Growth Through Learning

Whether your company has a staff of 15 or 500, the teams behind the projects are essential to the success of the whole. Instead of focusing on immediate results—which tend to have short-term benefits at best and often leave employees struggling to stay motivated—leaders can foster cultures of learning that prioritize the personal development of everyone on their team. The outcome? Committed and empowered leaders and team members, as well as sustainable growth that lasts.

In this episode, host Hannah Brown shares how one leader took a step back from the traditional top-down approach and the perceived power of having all the answers. She chose instead to share with her team both the responsibility and the pride of each project’s planning, process, and results. When employees are supported and given space to lean into their strengths and take initiatives that match their skill set and interests, they become part of a more engaged team with serious staying power. One that is confident in their ability to fix mistakes, solve problems, and achieve superior results again and again.

Discover the benefits of becoming a leader who guides rather than commands

• The team-based alternative to top-down leadership and centralized training;
• What it means to implement a learning-focused approach as a manager;
• Why spending more time in the short term helps achieve lasting outcomes;
• How sharing power, knowledge, and success can reduce stress for leaders.

Important resources from the episode

• Centria University of Applied Sciences “Accountability and Employee Performance Case Study”
• The Impact of Accountability on Organizational Performance in the U.S. Federal Government: The Moderating Role of Autonomy

Connect with the leader who share their story on the show

• Christine Helgerman, Director, St. John’s Christian Nursery School

Connect with Hannah

• To order her latest book, Into the Hands of Leaders: Employee Growth Through Learning
• Learn about the programs that help leaders and organizations develop a growth through learning orientation
• Learn more about Hannah’s work 

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Show Transcript

[OPENING THEME MUSIC IN]

HANNAH: In a world where quick wins and immediate results are often the focus, it’s easy to get caught up in checking tasks off the list and moving on to the next thing. But real, lasting success doesn’t come from short-term gains. It comes from building strong, cohesive teams that grow over time.

No matter the size of your organization, teams play a pivotal role in driving that growth. As a leader, you have the power to foster a culture of learning, where personal development is prioritized as a path to organizational success.

Throughout this podcast, we’ve explored how short-term, results-only leadership creates environments where employees struggle to survive. We’ve heard perspectives from several leaders. Today, we’ll focus on one leader to hear in detail how shifting toward a learning-focused approach can empower both leaders and teams to achieve sustainable growth.

What does it take for leaders to create a culture where collaboration, autonomy, and shared responsibility drive long-term success?

[MUSIC RISES]

This is Growth through Learning – a 6-part series that anchors employee learning and team development into the hands of leaders. It bridges the gap between formal training and learning that’s embedded in the DNA of teams.

I’m Hannah Brown. This is episode 4.

[MUSIC OUT]

In my experience working with leaders and teams, I’ve seen firsthand how traditional top-down leadership and centralized training often miss the mark. They leave organizations struggling with talent shortages and employees feeling disconnected and unmotivated. But I’ve also seen the difference it makes when leaders shift their focus—from just getting things done to building a culture of learning within their teams. That shift doesn’t just impact the team—it transforms the leader as well, helping them play an even more pivotal role in the organization’s success.

[MUSIC IN]

In episode 2, we heard from Christine Helgerman, who has been the Director of St. John’s Christian Nursery School since 2003, speaking about how she started her leadership journey in a very controlled fashion.

CHRISTINE HELGERMAN: So I think when I started, leadership felt very controlled. So I was really like trying to control not only the scenario, but the outcomes, the direction and kind of doing that by having an agenda and making sure that we’re following that agenda.

HANNAH: Over her 20 plus year leadership career, she’s learned to relax into her leadership role.

[MUSIC OUT/FADES]

CHRISTINE HELGERMAN: Now my leadership is still about guiding and getting to an end point, but how we get there, could have lots of turns along the way. And so I’m not controlling it anymore. I’m allowing that there’s a process that needs to happen as we kind of get from point A to point B. But it’s not always on the same thought process that maybe I used to have.

So you know, when I would when I would do some leadership things 20 years ago, I wanted to get from point A to point B and on the same trajectory that I had envisioned as, right so it’s like, I want to do it this way and this is how we’re going to do it. And so it’s easy to coerce people to kind of follow along.

But this was a change that I feel like now, as a leader, I give, you know an option that this is what I’d like to see as a vision. And sometimes even that vision gets changed because people add that input and then you’re like, oh, yeah, I’ve never thought of it from that perspective. You know, the point B can sometimes get changed. And I allow that, that flexibility. 

HANNAH: Christine describes herself as a fast mover and likes it when people move at her speed. But she’s learned it’s okay if it takes more time and that the team will get there. While she may get results sooner with her more natural fast pace, the benefits of a slower-team-based approach outweigh her solo approach to decision-making and leading.

