Growth Over Development

I have stopped doing development. I have stopped talking about development.  I have stopped “developing” people. I don’t talk about development and my leaders aren’t allowed to talk about it around me. I have started talking about one thing and one thing only: growth.

Andra’s Story

I once had a young man who worked for me named Andra (Ahn-drey). He had an awesome smile, great sense of humor and a strong work ethic. Everyone (including my family and I) loved Andra. He was the kind of guy that laughed at himself, laughed at your jokes and still got his work done. Andra didn’t know where he wanted to go or what he wanted to do with his life. After a few months on the job, Andra stopped growing. In fact, he thought he was doing better than he was. We had some tough conversations, some job reassignments and, eventually, a distinct challenge to either grow or go. See, life is not about potential or development, life is about growth. Andra had to grow, but he was stuck. Andra had a special place in our hearts, but his performance was not where we all (including Andra) knew it could be. Andra decided he was going to grow. His attitude, his effort and his discipline changed. He made no more excuses and began, to not only get results, but hold others accountable. Andra grew into leadership. And he kept growing. He accepted each challenge and eventually landed a job at the sheriff’s office. I could not be prouder of Andra, because Andra chose to grow for himself and it benefitted those around him. Good growth always has a benefit or byproduct for those around y0u. Andra’s story is not one of development, opportunity or potential, but growth. And growth is what is missing from so many leaders’ stories today. Seemingly, there is plenty of “development,” but very little, real growth.

The Impossibility of Development

I find that development now is practically immeasurable, unreachable and, largely, a piece of organizational jargon. Development has become a catch-all term for a generation that doesn’t know how to grow. Development started as growth. But, somewhere in a sea of sea of self-importance, self-centeredness and a lack of self-awareness, development became the leader’s responsibility and not the followers. Simultaneously, the timeless principles of growth have been cast to the side in favor of an endless self-identification and emotion. Development, by today’s standards, has become an almost unsolvable puzzle that is simply escalating the frustration of both the leader and the follower, the teacher and the student, & the mentor and apprentice.

The Leader’s Job is Not Development

It is not the leader’s job to develop people. It is the leader’s responsibility to create an environment of both challenge and encouragement that fosters an arena for growth in the lives of the followers. No one can make another person develop. Development is always individual and it’s always personal. Now as a leader, you will need more leaders. But, before you need leadership development, you need personal growth. Growth is the elevator that takes you higher, improves your perspective, widens your thinking and deepens your understanding of others. Growth is what is missing from so many development programs. Growth is never a box to check or an assignment to finish. Growth is the distance you have gained over time from one point to another. Growth is where your muscle, your fortitude and your resilience are born. Growth is not a promotion. Growth paves the path for promotion. You can get a promotion and not grow at all.

Modern development has become largely irresponsible and immeasurable. It is irresponsible because somewhere in the last few decades development shifted from personal-responsibility to another’s responsibility. When I went to my dad at 16 years old to tell him I was going to quit working at Chick-fil-A, he said, “You want out of the dish room? Then work your way out!” He didn’t say, “Alex you should go ask your boss for a development plan and if he doesn’t respond, then quit because he doesn’t value you.” The reason that it has become immeasurable is because society has created a system where everybody can win and no one can lose. Success for me at 16 years old was simply getting out of the dish room making $4.25 an hour. Success for me was my first raise was $0.15 up to $4.40 an hour. The metrics of success have changed, and thus, instead of teaching people how to win we started talking about development. This subtle shift is the reason why there are so few people truly growing into leadership. Because, I stayed, suffered and sweated, I found success, because I grew into it.

Leaders are not Developed, They are Grown

We must back up or we are shortly going to find ourselves in an even greater vacuum of leaders. Leaders are not developed, they are grown. Development means very little any more, except as a leader, it is now your responsibility to see that everyone, at every time and for every position gets their individual developmental needs met. This is untenable, unrealistic and, frankly, impossible. It is the responsibility of the follower to grow as a leader, not the leader to develop the follower. The leader must create an atmosphere that accelerates and refines the growth process. Development has become invisible and intangible. Growth is visible and tangible. You can mark, chart and track growth. Development has become all things to all people and thus it means very little. Growth is real and undeniable.

Leaders aren’t developed in a crib, they are grow in a contest. Leaders have to be able win or lose. And they can’t all win. Losing is the pallet for self-reflection and self-assessment. We need teachers not nursery workers. The reason there is so much immaturity in our work force is that we have coddled an entire generation of should-be leaders by giving them nothing to win by working for it and allowing them advancement without sacrifice, commitment or suffering. Failure is one of strangest and greatest teachers of God Almighty for his humble creatures. Failure places you against you and you against others. Failure if viewed with objectivity is a lens that can actually clarify where you need to grow and why you need to grow. Without failure, there is no real or sustainable growth. Organizations that eliminate failure are actually retarding growth and devaluing victory. Life is a contest and the best leaders grow out of great contests.

Jack Welch’s Principle of Differentiation

The first error is teaching followers that everyone can be a leader. That is false. Everyone will not and cannot win. We have lost the principle of what Jack Welch called “differentiation.” Listen to what Welch said, “But differentiation is all about being extreme, rewarding the best and weeding out the ineffective. Rigorous differentiation delivers real stars—and stars build great businesses.” I strongly suggest you and your leaders read “Jack” by Jack Welch. Yes, everyone is equal in value in God’s eyes, but not everyone is equal in gifting, skills and abilities. Real stars require the polish of conflict, the rub of challenge and the shine of victory.

