The idea of leaders grooming only a select few “stars” in a company is pretty familiar. For the past few decades, the collective wisdom on talent development has been surprisingly (or perhaps not) exclusive.

Many organizations have focused on cherry-picking a handful of employees with the highest potential (the “stars”), and then doling out the best development opportunities, perks, and promotions to that select group. Companies that follow this path feel that they’re devoting precious resources to the most deserving group of employees, and getting the biggest bang for their buck. The problem is that this approach leaves the vast majority of the workforce sensing little investment, other than encouragement to reach for tools and get developed on their own. What a loss. These employees feel less engaged and are not stretched to take on more challenging work demands leading to bigger results. Forum’s research shows greater business success requires employees who are engaged and challenged.

But the tides are changing. Many have come to believe that giving special treatment only to their star employees is bad for business. They fear their talented workers are moving on to organizations where they will be more appreciated and receive the development they desire. Or worse yet, those ignored staffers will stay, knowing that they’re not among the chosen few, and their on-the-job effort will reflect that spirit.

Organizations can do much better by requiring their managers to “create development abundance” as an ongoing dimension of the workplace. Savvy companies equip managers to continually spread development opportunities across all employee levels and functions, improving the engagement and performance of their entire teams, not just the high potentials. Managers then become crucial because they encourage their employees to work with others, gain new skills, and immediately apply their development on the job—ideal approaches for development that sticks. This ongoing focus on everyone will improve business and contribute to an inclusive and optimal working climate.

This series of blog articles will explore three practices that managers can adopt to create an environment that drives a healthy supply of development opportunities in the workplace for everyone. Explore how managers can

• employ an “enough for all” mindset and actions

• shift work to refresh development

• look to other departments for team growth.

Is your company equipping managers to create an environment that provides a variety of development opportunities for their people? Please share your experiences in the comment section below.