Companies love to say their people are their most valuable asset. Far fewer actually live it. Google's Project Oxygen found that employees rated managers most highly when those managers helped them grow their skills and pursue their career goals — the sixth behavior on the list.
There's a fear that holds many leaders back here: if I invest in developing my people, won't they just leave? Google's data found the opposite. The more actively a manager helped employees grow, the less likely those employees were to leave — and the stronger and more capable they became while they stayed.
Here's how to support development in a way that actually works.
1. Focus on Habits and Attitudes, Not Just Skills
A useful coaching lens is the K.A.S.H. box — Knowledge, Attitude, Skills, and Habits. When you develop someone, don't look only at whether they can do the job. Look at the mindset and habits they bring to it. As the saying goes, we hire for aptitude and fire for attitude. Someone may know how to do a task and still not do it the way the role requires. That's a people conversation, not a technical one — so take the time to develop the whole person.
2. Make Time for Assessments — and Reassess Continually
The average person spends tens of thousands of hours at work over a lifetime. That's far too much time to leave the fit between person and role to chance. Use assessments up front to reveal strengths and blind spots before you place someone in a role, and get crystal clear about what success in that role looks like. Then keep checking in — not just on how the person is performing, but on whether your definition of success in that role still holds.
A principle we live by at Institute Success: hire for the job as you envision it, not just the job as it exists today.
3. Build a Shared Vision and Nurture Connection
Some of your employees may have quietly "quit" long ago and kept showing up. Disengagement is common — people give you their time without giving you their best ideas or effort. One major cause is how people are spoken to, or not spoken to, by their leaders.
Today's workforce is looking for purpose, growth, and a manager who acts more like a coach than a boss. So create a shared vision of success with each person, grounded in what your organization actually needs and what they genuinely want. Show them you're invested in their growth — and mean it.
When You Know Better, Do Better
If your people really are your most important asset, treat them like it: give them what they need to succeed, and play to their strengths. Development isn't a perk you offer when there's spare time. It's core leadership work, and it's one of the most reliable ways to keep great people.
Start with one conversation this week: ask a team member where they want to be in two years, and what they'd need to learn to get there.