People Development

At this stage, you're no longer learning how to manage. You're learning how to manage differently for different people. Your team likely has a mix of experience levels, motivations, and growth edges, and the one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work anymore. This is where people development gets genuinely hard. You need to differentiate between someone who needs more support and someone who needs more challenge. You need to have performance conversations that aren't just encouragement. Sometimes they're about fit, trajectory, or honest limits. And you're probably starting to develop a lead or two, which means coaching someone on how to coach.

Key Behaviors

  • Tailors coaching and feedback to the individual. Different people need different things
  • Runs effective performance conversations that are honest about trajectory, not just current output
  • Identifies high-potential individuals and creates stretch opportunities for them
  • Manages underperformance directly, with clear expectations and timelines
  • Starts mentoring senior ICs who are considering or stepping into lead roles

Common Struggles

  • Invests disproportionately in struggling reports at the expense of high performers
  • Delays difficult performance decisions hoping the situation will resolve itself
  • Gives the same advice to everyone instead of adapting to the individual
  • Finds it hard to scale coaching as the team grows

Success Indicators

You know you're successful when you:

  • Each person on your team has a clear, individualized growth path
  • You make hard calls on performance early enough that they're still recoverable
  • High performers feel challenged and invested in, not ignored because they're low-maintenance
  • Senior ICs on your team are starting to take on informal mentoring because of your example

Mindset Shift

From:

"I develop each person on my team."

To:

"I differentiate my approach so every person gets what they actually need."

Questions to Ask Yourself

  • Who on my team am I avoiding a hard conversation with?
  • Are my high performers getting as much development attention as my struggling ones?
  • Am I building growth plans, or just reacting to performance issues?

Build These Habits

  • 1
    Maintain a development plan for each report that evolves quarterly
  • 2
    Before a performance conversation, distinguish between a skills gap, a motivation gap, and a fit gap
  • 3
    Create at least one stretch assignment per quarter for someone who's ready
  • 4
    Debrief with your leads after their difficult conversations. Help them learn from the real thing

Seek Feedback

  • "Do you feel like I understand what you actually need to grow right now?"
  • "Am I giving you enough room to figure things out, or too much?"
  • "What's one thing I could do differently to support your development?"

Signals You're Ready to Level Up

  • You've successfully navigated performance management situations that resulted in either real improvement or a clean exit
  • Someone you've coached is visibly growing in ways they can articulate back to you
  • People at different stages of their careers all describe you as invested in their growth

Focus Summary

  • Differentiate your approach
  • Confront performance honestly
  • Start developing leads

At this stage, you're past the basics. The real skill is differentiation: seeing each person clearly and giving them what they need, not what's easiest or most comfortable to offer. The best managers at this stage are the ones willing to have the conversation no one else will.