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Going Through Growing Pains?

By Tim Elmore

Published: May 30, 2008

Good leadership generally results in growth for the people and the institutions they lead. Healthy leaders foster healthy cultures, which cause healthy organizations. All of that leads to growth because healthy things naturally grow.

Here’s the catch. Wise leaders recognize that they must monitor that growth. For example, when a gardener fertilizes her garden well, she must watch what it does to the plants. A good gardener may have to prune the plant so that it doesn’t grow recklessly and take over the entire garden.

Unmonitored, unwatched growth can cause damage. In the same way, as we nurture the transformation of the culture around us, we must understand how it will impact the people. So, what’s a leader to do? When you see your organization needs change, the temptation is to do everything at once. Wise leaders remember it’s about a pace, not a race. Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A demonstrated this in a meeting just a few years ago.

The executives met to discuss how to expand the number of store units across the U.S. Several of the vice presidents had ideas as to how they could become bigger chicken sandwich distributors; maybe even become number one in the nation!

After some time of discussion, Truett Cathy quieted everyone down. He spoke very deliberately; “I’m tired of talking about getting bigger. I want to talk about getting better. ‘Cause if we get bigger, our customers will make sure we get bigger.”

Nuff said. Essentially, Mr. Cathy’s “Mark Twain wisdom” boiled down to this: He wanted to improve the culture, knowing that expansion would follow a very healthy culture. Remember: healthy things naturally grow. When a leader wants to grow quickly, he or she often makes program changes, hoping it will make the difference and transform the place. I’ve found mere programs changes are temporary and plastic.

In contrast, organic change involves improving the culture of an entire organization. It’s like planting seeds in a healthy plot of soil.The growth is authentic, but it doesn’t happen quickly. In organizations, this organic change affects how people perceive reality; how they communicate mission, and how they experience community.

It’s genuine. It looks much more like a movement (of change) than a program (of change). Generally, programs start big, then fizzle and shrink. Soon, the leaders must look for another program. Movements, on the other hand, start very small and grow very large. But it takes time. It’s organic. It’s like planting seeds in a garden instead of purchasing some artificial flowers.

It’s the difference between an athlete who uses steroids to build muscle mass, and one who takes the time to eat right, work out, and build muscle over time.

One is artificial, one is authentic.
What’s more, not only is the change real, it greatly reduces the growing pains.

Tim Elmore is the Founder and President of Growing Leaders, a non-profit organization created to develop emerging leaders. Tim's four part leadership series, Habitudes, is a must have for aspiring leaders. For more information on Tim Elmore, log onto http://www.growingleaders.com.

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