Growth Shows Up Over Time
Most organizations say they value growth. Learning programs exist. Development plans are written. New skills are encouraged.
And yet, over time, many organizations do not actually get better at what they do. The same issues resurface. The same lessons are relearned. Hard-won experience leaves when people move on.
What I’ve learned is that growth is not about intent. It is about accumulation.
A culture of growth exists when learning builds on itself rather than resetting every few years.
What a Culture of Growth Really Means
Creating a culture of growth is not about offering more training or encouraging people to take courses.
It is about whether the organization learns from experience and carries that learning forward. That includes how mistakes are handled, how feedback is used, and whether development is tied to real work rather than abstract competency models.
In practice, growth shows up when people are asked to stretch in ways that matter, receive feedback they can act on, and see that learning influences future decisions.
When those conditions are absent, development becomes activity rather than progress.
Why This Is a System Issue
Growth is often framed as an individual responsibility. People are encouraged to own their development and seek out opportunities to learn.
That framing only works when the system supports it.
People grow when the organization creates room for learning, allows mistakes to inform improvement, and values development alongside delivery. When the system prioritizes short-term output at the expense of learning, growth stalls, regardless of motivation.
A culture of growth reflects how the organization balances performance today with capability tomorrow.
How Growth Breaks Down
When growth is not truly supported, familiar patterns emerge.
Training feels disconnected from real challenges. Feedback is given but not acted on. Development plans exist but do not change outcomes. Leadership depth looks adequate on paper but thin in practice.
These are not failures of effort. They are signs that learning is not being integrated into how work gets done.
What Changes When Growth Is Real
When a culture of growth is real, improvement becomes visible over time.
People get better at their work. Decisions reflect lessons learned. Capability deepens rather than turning over. Leadership bench strength develops gradually, not suddenly.
The organization still makes mistakes, but it does not keep making the same ones.
How This Principle Fits Within the System
Growth reflects whether learning accumulates or resets. It depends on feedback, opportunity, and continuity. When the system supports learning through real work, capability deepens. When it does not, development becomes activity without progress.
A Question Worth Asking
Rather than asking whether the organization supports growth, I’ve found it more useful to ask:
Is this organization better at making decisions today than it was a few years ago, and if so, why?
The answer usually reveals whether growth is actually happening.