This is the second in a series of posts exploring the steps that organizations can help their managers take to create development opportunities for every single team member—not just the “stars.”

Have you ever visited an organization where a whole department was pushing the bar higher every week, or where an entire team was engaged in “learning while achieving” mode? You can just feel the electricity. Maybe you get that image when you think of Google or SAS (two of this year’s winners for Best Places to Work).

Are you wondering what it would take to replicate this in your company? It doesn’t require a total organizational overhaul; rather think about it on a team-by-team basis. I discovered this when, along with my co-author Jeannie Coyle, we researched Exceptional Development Managers (EDMs). EDMs’ departments were beehives of both continuous learning and increased performance.

These managers adopt an “enough for all” mindset and assume that everyone has the capacity and desire to grow and be challenged. This approach is both democratic and generous. EDMs stop thinking about development as a few special assignments for a few high-potential employees, and instead prioritize development every day for everyone.

Here’s an example. After receiving feedback that her high-pressured team meetings were too focused on information sharing and little else, one of our executive clients worked on retooling her meetings to become more developmental. She introduced short action-related development tasks and thought-provoking questions, which she carried into her ongoing interactions with the team, even outside of the meetings. At first few people knew how to respond. But it did not take long for everyone in the department to understand that skills development had become a standard requirement. And now they love it—they regularly are in learning mode, whether or not the executive is there to spur them on.

EDMs tell their people that it is a requirement to grow while they work. Then, they turn their talk into actions. It is not about big initiatives; rather they embed growth into the flow of daily activities. They aim for a high volume of developmental interactions with their employees. These can be short, action-related tasks, including

• asking thought-provoking questions at staff meetings

• insisting on learning debriefs at the end of projects

• asking people to share what they’ve learned with the rest of a team

• pairing people with different skills for group work

• acknowledging and praising team members, not just for a job well done, but also for what they learned

• creating miniature learning events such as brown bag lunches

Just like our successful client, EDMs provide many reinforcements to ensure development is an ongoing experience. They willingly take risks, relinquishing the reins while their people complete even bigger stretch assignments. Yet they always are just offstage, in the wings, monitoring performance and providing feedback and support if employees falter (which they are bound to do). They’ve developed a positive rapport with each team member, which increases employees’ willingness to try new things and receive candid feedback. And, these managers constantly are searching for assignments and people to contribute new development opportunities.

Managers who use this approach report that it does not add more work, but simply is a different way to manage. Are managers in your company using approaches to ensure regular on-the-job growth for everyone? Please share those stories in the comment section below.

In next week’s post, we’ll examine how to shift work to refresh development. For more on creating development abundance, check out Wendy’s previous blog article in this series.