Everyone got the invitation
You send every supervisor an invitation to a development session next Thursday. Anyone interested in taking on more responsibility is welcome.
Three people sign up.
One person you’d hoped to see doesn’t. They’re good with new employees, and you’ve watched other supervisors go to them for help. You think they could do more, but you’re waiting for them to show some interest.
Later, you ask why they didn’t attend.
“I couldn’t get coverage.”
They asked two people. Neither could take over, so they worked their shift.
You hadn’t needed to get involved in coverage for the people who attended. One already had another supervisor on duty. Someone else’s manager rearranged the schedule. By the time they arrived, all of that was settled.
You sent everyone the same invitation. It seemed reasonable to leave the next step to them.
But you’d already started drawing a conclusion about the person who stayed behind.
You were waiting for initiative
You don’t want to chase people into development. You want them to have some say in where their careers go, and putting their name down seems like a reasonable place to start.
The supervisor who missed the session did take a step. They asked for coverage twice. You didn’t see those conversations. You saw that they weren’t there.
Had you never asked, you might have gone on thinking they weren’t interested.
It’s easy to do. You’re responsible for a lot of people, and attendance gives you something concrete to work with. You know who came, who asked questions and who stayed afterward to talk. You have less information about someone who couldn’t leave their shift.
That gap can find its way into decisions you make later.
Who comes to mind for the next assignment?
When a project needs a lead, you remember a conversation from the session. One supervisor had a useful suggestion. Another described how they’d handled something similar.
You can picture either of them doing the work.
The person who stayed behind hasn’t had that conversation with you. Their name may still come up, but you have more recent examples for the others. Choosing someone you’ve heard from feels well supported.
Meanwhile, the absent supervisor continues training new employees and helping colleagues through problems. You value that work. You may also have become so accustomed to relying on it that you haven’t considered what it takes for them to step away.
A person can be doing work that prepares them for more responsibility and still struggle to get released for the session where you’re looking for that readiness.
Read the schedule alongside the invitation
Before offering the session again, look at what attending required.
Did supervisors need to arrange their own coverage? Could they authorize a schedule change, or did they have to find someone willing to swap? Were their managers expected to make time for development?
You may find that you encouraged attendance without giving anyone responsibility for making it possible.
Then each supervisor had to work out what “you’re welcome to attend” meant on their shift. For one, it meant accepting an invitation. For another, it meant asking favors and hoping the manager approved.
Leaving those arrangements to individuals can feel like giving them ownership. It also means the people with the most help have less to do before they can say yes.
Coverage won’t arrange itself, and someone has to stay behind. If the same dependable person repeatedly covers while colleagues attend, that needs attention too. Their reliability shouldn’t keep costing them their turn.
You might need to agree on coverage before sending the invitation, or run the session again for the people who missed it. Where you can’t make it work yet, be clear about when you’ll revisit it. They shouldn’t have to keep asking whether you meant the offer.
One thing to carry
Think about someone you’ve been waiting to see step forward. Perhaps they’ve passed on several things, and you’ve stopped suggesting their name.
There may be a reason you don’t know. There may also be a condition you have the authority to change.
Before the next invitation, ask what kept them from taking the last one.
Field Notes
Read your own terrain, every Sunday
One leadership signal a week, read through the map, so you know where you're standing and what to do next.
Get the weekly Field NoteOne email a week. Unsubscribe anytime.
