INsight/ Developing Through Relationships

Manila, 11 September 2026 — Who develops whom?

Story

An executive wants a colleague to take greater responsibility.

Instead of continuing to provide answers, the executive begins asking more questions. At first, little seems to change. The colleague still looks for direction, and the executive still feels the familiar pull to step in.

But through repeated conversations, something shifts. The colleague starts thinking more independently, exercising greater judgment, and taking greater ownership. The executive starts listening more deeply, becoming more curious, trusting more, and controlling less.

Challenge

Who is developing whom?

It is tempting to describe this as the executive developing the colleague. Yet the relationship is developing the executive too. Each is participating in what is developing in the other. 

And the relationship itself develops. Their conversations go further. Different contributions become possible. Together, they now engage with challenges in ways that were not available to them before.

Question

Relationships do more than provide a context for development. Through participating with others, leaders bring forth qualities and possibilities in one another that might otherwise remain dormant.

Leadership development is not only about who each person is becoming, but also about who they are becoming through one another.

What are your leadership relationships cultivating—in you and in others?

Concept illustration generated with AI