Where it began

From the Chamber of Mines to Care & Growth

After an Honours degree in Social Anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Etsko Schuitema joined the Chamber of Mines of South Africa’s Research Organisation as a graduate researcher. Working in its Human Resources Laboratory, he studied conflict on the gold mines during one of the most volatile periods in the country’s history.

That work led to a framework for understanding trust. Asked to head the laboratory’s Industry Project and put his insights into practice, he developed what became the Care & Growth model.

The original research, conducted by Etsko Schuitema in the 1980s, demonstrated that effective leadership is essentially tied up with the issue of employee trust in management.

Its success in mining led Etsko and a group of colleagues to leave the Chamber of Mines and set up a consultancy, so the model could be shared more widely. That research still shapes everything we do.