Leading with a Developmental Bias: How to Prioritize Growth in Your Team
"The people we lead are like those apple seeds. Their music, their potential, their best contribution will come out based in large part to what we do with them."
This observation from Terry Cook's work on trusted leadership introduces a profound concept that can transform how we approach leadership: leading with a developmental bias.
Most leaders operate with a production bias. Their primary focus is on getting things done, meeting targets, and achieving results. People are valued primarily for what they contribute to these outcomes.
But what if we flipped this perspective? What if we approached leadership with a primary focus on developing people, viewing results as the natural outcome of growth rather than the sole measure of success?
This is what Cook calls "leading with a developmental bias"—and it's a game-changer for both leaders and those they lead.
The Developmental Bias Defined
Leading with a developmental bias means intentionally prioritizing the growth and development of people alongside the achievement of results. It views people not primarily as resources to be utilized but as seeds to be cultivated.
This approach recognizes that:
People have untapped potential far beyond their current contributions
Developing this potential benefits both the individual and the organization
Long-term organizational success depends on growing people, not just extracting value from them
The leader's role includes not just directing work but developing people
As Cook notes, "They have a responsibility to engage as well. Yet, much depends on what the leader does with them."
This balanced perspective acknowledges mutual responsibility while emphasizing the leader's crucial role in creating conditions for growth.
The Production Bias Problem
Before exploring how to lead with a developmental bias, let's understand the limitations of the more common production bias:
1. Short-Term Focus
Production bias prioritizes immediate results over long-term capability building. While this may deliver quick wins, it often sacrifices sustainable success.
2. Utilization Over Development
People are viewed primarily through the lens of their current capabilities and how these can be utilized, rather than their potential and how it can be developed.
3. Task Orientation
The focus remains predominantly on what needs to be done rather than who people are becoming in the process.
4. Replacement Mentality
As Cook describes, this approach often manifests as: "We brought you on the team, you have a contribution to make, we expect you to make it, and if you can't, we will find a replacement."
5. Diminishing Returns
Over time, this approach leads to stagnation. Without development, people reach performance plateaus, engagement declines, and results eventually suffer.
This production-focused approach isn't inherently wrong—results do matter. The problem lies in making production the only or primary focus, neglecting the development that enables sustainable results.
The Benefits of a Developmental Bias
Shifting to a developmental bias creates several significant benefits:
1. Sustainable Results
Rather than extracting maximum output from existing capabilities, developmental leadership builds expanding capabilities that yield increasing results over time.
2. Increased Engagement
People respond more positively to leaders who invest in their growth. They bring more energy, creativity, and commitment to their work.
3. Enhanced Retention
As development opportunities are consistently cited as a top factor in job satisfaction and retention, this approach reduces costly turnover.
4. Leadership Pipeline
By developing leaders at all levels, organizations create succession depth and leadership capacity throughout the organization.
5. Cultural Transformation
When development becomes a leadership priority, it gradually transforms organizational culture toward continuous learning and growth.
6. Multiplier Effect
Developed leaders tend to develop others, creating an expanding ripple effect throughout the organization.
Practical Ways to Lead with a Developmental Bias
How do you shift from a predominantly production focus to a developmental bias? Based on Cook's Trusted Leader Model, here are key strategies:
1. Redefine Success
Begin by expanding your definition of leadership success beyond just production metrics to include development indicators:
Production Metrics:
Projects completed
Goals achieved
Revenue generated
Problems solved
Development Metrics:
New skills acquired
Increased responsibilities handled
Improved performance quality
Leadership capabilities demonstrated
Knowledge transferred to others
Practical Action: For each major initiative or project, establish both production outcomes ("What will we accomplish?") and development outcomes ("How will we grow?").
2. Allocate Time Intentionally
Leading with a developmental bias requires deliberate time allocation. Many leaders spend 95% of their time on production and 5% (or less) on development. A developmental bias requires a significant shift in this ratio.
Practical Action: Analyze your calendar for the past month. What percentage of your time was spent on production vs. development? Set a goal to increase development time by at least 20% in the coming month.
3. Integrate Development into Workflow
Development doesn't always require separate activities. Look for ways to turn everyday work into development opportunities:
Assign stretch projects that build new capabilities
Create cross-functional experiences that broaden perspective
Delegate tasks that develop specific skills
Include reflection questions in regular meetings
Rotate leadership responsibilities within the team
Practical Action: Review upcoming work and identify three opportunities to integrate specific development goals into regular workflow.