CHRISTINE HELGERMAN: I allow that autonomy with staff. So, you know, the goal is this is maybe what we want to see, and what’s the timeline, but how do we get there and how do we get everyone to buy-in to that goal?

Because when people feel that ownership or they feel that belief, it moves it along. And it moves it along, maybe at a different pace that I would like it to move at. But I feel like you get better buy-in from staff because it’s, it’s truly like everybody’s moving the organization together. 

HANNAH: Christine’s team members contribute to discussions and provide their perspectives. Even if they don’t agree with the final decision, they support the decision knowing that they were heard and will be able to share their opinions again in the future.

CHRISTINE HELGERMAN: You know, as long as we can kind of agree that we’re going to move through this together. And we have people that might not agree with, you know, 90% of the staff are saying, let’s move through this vision this way, and you’re not going to have everyone on that. But I think that allowing people to have the voice at the table so that they’re heard, and they feel like they’ve had some input on how you’re going to move in that vision. You know, it might not have been their idea this time, but next time they feel like they’re a participant in that whole vision.

HANNAH: As a leader, Christine benefits from the collective approach to decision-making because of the shared responsibility for the outcome. If a mistake is made or something goes wrong, it doesn’t all rest on her shoulders. The team collectively owns it, discusses it, and learns how to do it differently next time. 

CHRISTINE HELGERMAN: I always feel a sense of accomplishment, when we kind of have something that we really need to tackle and it can be some really difficult situations. I feel proud that I don’t have to own all of it on my on my own shoulders. Like I feel supported.

So you know, when scenarios come up, last week, we had a situation come up, and it was a possibly a serious occurrence. And in my old leadership, that would have felt very stressful because it was like I am the one who’s accountable, and it falls on my shoulders. I feel like it doesn’t always fall on my shoulders anymore. Because when some of these mistakes happen as we move through the vision or changing paths, I can then go back and say, okay, that didn’t work.

And it’s not all on me that made the decision. We all made this decision. So how do we fix it and how do we move forward? Or how do we change or how do we, which way do we go? So it’s kind of taken that stress off of me that it all falls on me as a leader.

HANNAH: As the Executive Director, Christine works closely with the Board of Directors. She shared that her approach to leading also benefits the Board. They have greater confidence in decisions because of the staff’s ability to implement them successfully.

CHRISTINE HELGERMAN: I think from the organization, it’s important for the board of directors to know like when we are passing policy or changing vision, you know, they always ask how do the staff feel about this? And so I truly can answer that question. Right, it’s not just me saying, Oh, they’re all fine with it. I really have like an insight of, well, this is the challenges because, or this is what they’re feeling, because then you get some insight from the board too.

Because if I face certain challenges, they might be able to help and support some of those challenges along the way. So I feel like it’s really good from a board level because that is the board they’re always checking in to say, you know, how did the staff feel about this? You know, what’s their perspective? Because they are really the ones that have to do the work.

From staff, I feel like they feel like they have some ownership here. Like they feel proud of their program because they feel like they have created it as well. 

[MUSIC IN]

HANNAH: We’re beginning to see how leading with Growth through Learning encourages a more collaborative approach and sparks a shift in the organization’s culture. But how does Christine incorporate employee development into her leadership, especially given the small size and budget constraints at St. John’s?

For Christine, building capacity is key. She sees her role as supporting each individual by offering them the resources, time, and guidance they need to grow and succeed.

[MUSIC FADES OR OUT]

CHRISTINE HELGERMAN: So I think sometimes it’s finding where people’s strengths are. So you know for example, there’s a lot of little jobs that kind of sometimes need to get happen in the organization. So you might have someone who you can see their strength is maybe our social media. So as much as there’s not like this leadership role for it, but there is a role for social media coordinator, right? So we developed that someone’s in that role. So they’ve taken that piece. Then there’s, you know, we have an early years engaged where we have to submit our goals to the region, and I saw a staff who was really interested in writing the goals.

So instead, it’s like okay, I can’t give you necessarily a leadership role, but I can in this project specific to our development of our goals. So what I can do is maybe give them time out of program to work independently on something, or if someone’s really passionate, right now I have a staff who’s really wants to spearhead that project.

So that’s where I can give them leadership and say, okay, I’ll give you time on a program so that you can work on that. And that’s the things I can do to support you. I can give you the time. I can give you the resources you need. And then it also builds capacity. 

HANNAH: During the pandemic when there was so much uncertainty, Christine’s staff made a habit of checking all decisions with her. After the pandemic protocols were lifted, Christine noticed a decrease in her team’s capability. They had developed a habit of asking her to make all the decisions.

She started pushing back and intentionally not responding with an answer, but with a nudge to find the answer themselves or create a solution. She asked questions like, “What do you think?” “What would work best?” and “What have you already tried?”

Over time, her staff redeveloped the ability to solve problems on their own.

