Spend real time on growth, not just tasks
Regularly leave the weeds and talk about career, skills, and where they’re headed.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Regularly leave the weeds and talk about career, skills, and where they’re headed.
- Why it works: Day-to-day execution crowds out development, so growth conversations only happen if you deliberately protect room for them. Tying daily work to a longer-term direction satisfies the need for meaning and competence, which sustains motivation and signals that you’re invested in them as a person, not just their output.
- Evidence: Backed by observational / correlational evidence.
- Avoid: Only ever discussing this week’s deliverables, so the report concludes you see them as a task-executor and quietly starts looking elsewhere.
Why it works
Day-to-day execution crowds out development, so growth conversations only happen if you deliberately protect room for them. Tying daily work to a longer-term direction satisfies the need for meaning and competence, which sustains motivation and signals that you’re invested in them as a person, not just their output.
How to do it
- 1Periodically dedicate a one-on-one mostly to development and career direction.
- 2Connect current projects to the skills and goals they care about.
- 3Ask where they want to grow, and help them find work that moves them there.
What the evidence says
ObservationalPerceived growth opportunity and meaningful work are consistently linked to engagement and retention; competence and relatedness support drive intrinsic motivation in self-determination research.
Honest caveat: Associational; growth talk rings hollow if no actual opportunities or support follow it.
- — Deci & Ryan, self-determination theory (competence, relatedness); engagement/retention research on growth opportunity
Common mistake
Only ever discussing this week’s deliverables, so the report concludes you see them as a task-executor and quietly starts looking elsewhere.
IX Coach prompts a recurring growth-focused session and helps you tie each report’s current work to where they actually want to go.
Practice this with IX Coach →