The attitudes described apply generally to the development of ability. In other words, the more you can adopt these ways of thinking as a supervisor, the better you can meet the requirements of modern business for talented employees.

What kinds of thinking will help you and other managers to bring along good executive assistants and successors? Bear in mind that in more and more business this is becoming a criterion of promotion of management.

Interest- One of the most important requirements is extremely simple. Be interested in the subordinate or would-be manager, let him associate with you and share your thinking, let a little of yourself “rub off” on him. The psychologists call this “identification”. Whatever it is called, it shows up again and again in the careers of executives as one of the factors that they remember clearly as influential in their success.

Support – Another requirement is that while you obviously don’t want assistants flocking to you for advice on every move and decisions, you do not want to let them lean on you up to a point. If you are a young man you may find this awkward at first. Your reaction may be I have got enough on my hand with my own problem! Nevertheless, if you stay aloof and detached, if you take the attitude that giving the man support in a tough decision is babying him, then you are going to take away a one important kind of encouragement that an inexperienced supervisor needs for development. If you are located at a different area try using free video conferencing solutions to your advantage.

Focus – Sometimes, the bosses really interested in the progress of assistants managers but forgets to show it. He talks almost all the time about equipment problem, cause, volume and so forth and when he does happen to say something about administrative skills, it sounds like an afterthought. It is easy (and important) to talk about clear, objective matters like costs and volume; it is not easy for most people to talk about their own or another man’s executive ability. But if the boss never focuses on the latter, how is he to communicate his interests in it effectively or encourage helpful discussion of it?

Personal responsibility – A fourth requirement for developing managerial prospects is that you do not delegate responsibility for it to others. You do the job yourself. And don’t worry, if sometimes you seem out of step with what you hear about other organizations.