Who Is Helping Your People Grow?

When I think about managers who help people grow, I think about the opportunities they create: a new responsibility, a thoughtful question or encouragement to tackle something unfamiliar.

Those everyday moments matter.

Yet LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report found that only 15% of employees said their manager had helped them build a career plan in the previous six months. It’s a reminder that development conversations can easily slip down the agenda.

Look Beyond Your Reliable Performers

It’s easy to give challenging work to the people we already trust to deliver.

They get more experience, more visibility and more opportunities. Others keep doing what they’ve always done.

For me, developing talent means looking beyond who can do the job quickest today. Who could do it with some support? Who hasn’t had the chance to show what they’re capable of?

Managers need to notice potential and create opportunities to explore it.

Turn Work into Learning

A stretch assignment becomes more valuable when the manager agrees what the person will learn, provides support and makes time to reflect afterwards.

What worked? What was difficult? What would they approach differently next time?

These conversations help people recognise their progress and decide where to focus next.

The same principle applies after a workshop. Managers need to help people use what they’ve learned while it’s fresh and relevant.

Make Development Part of Management

I created The Shift because these behaviours need deliberate practice.

We should equip managers to coach, delegate and have career conversations, then give them time and support to follow through.

We should also recognise their contribution to developing others when we review their performance.

If growing talent matters to the organisation, it needs to matter in the everyday management agenda.

Who in your team could grow with an opportunity and a little encouragement?

Contact me today matt@twentyoneleadership.com