Creating an organizational culture of development to complement a culture of performance

To thrive, innovate, and adapt, an organization needs a way for people to feel motivated about learning and developing. However, learning and development are currently conducted in ways that are primarily in service of increasing performance, squelching the motivational benefits. In this article, we focus on the physiological correlates of this phenomenon. We explain that the neural networks and hormonal systems that underlie a person’s learning and development are antagonistic to those that underlie performance focused activity. Quite literally, at the individual level, they suppress each other. Since these neural networks and hormonal systems are associated with specific behavior, perceptions, decisions, and motivation, we propose that organizations create a culture of development that complements – and not supplements or is subservient to - the culture of performance. We explain what a culture of development means, what its critical building blocks are, and most crucially, why and how cultures of development and performance could co-exist in parallel. We conclude by offering an approach organizations can use to assess to what degree a culture of development exists and suggestions for how to build and strengthen such a culture.