Are You Developing Your Best People or Just Giving Them More Work?

For much of my career, I was rewarded for being good at work I wasn’t really built to do.

But it took me a long time to realize this.

I was an engineer and a project manager. And I was good at details.

I could take a complicated project, organize it, keep track of everything that needed to happen, and drive it all the way to completion.

So people kept giving me more opportunities to do exactly that.

It made perfect sense.

If Greg is good at getting complicated projects across the finish line, give the next complicated project to Greg.

There’s just one problem.

Being good at something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the work you should keep doing.

I didn’t fully understand this until much later in my career.

The work that energized me most wasn’t managing all those details. It was leading teams, coaching people, and helping them develop.

I’ve realized since then how easy it is for leaders to make the same mistake with our best people.

We find the person we can count on.

When a customer has a problem, we give it to Susan because Susan will take care of it.

When a project gets into trouble, we call Carlos because Carlos will get it back on track.

When something absolutely has to get done by Friday, we know exactly who to ask.

And because they’re good at it, we keep giving them more.

Eventually, we’ve built their job around what they’ve proven they can do.

But have we ever stopped to ask if that’s what they want?

That’s one reason I encourage leaders to create an Individual Development Plan with each person on their team.

It starts with questions about the person’s career interests, goals, and aspirations. Then we look at the strengths they can leverage, where they need to develop, and the experiences that will help them get there.

Notice I said experiences.

Development doesn’t have to mean sending them to a class.

Sometimes the best development opportunity is simply giving someone a chance to do something they haven’t done before.

I talked about an example of this recently with Michael Morrison on his Small Business Pivots podcast.

Years ago, I worked with a young engineer who started with us as an intern.

I didn’t hand him a major leadership responsibility and hope for the best.

I gave him opportunities to present his work.

Then opportunities to take on more responsibility.

Eventually, I put him in charge of a group of interns. He could assign their work and lead them, while I retained responsibility for things like their performance reviews.

It gave him a chance to lead without putting him, the interns, or the business at unnecessary risk.

And it gave me a chance to see what he could do.

Over time, those opportunities got bigger. And so did his impact on our business.

He became one of the top leaders in our business unit.

That’s what developing people can look like.

Not simply giving your reliable people more.

Giving them opportunities that help them grow.

So think about the person on your team you trust the most.

What work do you automatically send their way because you know they’ll handle it?

Then ask yourself a different question:

Is that work helping them become who they want to become?

If you don’t know the answer, that might be a great conversation to have this week.

Michael and I talked about this and quite a bit more during our conversation on Small Business Pivots.

You can listen to ​my conversation with Michael Morrison on Apple Podcasts​ or on whatever platform you prefer.

Or you can ​watch us on YouTube

Helping you lead with clarity and confidence,

Greg

P.S. If you want to get better at developing the people on your team, I’d love to share what I’ve learned. I’ve dedicated time on my calendar to help leaders just like you through a complimentary coaching call. Grab a time using this scheduling link and let’s talk.