Ask a manager about their tasks, and you will hear: strategy, results, clients, processes. Ask about employee development, and you will hear: “Yes, of course, that too.” That too. As if it were an afterthought. Something for HR.
A manager who does not build successors has not thought their work through to the end. Development is not a side issue. It is the job.
A managing director I advised had to replace his best department head for four months following an accident. No one could step in. Not because the department was poorly staffed, but because this department head had not systematically prepared a single employee for a larger role in eight years. The damage during those four months was significant—not because of the accident, but because of the prior failure.
Think of the best bosses you have had. You probably do not remember their quarterly figures. You remember what they taught you, how they challenged you, and how they let you grow. That is your legacy. Not the projects you completed, but the people you developed.
Why does it still happen so rarely? The reasons are predictable: daily business consumes everything because development is important but rarely urgent. The system rewards those who hold onto their best people, not those who help them move forward. And the results are invisible; they do not appear in any report and do not count toward any bonus. Added to this is a secret fear that is rarely voiced: What if I develop someone so well that they become better than me? This fear leads managers to unconsciously hold people back instead of promoting them. Three levers break this pattern.
Many managers confuse training with development. This is a costly mistake. Training imparts knowledge: a seminar, a workshop, a certification. It fills knowledge gaps, is selective, and can be delegated. Development changes people: someone builds new skills, takes on greater responsibility, and masters more complex situations. Development does not happen in the seminar room, but in everyday life, in real situations with real consequences.
| Training | Development |
|---|---|
| Imparting knowledge | Building skills |
| In the seminar room | In everyday life |
| Selective | Continuous |
| Delegable to HR | Leadership task |
| Certificate at the end | Growth as a result |
Personnel development uses the 70-20-10 principle: 70% of learning happens through challenging projects and real responsibility, 20% through feedback, mentoring, and exchange, and only 10% in the traditional seminar room. Many companies invest their budget in the 10% and ignore the 90%.
The most important tool for the 70% are stretch assignments: tasks that challenge someone but do not overwhelm them. Give someone a task they have never done before. Let them lead a meeting they would otherwise only attend. Assign them a project that is a step up from what they are used to. The art lies in the right balance: too little challenge leads to boredom, too much to overwhelm. And factor in failure. Those who are challenged can fail. Your task is not to prevent this, but to create a safe framework in which failure does not mean the end of a career and becomes a learning experience.
A division head whom I accompanied during a leadership development program left the management of a difficult client workshop to her deputy team leader. It did not go perfectly. But the reflection afterwards—”What did you take away from it? What would you do differently next time?”—was more valuable than any seminar.
This is where it gets uncomfortable: Who could do your job? If you were to be out for months starting tomorrow, who could step in? Who has the skills, the overview, and the trust of the organization? If your answer is “no one,” you have a problem.
Organizations that depend on single individuals are fragile. Many managers secretly enjoy being irreplaceable. It feels like security. In truth, it is the opposite: someone who is irreplaceable cannot be promoted. And they make themselves and their organization vulnerable. Your job is to develop at least one, preferably two or three people who could take over your job. Not identically, not immediately, but in principle.
As Peter Drucker put it: The most important task of a manager is not to make the best decisions themselves, but to enable people to make the right decisions without them. Making yourself redundant is not a risk. It is the goal.
Every delegation is a development opportunity. The question is not just: Who can get this done? The question is also: Who can grow from it? Take employees with you into situations that challenge them: into the difficult client meeting, into the strategy discussion, or into the negotiation. Not as passive observers, but as active participants. And explain your decisions: share your thought process, make the implicit logic explicit. Development does not need large programs. It needs an attitude of seeing every situation as a learning opportunity.
Not every employee wants to be developed, and not everyone can be. Some people are happy where they are: no greater responsibility, no new challenge. That is their right; accept it as long as performance is right. Others have reached their maximum. Invest your development energy where it works, not where it fizzles out. The honest assessment of who has potential for more and who is in the right place is one of the most demanding leadership tasks.
It becomes particularly painful when the people you have developed want to leave. You have invested, promoted, and accompanied them, and now someone is moving on. Your first reaction counts: many managers react with disappointment or pressure. But how you shape this moment influences how this person speaks about you and the company for years to come. The best organizations think in terms of alumni: people who leave are not traitors, but ambassadors. They can become clients, partners, or return one day.
Use the moment for honest feedback: Why is someone leaving? What could you have done better? The answers are more valuable than most stay interviews you will conduct. A manager who never loses anyone either has the wrong people or is not developing them enough.
First: How many hours did you consciously invest in the development of a specific employee last week—not in task distribution, not in control, but in growth? If the answer is “zero,” start this week with a single hour.
Second: Who in your team is currently being given a task that challenges them but does not overwhelm them? If no one, then give someone a stretch assignment tomorrow and support them through it.
Third: Answer the successor question honestly: Who could take over your job if you were to be out tomorrow? Name the person. If no one comes to mind, that is your most urgent leadership task.
Employee development brings you nothing in the short term. No better quarterly figures, no bonus, no promotion. The people you develop might leave, or they might overtake you. The system does not reward it.
Your real job is not to deliver results. Your real job is to enable people to deliver results. Even when you are no longer there.
Learning to let go – Delegation is not just the distribution of tasks, but the most important development tool for your team.
Your best people leave first – Why effectiveness and development count for more than salary and titles.
All Insights can be found in the overview.
Proven tools and models for self-application are available under Solutions.
If you want to take these thoughts further for your company, a no-obligation initial conversation is worthwhile.
