Now the cynic will read this and think, "Great, this guy's advocating the Peter Principle." Hardly, I'm advocating the Curt principle:

• Team members with the talent to do a bigger or better job need to be promoted as soon as possible.

If you're a great leader, you will attract the top performers. And these performers are destined for bigger and better things. It's your primary job as a leader to develop them in a manner that prepares them to move on to their next role.

What about the members of your team who aren't looking to move on to bigger and better things? You mean the folks that are the consummate professionals, who show up every day, who keep things running smoothly, and on whom you can always count to do things properly? Those folks? Don't you think that you owe it to them to get them promoted as well? Huh? I mean promoted as in advertised / put forward for their great efforts—we'll talk more about them in steps 15 and 19.

But back to the great team you have around you . . .

 

Rule #8 - A leader makes sure that every member of his/her team has a development plan that is being fully executed.

 

I'm a firm believer that, if we are not growing, we are dying. Each of us possesses the capacity to do incredible things. None of us will ever accomplish all that we are capable of during our lifetime. As a result, there's always opportunity to grow or improve. Sometimes the opportunity is outside the workplace. That's absolutely fine—there's nothing wrong with a development plan that focuses on a non-work aspect of your life. In fact, we'll discuss in step 13 why a non-work-related goal is actually a good thing.

 

ACTION ITEM 8 - Schedule time with each of your staff to establish and document their personal development plan.