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Survey Questions: Developing Others

Definition: Developing Others is the ability to intentionally grow employee capability by providing stretch assignments that build new skills and encouraging employees to take on responsibilities that expand their experience while offering the coaching, tools, and feedback needed for success. It involves collaborating with employees to clarify long‑term career goals, create structured 6‑ to 12‑month development plans, and offer cross‑training and shadowing opportunities that broaden their understanding of how the business operates. Developing Others also requires connecting employees with mentors and subject‑matter experts, recommending high‑value learning programs, giving timely developmental feedback, supporting networking and leadership opportunities, fostering a psychologically safe learning climate, and recognizing progress, effort, and meaningful improvements. Finally, it includes removing barriers to growth, modeling continual learning, promoting knowledge sharing, encouraging introspection, and conducting regular assessments to identify development needs and future opportunities.
Training Skills
Coaching
Career Development
Developing Others
Coworker Development
Employee Development
Professional Development
Continual Learning
Continuous Improvement
Passion to Learn
Training
Example Questionnaires with Developing Others:
Example 1 (5-point scale; numbers; NA)
Example 2 (7-point scale; radio buttons)
Example 3 (4-point scale; radio buttons)
Example 4 (5-point scale; radio buttons)
Example 5 (5-point scale; words)
Example 6 (Pulse Survey)
Example 7 (5-point scale; item comments)
Example 8 (3-point scale; words; N/A)
Example 9 (4-point scale; numbers)
Example 10 (Comment boxes only)
Example 11 (Single rating per dimension)
Example 12 (Slide-bar scale)


Stretch Assignments
Stretch Assignments focus on building capability through challenging, responsibility-expanding work. This dimension is about giving employees high-impact tasks that push them beyond their comfort zones, require new learning, and strengthen their skills through real performance demands. It emphasizes structured support--coaching, tools, mentoring, milestone reviews, and regular check-ins--to help employees navigate complex responsibilities while growing confidence and competence. Stretch Assignments develop employees by immersing them in demanding, skill-building experiences that accelerate growth through doing.


Career Goals
Career Goals focuses on long-term direction and structured planning. This dimension is about helping employees clarify their career aspirations, identify the skills and experiences needed for future roles, and translate those aspirations into personalized 6- to 12-month development plans with clear milestones, learning activities, and targeted competencies. It emphasizes thoughtful dialogue, goal-setting, and roadmap creation--ensuring employees know where they are headed and what steps will help them grow. Career Goals is the strategic planning side of development: defining the destination and mapping the path.


Cross-Training
Cross-Training focuses on broadening employees' organizational understanding and versatility by exposing them to different roles, departments, and workflows. This dimension is about job shadowing, short rotations, observing specialized roles, and learning key tasks from other functions to deepen operational awareness and expand perspective. It emphasizes exploration, exposure, and adaptability--helping employees understand how the business operates as a whole and how their role connects to broader organizational goals. Cross-Training develops employees by widening their lens and giving them hands-on experience across the organization rather than intensifying responsibility within their current role.


Coaching
Coaching centers on targeted, relationship-based guidance that accelerates skill growth. This dimension is about connecting employees with mentors, subject-matter experts, and experienced colleagues who can provide advice, share insights, and help them navigate complex responsibilities or specialized skill areas. It emphasizes personalized support, expert perspective, and real-time learning--giving employees access to people who can deepen their expertise and broaden their thinking. Coaching is the hands-on support side of development: providing the expert guidance needed to advance along the path defined in their career goals.


Development Goals and Plans
Development Goals and Plans focuses on ongoing developmental conversations and structured planning that help employees clarify where they want to go and how they will grow over time. This dimension emphasizes regular check-ins about progress, obstacles, evolving interests, and long-term aspirations, along with collaborative discussions about strengths, improvement areas, and future opportunities. It is reflective and strategic--centered on building individualized development plans, refining goals as circumstances change, and ensuring employees have a clear roadmap for their growth. Development Goals and Plans is about defining direction and maintaining continuous dialogue that guides an employee's development journey.


Knowledge and Skills
Knowledge and Skills focuses on identifying and recommending the specific learning experiences that help employees build the competencies outlined in their development plans. This dimension emphasizes action--guiding employees toward high-value workshops, courses, certifications, training programs, and learning paths that deepen expertise and strengthen performance. It is practical and resource-focused, requiring managers to stay informed about relevant training options and proactively connect employees with opportunities that align with both their career aspirations and organizational needs. Knowledge and Skills is about equipping employees with the right learning experiences to build the capabilities needed to advance along their chosen path.


Providing Feedback
Providing Feedback focuses on giving employees clear, actionable guidance that strengthens their skills and improves their performance. This dimension is about offering timely, behavior-specific input that identifies growth opportunities, breaks down complex tasks, and outlines practical steps employees can take to build targeted competencies. It emphasizes clarity, coaching, and continuous improvement--helping employees understand exactly what to adjust and how to translate feedback into meaningful changes in their work habits and capabilities. Providing Feedback develops employees by directing their skill growth through precise, constructive, and supportive guidance.


