Your role in development

 What I need is someone who will
make me do what I can. 

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Effective employee development depends upon your ability to match employee growth opportunities with organizational needs. However, while you are responsible for guiding your direct reports' development, your employees themselves need to own the process of managing their careers.

As a manager, your role is to:

• Help guide your employees by helping to match their skills, business interests, and work values with job opportunities
• Conduct frequent discussions of developmental needs
• Give timely and specific feedback about an individual's performance against established expectations
• Provide opportunities for coaching, when necessary
• Act as an informal teacher by being conscious of the behaviors and attitudes you model
• Work with your employees to draft individual development plans