with your value system, it is worth investigating why that is and try on different perspectives.

Even the trying on of different perspectives doesn't need to become a thing in itself. It's just a way of scrutinizing your attachment to your own perspective and thereby undermining a particular obstacle. So it's more like a corrective in order to get unstuck, not a mandate to fit yourself into other people's boxes.

Another way to do that is to go the opposite route and become a devoted adherent of your perspective about something, until sooner or later the emotional charge behind it exhausts itself or becomes untenable. That's when it ceases to be an obstacle, and then it automatically becomes easy to see it in different ways.

Either way the road is always subtractive. In the absence of obstacles, development is automatic.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Johnny5

[Artsu]

If you're moving up in the corporate world you're not moving up in the spirit world.

I'm not saying you can't do both.

[ElenaO]

3 hours ago, allislove said:

@ElenaO

A few thoughts come to mind...
 
If the company is solid orange moving towards green and a person is solid green, then I can expect promotion for that person. 
Spiral Dynamics is just a model that shows the general tendency. If the person already studied Spiral Dynamics nothing stops this person to move up without fully integrating the stages below.
The person that networks with the management can be any stage: orange, green, yellow, turquoise. In order to determine where this person on the Spiral Dynamics model we have to ask the question: "What are your motives for networking with the management? Why are you doing that?". I can expect that a turquoise person will answer something like this: "I just love it. I understand that there is no difference between me and management, that everyone and everything is me, I just love to network with my management. I feel that everyone is my child in a sense. I love giving love."

The company is not solid orange. It definitely is moving towards green, but I believe the promotion system is still on the orange side. To be true, I am not sure how the promotion system works really, from what I see it looks like constantly reminding your manager of your achievements and contributions and being visible i.e. marketing yourself. I see that those who are "friends" with the bosses get their promotions. I never operated this way, so starting to discover this only now. I guess I was denying that this exists and thought that promotions happen based on the merit and less on how much you talk to your boss. Maybe that's naivety, not sure. 
Honestly, I have no motives for networking to management at all. I am independent and usually get my work done well without anyone managing me. That's why I never sought networking with anyone. I just did my thing and tried to do the best I can. 
So if you'd ask me I'd say I don't see a point in networking. But that's not how it works if you want promotion in our world, it seems like.  
 

[ElenaO]

2 hours ago, Johnny5 said:

@ElenaO The point is simply that your spiral stage is a value system, and when you have strong emotional charge (positive or negative) about certain things then that indicates places in your value system where you are liable to get stuck, unless you confront them.

It doesn't mean you need to "embody" every possible thing from every possible stage, you can still be you (by all means!). But it means when something clashes with your value system, it is worth investigating why that is and try on different perspectives.

Even the trying on of different perspectives doesn't need to become a thing in itself. It's just a way of scrutinizing your attachment to your own perspective and thereby undermining a particular obstacle. So it's more like a corrective in order to get unstuck, not a mandate to fit yourself into other people's boxes.

Another way to do that is to go the opposite route and become a devoted adherent of your perspective about something, until sooner or later the emotional charge behind it exhausts itself or becomes untenable. That's when it ceases to be an obstacle, and then it automatically becomes easy to see it in different ways.

Either way the road is always subtractive. In the absence of obstacles, development is automatic.

Well I am trying to see the other perspective of networking and proving to others that you are valuable and they need to promote you. Honestly, I cannot find good reasons for it. To me it seems like it's the manager's job to observe what's happening around you and who does what. You don't need to become friends with them and be flashing in front of their eyes to be promoted, in my opinion. But it looks like I got it all wrong. I won't be able to move up if I don't play the politics. I'd have to talk and market and be friends with people. I guess that's how our society works. Which I really don't like. 

If I stick to my route how do I get promoted? Hasn't worked until now. The reality of the corporate world is likely different from what I expected. 

[ElenaO]

2 hours ago, Artsu said:

If you're moving up in the corporate world you're not moving up in the spirit world.

I'm not saying you can't do both.

Yeah. Perhaps these two are not so much connected. But that's why I was asking if I actually need to embody this part in order to move up in my spiritual world. Perhaps yes, I'll need to do what others are doing to get it out of my system...

[Johnny5]

43 minutes ago, ElenaO said:

If I stick to my route how do I get promoted? Hasn't worked until now.

If you want to play the game then that's how it works.

Nobody is forcing you.

[ElenaO]

1 hour ago, Johnny5 said:

If you want to play the game then that's how it works.

Nobody is forcing you.

Of course. However, I see no choice in the current world if you want to move up the ladder. Or I haven't found one. I've tried my way of just being a good employee and expecting others to notice what I am doing. Apparently that's not working.

[Raphael]

You can try to share ideas and concepts to improve the company or innovate the products or how the work is done, it would help everyone in the company and people will be grateful to you.

Being good at something is fine but not enough to move up the ladder. if you can provide insights and new structural changes that innovate and make the company progress and work more effectively, people will perceive you as someone of value and you will naturally move up in the hierarchy and gain success.

Concerning the politics and manipulation game, if think it would be better to avoid it as much as possible and prefer straight honest communication. Manipulating each other at work is unhealthy and creates tension within the group.

[Johnny5]

1 hour ago, ElenaO said:

if you want to move up the ladder.

Yes, that game.  

 

1 hour ago, ElenaO said:

I've tried my way of just being a good employee and expecting others to notice what I am doing. Apparently that's not working.

Your career is not your husband. If you have ambitions, it's not going to play by just waiting for everyone else to cater to them.

 

P.S. in my first reply i thought you meant "moving up" on the spiral... so, for what it's worth.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Johnny5

[allislove]

@ElenaO

Why do you need a promotion? 
Are there things to appreciate at your current workplace?
How are your spiritual practices going, like morning meditation? 

[Giancarlo]

I would say don't get caught up in trying to embody every single characteristic of a stage to fully integrate it. We all usually have a few key areas in each Stage that we need to work on, and that are glaringly obvious once you look for them.

[ElenaO]

@Raphael in my experience you have to be exceptionally good to move up the ladder that way. As far as I understand these things happen very slowly if you do it organically. I am definitely not at the level of some executive to suggest anything of that sort. And I cannot even be, because I am just out of that league and do not get enough information or input to do those changes. Obviously I am doing what I can in my job and trying to be proactive and show initiative.