Use Action Learning

One of your most crucial jobs as a manager is to help develop your direct reports' leadership capabilities. Action learning can help. through action learning, individuals work through actual business problems and apply lessons learned to new challenges. Here's how it works: 

- Assign: an employee a substantial, important project that is 'in plan' and for which failure would have visible consequences.

- Deliver some feedback that's relevant to the employee and the context in which she will be learning.

- Debrief her on the experience of tackling the project, reviewing with her the results she achieved and how.

- Articulate the results' business implications. 

- Help her transfer the lessons learned to future projects.

The more relevant the challenge and the higher the stakes, the more action learning stretches your employees and the more they learn.