Core value · Growth family
Growth
Becoming more than you were
Also covers Development and Improvement
What does growth mean as a core value?
Growth as a core value means steadily becoming more than you were: wiser, braver, more skilled, and choosing experiences, feedback and challenges that stretch you.
Standing still unsettles you. If growth is a core value, you judge a year less by what happened and more by how you changed: are you wiser, braver, better at something, easier to live with? You’re drawn to feedback, coaching and experiences that ask something new of you. Development feels like a basic need, and you can become restless in a role or a routine the moment you sense you’ve stopped moving.
What does growth look like in practice?
- You ask for honest feedback after a presentation, and listen hardest for the useful part.
- You look back at who you were five years ago and can name what’s different.
- You leave a comfortable job when you realise you’ve stopped developing in it.
- You apologise to your children and tell them what you’ll do differently next time.
- You keep a journal or do a yearly review to track what you’re learning about yourself.
When is growth overplayed?
Relentless self-improvement can turn your life into a permanent project. Nothing is ever quite good enough, rest feels like slipping backwards, and the people around you may feel judged for being content where they are. You can also move on from jobs and relationships just as they were about to deepen. Healthy growth includes consolidating: appreciating who you already are, and recognising that staying put can be a way of growing too. Your next yearly review could end with a short list of what you’ll keep exactly as it is.
Often confused with
Growth vs Learning
Learning is taking in knowledge and skills. Growth is about who you become: you can learn a great deal and stay the same person, and grow a lot through experience alone.
Growth vs Potential
Potential is about realising capability that’s already there. Growth is open ended: becoming more than you were, with no fixed ceiling in mind.
Growth vs Achievement
Achievement is reaching a goal. Growth cares more about the change in you along the way, so a failed attempt can still count.
Questions to sit with
- How are you different from the person you were three years ago, and did you choose that change?
- Which part of yourself are you so busy improving that you’ve never simply accepted it?
- When has staying put helped you grow more than moving on would have?
More values in Growth
Becoming more than you were.
About the author
Matt Rutherford is a Career and Leadership Coach. The Values Finder is the same exercise he uses with his coaching clients. He also writes Stuff that MattRs, a weekly newsletter with practical ideas to help you think clearer and work better.
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