Imagine a basketball coach trying to develop players without ever watching them play.
No practices. No games. No film. No conversations about what happened. Just occasional instructions from a distance followed by an expectation that everyone should improve.
It would be ridiculous in sports, yet leaders sometimes try to develop employees in a surprisingly similar way.
We spend most of our time in meetings, email, strategy, or our own workload, then wonder why the people around us aren't developing faster.
Development requires proximity. I don't mean micromanagement or hovering over someone while they work. I mean being close enough—relationally and observationally—to actually understand what someone is doing well, where they're struggling, and what they're ready for next.
A good basketball coach doesn't simply tell a player, “Get better.” The coach notices the footwork, decision-making, timing, preparation, and tendencies that keep showing up. Because the coach has observed something specific, the feedback can be specific too.
Leadership works the same way.
If the only time you really observe an employee is when something goes wrong, you're going to develop a distorted picture of that employee. You'll miss the small wins, the progress, and the opportunities to reinforce decisions they're getting right.
You'll also miss early signs that someone needs support.
This matters even more as teams become distributed and leaders may not physically work next to employees every day. Fortunately, proximity isn't exclusively physical.
Do you know what your people are working on? Do you understand where they're getting stuck? Have you seen enough of their work to provide feedback on more than the final result?
Do you know what they want to learn next? When you give feedback, can you connect it to something you've actually observed?
And maybe most importantly, do they experience you as someone invested in their development or primarily as someone who evaluates their output?
Great coaches don't stand on the other side of the field and yell, “Develop!” They get close enough to see, teach, encourage, challenge, and eventually step back as the player becomes more capable.
Leaders don't need to be involved in everything their people do. In fact, they shouldn't be.
But if you want to help someone grow, you need enough connection to understand what growth actually looks like for that person.
