Making Others Shine - Enric Arola

Making others shine is probably one of the most undervalued, yet crucial, leadership skills. Just a few days ago, I had session coaching with a manager from a company I've been fortunate enough to work with for several years. It's an advanced stage of the process , and the coachee is deeply committed to their own professional development and that of those around them. During the session, they mentioned something that made me think about a key skill for leaders and team managers: making others shine.

Those of you reading this article who are mothers or fathers will agree with me on the following statement: We all want the best for our children and sincerely hope that they will even surpass us throughout life in academic, professional achievements or, why not, even in happiness.

So much so that we seize every opportunity when we're with friends or colleagues to sing the praises of our children. In fact, we are primarily responsible for their learning and development in many phases of life. In part, if we look at it from a deterministic perspective, we are consciously or unconsciously sowing the seeds of some of their future successes or failures.

Interestingly, no one questions or finds it strange that parents would go to great lengths to help their children shine. We see it as natural, even admirable. However, when we apply this same logic to the professional environment, resistance suddenly appears: fear of losing prominence, of being replaced, or that the colleague is "moving too fast." It's an interesting paradox worth examining.

Why is it so hard to make others shine?

This bears some resemblance to the relationship between a manager and their team members within an organization. Obviously, there's no blood relation, but there is nonetheless a bond of dependence. In both cases, they are beacons illuminating the path for others who want to make their way within a larger system full of obstacles and obscurity.

But at work, the manager doesn't always make others shine like a mother or father does with their child. Pressure, competitiveness, mistrust, fear of failure, fear of being sidelined… There are many reasons why these leaders forget or refuse to give the spotlight to their team members.

These causes are not always conscious. Often, the leader themselves is unable to identify that they are hindering their team's performance, disguising it as "quality control," "necessary supervision," or "protecting the employee from potential mistakes." The first step to changing this dynamic is precisely to have the honesty to recognize when these excuses actually mask a fear of losing relevance.

Leaders who know how to make their team shine

But sometimes, and I think more often than we might initially believe, we witness these "beacon-leaders" who want their team members to shine so that the organization sees them as true stars.

This coachee of mine has told me on several occasions how much he values and even admires one of his colleagues. So much so that he hasn't hesitated to tell him more than once, "I'm a fan of yours," and to delegate management responsibilities to him, as he sees great leadership potential. Fostering a leadership culture within an organization is simple, although it requires a strong capacity for self-criticism.

Making others shine doesn't diminish your own light, it multiplies it

This is the foundation of leadership: not being afraid to publicly recognize our collaborators and even put them in front of us when we think their value contribution can be better than our own at times, without clinging to status, without pretending to have everything under control, banishing the belief that the person in charge must always be at the top watching over everything.

And this doesn't mean, in any way, relinquishing one's own leadership or disappearing from the scene. Rather, it's about understanding that helping others shine doesn't diminish one's own light, but rather multiplies it. A leader who develops people capable of surpassing them doesn't weaken: they become the origin of a legacy that continues to grow even after they are gone.

Another manager once told me something I still remember: "I work with my team with the idea that in the future one of them may become my boss.".

This is the resonant leadership that people and organizations need. And the good news is, we know how to do it. You can find relevant material in our latest post , Business Leadership Books

I'm sharing a lively video that shows the difference between the desire for individual attention and the desire to help others shine. When we give others the spotlight, the final result is more beautiful in the eyes of the viewer.