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Modeling your own development, asking the growth question, and following up after learning—none of these require years of institutional context. They require intention and consistency.
After reading Monday’s edition, you may be asking yourself: What, specifically, does “supporting your team’s professional development” look like in practice?
Results from our Professional Development Survey point to three distinct behaviors. All three are available to a leader in their first year. And none require institutional authority you haven’t yet built.
Model your own development. Let your team see that you’re learning. Name the workshop you attended, the idea you’re wrestling with, the feedback you recently received and what you’re doing with it. This isn’t oversharing; it’s signaling that growth is part of how work gets done here—not something reserved for staff who aren’t performing. In the Five Paths to Leadership® framework, this is a Sage move: leading through curiosity and transparency rather than through the appearance of having all the answers.
Engage people in development conversations. Not performance conversations. Development conversations. The distinction matters. A performance conversation is about what someone is or isn’t doing. A development conversation is about where they want to go and what they need to get there. Even a five-minute version of this, asked genuinely and followed up on, registers differently than most leaders expect.
Follow up after learning. Someone on your team attended a training, read something, or tried something new. Most leaders acknowledge it once and move on. The follow up—a week later or a month later—asking what stuck and what they’ve tried, is what converts a one-time event into a signal that you’re paying attention. It takes two minutes. But its impact can be substantial.
None of these requires years of institutional context. They require intention and consistency.
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