When Can Care & Growth be Implemented?

The Care & Growth Model can only be implemented when things are going well. This statement assumes that the implementation of the Care & Growth Model requires extra activities on the part of leaders; activities which require additional time and resources. Therefore, the model can only be implemented when things are going well. This is another way of saying that the leader’s job is to achieve results through people; and caring for and growing people is something extra the leader has to do.  So, the leader can only do these extra things if he has the time and resources.

What we are arguing for in this model is that instead of using people to achieve tasks and results, the successful leader uses tasks and results to enable people.  We are not arguing that the leader has to perform an extra set of Care & Growth activities, in addition to what she is already doing.  We are saying that the leader has only to change her intention while doing what she has to do on a routine basis.  In other words, in every engagement with employees, the successful leader cultivates, within herself, the intent to serve the employees unconditionally.  A change in intent requires no additional time or resource.  It is primarily concerned with why (intent) a leader does something, not necessarily what (activity) a leader does.

Having said that, it is true that changing the why of leadership has implications for the how and what of leadership also.  In other words, implementation of the model does require the leader to provide more time and attention to employees and may also entail some additional resources in the provision of means and ability for people to do their jobs.  However, for a leader who understands his job, the time, attention, means and ability he gives his employees are not something extra he has to do in addition to getting results, it is his job.

Furthermore, only when people’s wills are engaged and they have the necessary means and ability can they be expected to deliver results.  Care & Growth appears to be an add-on only to those who are still convinced that their job as the leader is to get results by using people. It is precisely because managers at every level of the hierarchy think that their job is to deliver results that some organizations experience severe problems, which could be averted if leaders were doing their jobs – caring for and growing their people – correctly[1].

Additionally, an implication of the misconception that the Care & Growth Model cannot be implemented during difficulties is that your people don’t matter during such times.  Such an approach is likely to have disastrous consequences for an enterprise.  More than at any other time, you need your people to be loyal and go the extra mile when there is a problem.  Our own work with clients demonstrates[2] that when leaders care for and grow their employees, the organization performs well even when faced with formidable external challenges that they cannot influence. In other words, by influencing what they can – their own leadership – and eliciting the willingness of the average employee to go the extra mile, leaders and enterprises can do well even when market conditions are not conducive.