Every weekend, when your people step out of the whirlwind and take a breath, a fundamental question bubbles up. Each is asking, “Am I growing?”

Now, they may not use those exact words, but their questions are of the same ilk. “Is this still the right work?” “Where is this thing going?” “What’s next?” “What else could I do?”

I tell people that there is a baseline shift happening at work. Great people–those with the combination of skills that will keep your organization consistently profitable–won’t continue to take good pay as a subtle apology for leadership lapses.

One of the lapses I see most is leaders who haven’t co-created a growth plan for each person on their team. We are so happy to get somebody in the door that we forget about what happens next.

I talk about this concept in my presentations.

We should be thinking about our team members’ not as cogs but as 3-dimensional beings. Each has a unique career arc.

When we see the full picture, we are better able to line up experiences and projects to help them along. When we do that then there’s a better chance they will stick around.

Forget about loyalty. This is about seeing things through their eyes.