Three Ways to Develop Junior Team Members in Challenging Times

Successful leaders understand that high-performing teams depend on more than just strong direction or high-quality outputs. Long-term sustainability relies on establishing a pipeline in which junior employees become future leaders and develop the qualities necessary to sustain the cycle of growth.

As such, leadership involves striking a careful balance between prioritizing the short-term, tactical outputs of a team, such as client deliverables, and more future-focused aims, such as employee learning. In my world of management consulting, this can be particularly challenging, as demanding clients and short project runways often leave teams scrambling to carve out time for focused instruction or to create development plans for associates just starting their careers.

When handled poorly, this balancing act usually results in dropped plates: developing junior team members takes a backseat to grinding out results. When that happens, individuals early in their careers find themselves focused on executing the "What" of a project output, with little opportunity to understand the “Why” behind it.

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