We may pretend not to like this statement, but all we have to do is look no further than professional sports to see how true this is: Home run hitters, strike out pitchers, long distance shooters, really fast runners, goal scorers, touchdown throwers, and trophy winners all make more money or longer periods of time than those who do not have those skills.

Welch continues, “They say that differential treatment erodes the very idea of teamwork. Not in my world. You build strong teams by treating individuals differently. Just look at the way baseball teams pay 20-game winning pitchers and 40-plus home run hitters. The relative contributions of those players are easy to measure—their stats jump out at you—yet they are still part of a team.”

Mediocrity: The Erosion of Excellence

If you want to erode excellence, then treat and compensate everyone the exact same. All you will get is mediocrity. People need something to work for and something to win. They need to feel the pain of defeat and the frustration of failure. Some of the greatest teachers on the earth are the invaluable elements of pain and frustration. Because, both of these allow a man or woman to measure their ability against their desire and see the truth of where they really stand and where they need to grow.

I’m Divorcing Development and Going Back to Growth

Development is now becoming impossible to measure, because development is now in the eyes of the beholder. However, growth is entirely possible to measure. The measurements of growth are set by the leader not the follower. I’m divorcing development and going back to growth.

I have simply had too many young, growing leaders demand that “I develop them.” Well, I’m done. I’m more than happy to help them grow, but I cannot meet an ever-moving target of their own design of what their development should look like. The Bible says the leach says “more, more” and that is exactly what development has become. There is simply too much information, too little adversity combined with too much impatience to meet the “more, more” modern expectations of development.

So, I’m going back to growth. I’m going to do what I’ve always done, and I’m going to reset the expectations of those in my organization: “I will help you grow, but your development is your responsibility.” I will meet, track and chart growth. I will not try to meet a moving end line that only sucks up my time and my leaders’ time and leaves both of us feeling used and unappreciated.

I will tell my followers, “I am here to help and see them grow, but their personal development is on your their shoulders not mine.” Development is now being demanded as if it is a follower’s right to demand from a leader —- it is not. Development is time-consuming, costly and difficult. It is a privilege. Most people no longer understand or accept that. So, it’s time to hearken back to whence we came: growth.

Growth and Effort

The great equalizer for a lack of anything (skills, talent or ability) is effort. Growth is always directly related to effort. There are other factors as well of course, but the driving force in growth is effort. And what I see and what I find, is that many young aspiring leaders are simply unwilling to put up or even match the kind of effort needed to actually produce growth.

I believe, growth is a distance measured over time. And I believe, development has become a position to be gained as quickly as possible. Most good growth requires time. Time demands effort and patience. You cannot jump to growth, but you can jump to a position. This is why development is much more attractive than growth. There are no shortcuts to success. But, many in today’s generations believe that they deserve success quickly, can already do your job and if you cared about them you’d spend all your time developing them.

The principles of growing people haven’t changed in thousands of years of human existence, but our access to information has. In fact, the younger generations, not only have more access to information than you, they know how to use and manipulate it better. Today’s younger generations are better informed on how to lead people, but poorer prepared to actually lead them because they are largely untested and immature (lacking mature growth).

Growth is always measured in the test. The Apostle Paul, arguably one of the world’s greatest leaders and builders of a worldwide organization (the Church) said regarding leaders, “And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless” (1 Timothy 3:10). Followers who aren’t tested by adversity and prove themselves aren’t worthy to be leaders. It is simple. Modern development has failed to adequately test the novice, immature leaders.

Tell them the Truth

Finally, growth requires the truth. Modern development has made it too easy to ignore the truth, excuse the truth or confuse the truth. If you want to see people grow in your organization, then you must tell them the truth, especially when it is offensive to them. You have to be willing to hurt their feelings, make things uncomfortable or upset their plans because you love them and want to see them grow up. The truth is always offensive to error. Error, and much of it, is found in inexperience and immaturity. Relentless pursuit of the truth and relentless speaking of the truth will create an environment where growth is the only option. I tell every person that I hire in our final interview process, “Growth is not optional: you will either grow or you will go.”

Regarding truth, the Bible says in Proverbs, “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding” (23:23). Real growth requires real truth, not your truth, his truth or her truth. If the people in your organization do not want to hear the truth, then they have no business working for you. If you need help knowing when to let people go, then you need to read the book “Necessary Endings” “by Dr. Henry Cloud.

Prepare a Table

In order to help someone else grow you have to first feed yourself. Others grow best out of your overflow. The problem today is that so many leaders are empty. Empty, either because, they have not learned to feed themselves or because they are so run down, they have nothing left to share. A chef does not make food to not share. The chef makes food to share. But, the chef has to learn how to select the food, prepare the food and present the food so that others may partake out of his mastery. Prepare the table, prepare the fare and then, invite others to eat with you.

This is what every leader should be doing: learn how to feed yourself so that you have food to share with others and a time and place to share with them. The point of investment is to produce a return: both in yourself and others.

You must water plants in order for them to grow. You are the watering can. You are the hose. You are not the water. Share with what you have learned. Share with what you possess and create an environment that is rich for others to grow in.

Finally, there is no growth without a test. If you want strong leaders, make strong tests. Growth is a high bar you either measure up to or you don’t. If you want growth, don’t lower the bar. If you want leaders, grow disciples. Growth is hard work. Growth is never quick and never easy. Good growth takes time, truth, repetition, individual effort and a skilled teacher. Good ole fashioned growth will never be beaten by modern development.