Networking
Networking focuses on expanding employees' exposure to external ideas, experts, and professional communities that enrich their development. This dimension is about encouraging employees to attend conferences, workshops, professional associations, and industry events that broaden their perspectives, deepen their expertise, and strengthen their professional networks. It emphasizes external learning, staying current with trends, and connecting with peers and thought leaders who can offer insights beyond the immediate team or organization. Networking develops employees by opening doors to new knowledge sources and relationships that support long-term growth.


Developing Leaders
Developing Leaders centers on building leadership capability by giving employees opportunities to practice leading, influencing, and guiding others. This dimension is about assigning leadership-oriented responsibilities--facilitating meetings, mentoring junior colleagues, coordinating project tasks, representing the team in cross-department initiatives, and owning small projects where they must make decisions and communicate progress. It emphasizes experiential learning, increased responsibility, and readiness for advancement--helping employees strengthen leadership behaviors through real-world practice. Developing Leaders is done by placing employees in situations where they must act as leaders and grow through hands-on leadership experience.


Learning Climate
Learning Climate centers on creating an emotionally safe and supportive environment where employees feel comfortable learning, experimenting, and asking questions. This dimension is about fostering psychological safety--responding to mistakes with guidance rather than criticism, encouraging risk-taking, modeling openness about learning, and reinforcing that growth matters more than perfection. It emphasizes trust, curiosity, and supportive dialogue, helping employees feel respected and confident when tackling unfamiliar tasks or exploring new ideas. A "Learning Climate" develops employees by shaping a team culture where learning is encouraged, protected, and woven into everyday work.


Developmental Progress
Developmental Progress focuses on recognizing and reinforcing the growth employees demonstrate as they build new skills, confidence, and capabilities. This dimension is about acknowledging learning milestones, celebrating incremental improvements, highlighting breakthroughs, and reinforcing that effort and progress matter just as much as final results. It emphasizes motivation, encouragement, and a growth mindset--helping employees see that their development is visible, valued, and appreciated. Developmental Progress is made by helping employees feel their learning journey is supported and recognized, which strengthens engagement and sustained improvement.


Removing Barriers
Removing Barriers centers on eliminating the practical obstacles that prevent employees from fully engaging in development activities. This dimension is about adjusting workloads, securing tools and resources, advocating for budget or organizational support, clarifying expectations, and streamlining processes so employees have the time, capacity, and access needed to grow. It emphasizes enablement and support--ensuring that structural constraints, competing priorities, or missing resources do not hinder learning. Removing Barriers helps develop employees by clearing the path for growth, making it possible for them to pursue development opportunities without unnecessary friction.


Recognition and Praise
Recognition and Praise focuses on reinforcing positive performance and motivating employees by acknowledging their accomplishments, effort, and meaningful contributions. This dimension is about celebrating achievements--big or small--through timely, specific praise that highlights what employees did well and why it mattered. It emphasizes confidence-building, motivation, and creating a positive environment where employees feel valued for their successes, progress, and professional development activities. Recognition and Praise develops employees by making their achievements visible and appreciated, strengthening engagement and reinforcing effective behaviors.


Encouraging Introspection
Encouraging Introspection focuses on helping employees learn from their own experiences by prompting thoughtful reflection on successes, challenges, and setbacks. This dimension is about asking employees to pause, analyze what went well or didn't, identify the skills they strengthened, and articulate lessons that will shape their future approach. It emphasizes reflective habits, deeper self-awareness, and the ability to extract insight from real work--turning everyday experiences into meaningful growth. Encouraging Introspection develops employees by guiding them to think critically about their actions and decisions so they can continuously improve.


Promoting Learning
Promoting Learning centers on creating structured opportunities for employees to share knowledge, learn from one another, and build collective capability. This dimension is about encouraging participation in development programs, organizing learning huddles, pairing employees to teach specialized skills, and establishing routines where team members exchange insights, tools, techniques, and lessons learned from projects or training. It emphasizes collaboration, continuous learning, and building a culture where knowledge flows freely across the team. Promoting a Learning environment develops employees by enabling them to learn from each other and by embedding learning practices into the daily rhythm of the team.


Role Model
Role Model centers on demonstrating personal commitment to learning so employees see development as a shared expectation rather than a directive. This dimension is about leaders openly discussing their own learning goals, seeking feedback, staying current with industry trends, embracing new challenges, and showing how they reflect on their experiences. It emphasizes visibility, authenticity, and modeling a growth mindset--reinforcing that continual improvement applies to everyone, regardless of level. Being a Role Model develops employees by showing them what active learning looks like in practice and inspiring them to adopt the same mindset.


Conducts Assessments