Letting my team’s career development slip when things got too busy.

Things would come up. A new high-priority project would take precedence.

We’d kick the can down the road.


“Well, each individual is responsible for owning and prioritizing their development.”


Sure, there’s some truth to that.

But it’s also a leadership cop-out.

Managers own a huge part of the process.

It’s up to them to facilitate and enable individual growth.

They also set the tone for making it a priority.


A “tone-setting” example from one of the best leaders I ever worked for:

When creating our team’s annual goals, my manager created a goal to promote/develop 1 member off our team each year.

It was a great way to show they cared more about our career journey than their individual team.

I don’t think it’s coincidence that it was also one of the highest performing teams I ever worked on.