I almost killed one of my cycads recently, not from neglect, but from too much care.
You could say I overly managed the poor thing.
These ancient palm-like plants have been around since the Jurassic period and were a favourite snack for dinosaurs. We inherited a few when we moved into our home, and mostly they’ve continued to exist quietly, minding their own business.
At various stages, some have been active. Most recently, one began to push out new green shoots. I was delighted and also on alert. From experience, I knew that what often follows is the arrival of the Cycad Moths, who love to devour the soft green leaves.
So, wanting to protect it, I covered the new growth with netting, something that had worked before. It felt like the right thing to do.
For a while, all looked well. Until one hot day, perhaps on instinct, I peeked under the netting and found the new shoots shrivelled up and dried out. The net that I had carefully placed, meaning to provide protection, had trapped heat and humidity, blocking airflow and suffocating the tender leaves.
My good intentions had backfired!
Standing there looking at the shrivelled leaves, I realised how easy it is to do the same thing in other situations. I’d wanted to protect the plant, to make sure it thrived, but in my effort to control the outcome, I’d smothered its growth instead.
It struck me how often we do this with people or projects. We step in too quickly, overmanage, or hold on too tightly, convinced we’re helping. In our good intentions to make things work, we can end up blocking the very conditions that allow things to grow on their own.
We care so much or want to get things “right” that we smother ideas, projects, or people before they’ve had a chance to grow. We rush in. We micro-manage. We reuse old solutions, even though the context has changed.
Just like plants, ideas and people need space to breathe and the right conditions to thrive. This is an evergreen (pardon the pun) leadership and facilitation truth: there is always a tension between care and control.
Here’s what my garden reminded me about creative leadership and facilitation:
🌱 Notice before acting. Pay attention to what’s really needed. Is your help helpful, or just habit?
🌿 Hold lightly. Not everything needs to be managed immediately, or sometimes at all.
🌾 Don’t assume the past fits the present. Conditions change; so must our thinking.
🌼 Support without smothering. The right kind of attention makes all the difference.
🌳 Let things have a life of their own. Sometimes care means letting go.
The cycad will recover. They’re incredibly resilient, after all. And next time, I’ll try not to confuse care with control.
Have you ever seen a good idea, team, or project wilt under too much “protection”?
How do you walk the line between care, control, and letting go?
Cycad consulting may not be immediately on my radar, but helping teams and leaders create the space to breathe, grow, and thrive is right up my garden path.
Let’s cultivate that together. Contact me here →