CHRISTINE HELGERMAN: That’s the other thing that I have really been working on is capacity building. As we came out of COVID, we saw they were still calling us for everything. And we’re like we need to rebuild up that capacity.

And so we’ve been really focused on you know, when they walkie talkie into the office and say, I need help, I need to go for a bathroom break. So before we run and do the bathroom break. Where now we’d say can you check with the other classroom to see if their numbers are low? And if so, like kind of throwing that back on them. And you only have to do that a couple of times. And then eventually they will do that on their own. And now we can hear it right like the walkie talkie to each other before they’re coming to us. Because I’m like they need to learn some of those those skills as well.

And so simple things. There’s going to be a supply educator in today. I used to schedule who’s going to go for lunch at what time. Now I’m just like, you guys figure out when your lunches are just make sure you know just make sure your ratio’s met. 

[MUSIC IN]

HANNAH: ​​It may feel easier or more familiar for employees to do what they’re told and continue on as before. Following someone else’s orders requires less thinking and less risk. But, it can also absolve the employee of a sense of responsibility for their work and the outcome. Ultimately this leads to lower performance.

Research in 2019 on accountability in the U.S. Federal government, found that increasing accountability directly and positively affected performance. Other research from Centria University of Applied Sciences, has also found a positive correlation between accountability and improved performance.

[PAUSE]

In episode 2, we talked about how leaders often feel a need for control – how they want to be the expert or the hero. But the result is an overextended leader who takes on too much for themselves, and an underdeveloped team that becomes under-challenged and unmotivated.

By relinquishing a perceived feeling of power and working to empower her team, Christine has both unburdened herself and given trust to others. She’s empowered her team.

[MUSIC OUT OR FADE]

CHRISTINE HELGERMAN: It’s a bit of a power when you hold all the information, you hold all the answers, you hold all the, right? Like so if someone comes in and they ask a question. Yeah, there are times that maybe I have to answer those questions, because it’s whatever. But there is still an opportunity to say hey, that’s actually in our policies and procedures. If you go check it out, you can find that answer. Instead of me just giving the answer. It might take longer, but at least there they have that time. It’s really important to give people space.

Too much when people ask a question, we’re very quick to answer. And not take time to just have space. And we have really talked about that here as a team that you know when something challenging comes up, especially between two educators, right, like this is the goal, you have to give space to each other. Because it’s too easy to just jump in and fix it. But just give the space.

As long as a child is not going to get hurt. And a child is like not hurting an environment like what are your have-to rules and then what’s negotiable, right? So it goes back to that whole policy, not negotiable, procedure totally is. Give people the space to work through the procedure.

You gotta trust that, you know, it’s not always going to go the way that you want it to be. But in the end, you will get where you want to want to go just it’ll be a different path. So I think that’s, that’s important.

And I’m a fast mover. So I like when people move like at my speed, but I’ve really learned to just, it’s okay. Might take us two weeks, three weeks to get there, but we will get there.

HANNAH: Christine’s experience provides a beautiful example of the impact one person – the leader – can have on an organization. The average tenure for Early Learning Educators in nursery schools is about 5 to 7 years. Christine’s staff have been with St. Johns’ for an average of 12 to 15 years, and some as long as 23 years! In fact, I know that when I take my kids back to visit, which I’ve done many times over the years, I know there will be some new faces. I’m also confident there’ll be some staff who have remained.

[CLOSING THEME MUSIC STARTS]

So, what’s the impact of this leadership approach? It reminds me of the saying, ‘a rising tide lifts all boats.’ When leaders invest in their teams, team members grow, develop new skills, and become more capable. As leaders build deeper relationships with their teams, trust grows stronger, and with that trust, delegating becomes easier. This not only empowers the team, but also frees up the leader to focus on bigger, more strategic goals. By leading with a mindset of growth and development, leaders have more engaged, committed employees—and stronger, more stable teams.

[PAUSE]

Now that we’ve heard how leading with growth through learning creates thriving leaders and teams, on the next episode we’ll look at the often overlooked benefits of investing in long-term development, rather than focusing solely on short-term results.

How does nurturing growth play a role in ensuring organizational success for years to come?

ANDY ROMBOUTS – I think I have an obligation as a leader, especially as a more senior leader as a director to develop my team and the payoff to the organization is huge. Because, you know, this encompasses not only their own personal learning and development, but it’s also so important to our succession planning.

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

HANNAH: For a more in depth analysis of why we need growth through learning instead of short-term results, check out my book, Into the Hands of Leaders: Employee Growth through Learning, published by Hambone Publishing in November 2024.

To learn more about developing a culture of learning, head to my website, hannahbrown.co.

Thanks to Mary Chan and Katie Pagacz of Organized Sound Productions, who produced, sound designed, and edited this podcast.

And special thanks to Christine Helgerman, for sharing her story.

I’m Hannah Brown. And until next time, remember – organizations that grow, grow their people.

[MUSIC OUT]

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