Setting a stretch task: development that happens in the work.
Personal growth sits in the top avoidable reasons people leave in our leaver data. Most of it does not come from courses. It comes from a manager who hands over something slightly too big, and backs the person while they do it.
One step beyond, a visible result inside a month, handed over in person with your backing, and a question at the end.
A stretch task is a piece of real work one step beyond what someone has done before, given on purpose, with a result, a date and your backing. It is one of the most effective development tools a manager has, and it costs nothing but nerve.
Choosing it
- One step, not three. Running the meeting they usually attend; owning the piece of work they usually contribute to; the customer conversation they usually sit in on.
- A visible result inside a month: something the team or a customer will see.
- Something you could rescue if it went wrong. If you could not, it is not a stretch task, it is a gamble with their confidence.
Handing it over
- In person, not by email. Say what done looks like, when you will look, and that you chose them on purpose.
- Say the words: “If it goes wrong, I will cover it.” People take risks for managers who have said that and meant it.
- Agree one check-point halfway. Between now and then, do not hover.
When it is done
Ask what they learned before you say what you thought. Then say what you saw, specifically. Then ask what they would like to try next. That last question is where the next stretch task comes from.
Write it down
Per person: the task, the result, what they said they learned. Twelve of these in a year is a development record no appraisal form can match, and it is the evidence you need when you say someone is ready for more.
The clearest thirty minutes in your week.
Send us your last engagement survey and we’ll show you what it’s missing – no charge, no deck, no obligation. Or start with a pilot or a 30-minute conversation.