4. Apply the Four Development Practices
Cook identifies four essential practices for development that create a comprehensive approach:
Discover
Take time to identify specific development needs and opportunities for each team member:
What capabilities does their role require?
What natural strengths could be further developed?
What growth areas would most benefit them and the organization?
What are they passionate about developing?
Practical Action: Create an individual development profile for each team member that identifies 2-3 specific growth priorities.
Teach
Provide the knowledge and information needed for growth in identified areas:
Share relevant concepts, models, and principles
Recommend targeted resources (books, courses, articles)
Explain the "why" behind the "what" and "how"
Connect them with subject matter experts
Practical Action: For each development priority, identify specific knowledge gaps and create a customized learning path to address them.
Model
Create opportunities for observational learning:
Demonstrate the skills or behaviors you're trying to develop
Invite team members to observe you handling relevant situations
Connect them with others who model excellence in target areas
Discuss the thinking behind observed actions
Practical Action: Identify upcoming situations where you can model key skills, and explicitly invite observation and discussion.
Coach
Provide ongoing feedback and guidance during practice:
Create safe opportunities to practice new skills
Offer specific, timely feedback on attempts
Ask reflective questions that deepen learning
Provide encouragement during the inevitable struggles
Practical Action: Schedule regular coaching conversations focused specifically on development priorities, not just work performance.
5. Create Individual Development Plans
Formalize development intentions through simple but specific plans for each team member:
Focus on a limited number of development priorities (2-3 at most)
Include both short-term (3-6 months) and longer-term (1-3 years) goals
Specify what success looks like for each priority
Identify specific actions, resources, and support needed
Establish regular check-in points to review progress
Practical Action: Work with each team member to create a one-page development plan that captures these elements.
6. Establish Development Rhythms
Create regular rhythms that reinforce the developmental bias:
Weekly: Brief check-ins on development progress
Monthly: More extensive development conversations
Quarterly: Formal review of development plans
Annually: Comprehensive development assessment and planning
Practical Action: Block these developmental conversations on your calendar for the next six months, treating them as non-negotiable commitments.
7. Model Continuous Development
Leaders with a developmental bias actively pursue their own growth, modeling what they expect from others:
Share your own development goals and progress
Be transparent about your learning journey
Talk about what you're reading, learning, and practicing
Demonstrate vulnerability in areas where you're growing
Practical Action: Share your personal development plan with your team, and provide regular updates on your progress and learnings.
Maintaining Balance
While advocating for a developmental bias, Cook doesn't suggest abandoning concern for results. The goal is not to replace a production focus with a development focus, but to integrate them effectively.
This balance might be visualized as two intertwined spirals:
As people develop, they produce better results
Better results create more opportunities for development
More development leads to even better results
And the cycle continues upward
The key insight is that development and production aren't competing priorities but complementary ones. By prioritizing development, you ultimately enhance production—not despite focusing on growth, but because of it.
From Transactions to Transformation
At its core, leading with a developmental bias transforms leadership from a primarily transactional activity to a transformational one.
Transactional leadership focuses on exchanges: work for compensation, effort for rewards, compliance for benefits. While necessary, this approach has limited potential to inspire, engage, and grow people.
Transformational leadership focuses on development: helping people become more capable, confident, and contributive. It engages not just hands and minds but hearts and aspirations.
As Cook notes, "We find few employees who really want to just put in the minimum hours to draw a paycheck. What's lying just below the surface is the longing to bring who they are and what they have to the table so as to make a difference."
Leading with a developmental bias responds to this deeper longing. It recognizes that people want not just to contribute but to grow—to become more tomorrow than they are today.
Your Leadership Choice
Every leader faces a fundamental choice in their approach:
Will you focus primarily on what people can produce for you?
Or will you focus primarily on how you can develop people who produce?
The first approach may yield quick results but diminishing returns. The second requires more investment but creates expanding capabilities and sustainable success.
Cook's model of trusted leadership clearly advocates for the developmental approach. By leading with a developmental bias, you not only achieve better results over time but also fulfill one of leadership's highest callings: helping others become the best versions of themselves.
As you reflect on your own leadership, ask yourself: Are you approaching leadership primarily as a means of getting things done through people? Or as a means of developing people who get things done?
Your answer will determine not just your leadership impact but your leadership legacy.
How might a developmental bias change your approach to leadership? What one step could you take this week to shift more attention toward developing your team?
For a full treatment of this topic see: Lead Develop Care by Terry Cook