Performance Matters - The Healthy, High-Performing Cultures Issue - 20

T OLERANCE AND MARGIN
Another critical component of healthy growth is tolerance. This includes
having space in the business for mistakes and learning. It includes having
tolerance for inefficiencies that might be necessary to get things done given
other constraints. It includes having patience for leaders to develop and
grow, as leaders often struggle most to keep up with the demands placed
upon them by the growing organization. It includes having regular growthoriented
conversations that keeps people at all levels thinking about how
each person needs to grow to keep up with the vision of the organization.
To have tolerance, there has to be ample margin. This could be thought
of as financial margin-the financial wherewithal to create growth and
to invest in the support systems necessary for growth-or it can be
thought more generically as time and space for people to develop,
learn, share, rest, recover, expand, etc. Either way, having margin for
growth allows organizations to be intentionally conscious about the
cost and energy that growth requires and to have space for it built in.
If you've had a teenager or have a teenager (or ever were a teenager), you
know that growth is messy. Much like teenagers growing toward adulthood,
we make mistakes, we fail, we fall down, we do really stupid things. When
we're growing, our self-confidence, our emotions, and our trust in others all
fluctuate widely. Our energy levels vary widely. Whenever my kids were having
a crisis or a meltdown, my wife would either say " you need to eat " or " you
need sleep. " We need energy and we need rest when we're growing. Growth
sucks our energy, messes with our emotions, and increases our stress.
And what gets us through it? Resilience. Persistence. Commitment.
The one thing that helps with all of that is love. The love of parents
reduces the stress, calms the emotions, builds self-confidence, and
encourages persistence. If you want to have a healthy, growing
organization, you have to have a loving organization.
Just like loving parents, this doesn't mean we don't challenge. It doesn't
mean we don't set high expectations; it doesn't mean we don't push; it
doesn't mean we don't get frustrated; it doesn't mean we don't make
mistakes. It doesn't even mean that we don't say when it really is time
to move on to something else. Loving parents do all those things. It
simply means that we care about the person through the growth no
matter the outcome. It means we help them get through it and to the
other side. It means even if they fail or quit on us, we have the capacity
to rise above that, continuing to care about them and their well-being.
Healthy growth is nurtured with love. Love extends our care beyond the
transaction of the work. Love embraces the hardships of growth and says
to both employees and to the organization at large, " We're in this together. "
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Performance Matters - The Healthy, High-Performing Cultures Issue

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