Spiral Dynamics Flower Model
This system map was developed for the Center for Ethical Leadership’s Confluence 2002 - Exploring the Common Good: Making Community that Works. It is based on responses from a broadly distributed survey that asked questions about what makes community work and what holds it back. Within the petals of the flower of community are those items that help make community work. If these are done well, community will grow and thrive. Arrows in the background of each petal illustrate the push for the petal to bloom larger.
In the gray to black background surrounding the petals are those things that keep the flower from blooming larger. The background arrows pushing against the petals represent these negative forces.
There are many different ways to foster community. The four petals of the flower show how survey responses fell into four different but essential categories. The upper left petal items generally reflect personal intentions (like attitudes) and self-development goals, such as mental and spiritual growth. These can be thought of as what is happening inside you that no one else can see. The upper right items consist of individual behaviors, traits, and other physically observable characteristics. This petal can be thought of as how you show what is happening inside you – in other words, what other people see. The lower left petal holds items related to culture, family, and relationships.
The items in this petal are all about how we relate and engage each other to make meaning in community.
Lastly, the lower right petal contains all of those characteristics of community that can be fostered through institutions, government policies, and other social systems. This last petal can be thought of as how we use or change society’s establishments and agencies to interact with each other in community. Like this flower, community is made up of all four of these categories.
This flower is a multicolored rainbow itself. These colors represent the various dimensions of community values. Each of the dimensions shown here is crucial to ensuring that the flower of community is as full and grand as possible. Consider these dimensions of community values as an artist’s palette – brush strokes from each of these colors is needed to create a masterpiece. Following is a brief explanation of the positive aspects of each color:
In the gray to black background surrounding the petals are those things that keep the flower from blooming larger. The background arrows pushing against the petals represent these negative forces.
There are many different ways to foster community. The four petals of the flower show how survey responses fell into four different but essential categories. The upper left petal items generally reflect personal intentions (like attitudes) and self-development goals, such as mental and spiritual growth. These can be thought of as what is happening inside you that no one else can see. The upper right items consist of individual behaviors, traits, and other physically observable characteristics. This petal can be thought of as how you show what is happening inside you – in other words, what other people see. The lower left petal holds items related to culture, family, and relationships.
The items in this petal are all about how we relate and engage each other to make meaning in community.
Lastly, the lower right petal contains all of those characteristics of community that can be fostered through institutions, government policies, and other social systems. This last petal can be thought of as how we use or change society’s establishments and agencies to interact with each other in community. Like this flower, community is made up of all four of these categories.
This flower is a multicolored rainbow itself. These colors represent the various dimensions of community values. Each of the dimensions shown here is crucial to ensuring that the flower of community is as full and grand as possible. Consider these dimensions of community values as an artist’s palette – brush strokes from each of these colors is needed to create a masterpiece. Following is a brief explanation of the positive aspects of each color:
- The purple dimension includes the values of kinship and familial traditions that bond people together most tightly.
- The red band includes responses that spoke of pure unrestrained pleasure and enjoyment in community.
- The blue section honors that community takes work, a sense of direction for a greater good, stability, and even recognition of duty to creating and sustaining it.
- Orange items are oriented towards achieving great things together with strategic and goal oriented plans.
- The green band holds those elements that are about care and sensitivity to others with an egalitarian perspective that celebrates diversity.
- The yellow band is home to responses about flexibility, spontaneity, and knowledge as a spur to community development.
- The turquoise section includes those aspects of community that are about wholeness and spirituality.
- Finally, there is a splash of coral at the very tip. That represents what we might create in the future with all of our good works for the common good.