The Best Leaders Don't Just Manage Their Team. They Develop It.

Ask most leaders across Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area what their job is, and they will describe managing: assigning work, tracking progress, solving problems, keeping things on schedule. All of that matters. But the leaders who get the most out of their people do something more, and something harder. They develop their team. They treat every interaction as a chance to help a person grow, and over time that turns an ordinary group into a genuinely high-performing one.

I have spent more than 35 years in senior executive roles at organizations including Honeywell, Johnson Controls, and Armstrong Fluid Technology, and if there is one skill that separated the leaders who built lasting, capable teams from those who did not, this was it. The good news, which I will come back to, is that developing your people is a skill you can learn, not a personality trait you are born with. Here is how to do it well.

Why Developing Your Team Is the Highest-Leverage Thing You Do

Two problems are colliding in most organizations right now. The first is a collapse in trust. DDI's Global Leadership Forecast 2025 found that trust in immediate managers fell from 46% to just 29% between 2022 and 2024. The second is that very few leaders are actually good at growing their people. McLean and Company's 2026 research found that only 23% of employees rate their leaders as highly effective at developing them, and Gallup found in 2025 that only 31% of employees strongly agree that someone at work encourages their development.

That gap is your opportunity, because developing people is exactly how you rebuild trust and unlock performance at the same time. DDI found that employees who receive regular feedback from their manager are 9 times more likely to trust them, and those whose managers actively support their development are 11 times more likely to trust them. Trust, in turn, is what makes people willing to take feedback, stretch, and stay. It is also a retention issue: DDI found that high-potential employees are 3.7 times more likely to leave within a year when their manager does not regularly provide growth and development. Developing your team is not a nice-to-have. It is the highest-leverage thing you do as a leader.

How to Develop Your Team, Step by Step

Developing people is a set of habits, not a single grand gesture. Here are the ones that make the biggest difference, and every one of them can be practised and improved.

1. Ask more than you tell. When someone brings you a problem, resist the urge to hand over the answer. Ask questions that help them think it through, so they build the judgment to solve the next one themselves. You are trading a little speed today for a far more capable person tomorrow.
2. Give regular, specific feedback. Waiting for the annual review is far too late. Offer honest, specific feedback in the moment, both what is working and what could be better. DDI found that employees who receive feedback from their manager are 9 times more likely to trust them, so frequent feedback builds the relationship rather than straining it.
3. Hold real one-on-ones. Protect regular time with each person that is about them, their growth, their obstacles, and their goals, not just a status update on tasks. These conversations are where development actually happens, and skipping them tells your people they are not a priority.
4. Build on strengths, then stretch them. Notice what each person does best and give them more chances to use it, then add challenges that push just beyond their current level. People grow fastest at the edge of their ability, supported rather than thrown in the deep end.
5. Delegate for growth, not just to offload. Hand over work that will develop someone, not only the tasks you dislike. Give them something meaningful, make the outcome clear, and then let them own it. Real responsibility, with your support, is one of the most powerful ways people learn.
6. Actively support their development. Remove the barriers in their way, connect them to learning and to people who can help, and invest real time and budget in their growth. DDI found that employees whose managers actively support their development are 11 times more likely to trust them, and that support is what turns intention into progress.
7. Build trust and safety. None of the above works without trust. Be consistent, admit your own mistakes, follow through on what you say, and make it safe for people to take risks and be honest. Trust is the foundation that everything else in developing your team is built on.

What Should I Be Honest With Myself About?

Let me be straight about a few things, because developing people is often talked about as if it were simple, and it is not. First, the encouraging part: this is a learnable skill. If you are not naturally good at growing people today, you can become good at it with deliberate practice, which means the capable team you want is within reach. It is not a gift reserved for a lucky few.

Now the honest caveats. Developing your team takes time and consistency; it is a steady habit, not a one-off workshop, and the results build over months, not days. You also cannot pour into your people if you are running on empty yourself, so your own wellbeing and development matter too. And this is not about being soft. The best developers of people combine high support with high expectations; they care enough to be honest and to hold a real standard. Finally, reading an article like this is a start, but lasting skill comes from structured practice and feedback. DDI found that organizations using five or more development approaches are 4.9 times more likely to see stronger leadership capabilities, which is a reminder that real growth comes from a deliberate approach, not good intentions alone. If you want help building these skills in yourself and your leaders, the practical next step is a straightforward conversation, and it pairs naturally with the fundamentals in our guide on how to develop better leaders. You can also learn more about Malcolm Gurley and why organizations choose Gurley Leadership Solutions.