Excellent leadership and seasoned managers share a common belief: the belief in human potential.
They believe in their people and they set the bar higher than individuals would for themselves. They know high expectations lead to high performance. When someone gives us a difficult task, we take it as an assessment of our ability. We then increase our level of effort to prove them right.
In short, when someone believes in us, we believe in ourselves.
So what’s a supervisor to do in the face of requests from A players for “Career Development?”
Here’s 7 Ideas to get you started:
- Find out what they want to learn, accomplish or create that would benefit the team – then have them research learning opportunities and bring their findings to you for discussion (be clear on budget availability)
- Put them on a challenging project that’s a bit of a stretch for them
- Help them find a mentor
- Have them be a mentor and teach someone else what they know
- Have them lead a thought-provoking book/article/Ted Talk group
- Have them interview 10 thought leaders in your organization/industry
- Invite them to participate in meaningful, tangible learning opportunities
Here's to developing your team members!
