From Nodding to Doing:

What Leaders Get Wrong About Developing Their Team

I came across a concept recently that made me pause.

Not because it was brand new.

But because it gave language to the way I think about leadership training and development.

It’s called Bloom’s Taxonomy—a framework for how people learn.

At its core, it’s a progression:

• Remember → We’ve heard this before.

• Understand → That makes sense.

• Apply → I tried it.

• Analyze → I see what’s working (and what’s not).

• Evaluate → We made a decision about how to improve.

• Create → We do this differently now.

One of the things I’ve come to believe about leadership development is that most of the time, we stop at understand.

We explain.

We clarify.

We answer questions.

And when people nod along, we assume we’ve checked the box on our employee development checklist,

But in my book, understanding shouldn’t be the goal. I don’t want to pat myself on the back for giving leaders and teams new theories and vocabulary words and move on.

If your team understands something—but forgets it as soon as the emails start piling up again—what was the value of the training?

If they’ve heard it before—but don’t know what to do with it on Tuesday morning—it’s not changing anything.

This is where the shift happens—from training your team…to actually coaching and developing them.

Most leaders were taught—explicitly or implicitly—that their job is to:

• explain clearly

• provide direction

• answer questions

• make sure everyone “gets it”

And to be fair, that is part of the job.

But if we map that onto how people actually learn?

That only gets your team to understand.

Real leadership starts after that.

If you want your team to grow, your role has to shift.

Not away from clarity—but beyond it.

So what does that actually look like?

If we go back to that progression—from remembering to creating—it’s not just a learning model.

It’s a leadership one.

Because at each level, your role shifts.

• Remember

  “We’ve heard this before.”

  → As a leader: Provide clarity

• Understand

  “That makes sense.”

  → As a leader: Explain, answer questions

🚨 This is where most leaders stop.

• Apply

  “I tried it.”

  → As a leader:

  • Create opportunities to try

  • Let them do it (even imperfectly)

  • Resist the urge to take it back

• Analyze

  “I see what’s working (and what’s not).”

  → As a leader:

  • Ask: “What did you notice?”

  • Debrief real situations

  • Help them connect cause and effect

• Evaluate

  “We made a decision about how to improve.”

  → As a leader:

  • Push their thinking

  • Ask: “What would you do differently next time?”

  • Let them own the adjustment

• Create

  “We do this differently now.”

  → As a leader:

  • Step back

  • Let them lead

  • Reinforce and trust new behaviors

Your job isn’t just to make sure your team understands.

Your job is to help them move from nodding…to doing.

What that looks like in real life

• Instead of fixing the email they drafted…

  → “What are you trying to communicate here?”

  
  

• Instead of jumping into a tough conversation…

  → “How do you want to approach it?”

  
  

• Instead of giving the answer in a meeting…

  → “What options do you see?”

  
  

• Instead of correcting after the fact…

  → “What worked? What would you change?”

These aren’t just coaching techniques. They’re how you move someone from:

• Understanding → applying

• Applying → analyzing

• Analyzing → improving

And yes—it takes intention, and it takes time.

It would be faster to just fix it.

To just answer the question.

To just step in.

But when you do that, you stay the one doing the thinking.

And over time, that creates a team that depends on you to move forward.

If you’re always the one explaining, your team will always need you.

But if you coach them to apply, reflect and adjust?

They start to lead too.

This is where development actually happens.

Not in the training itself.

Not in the meeting.

Not in the moment where everything “makes sense.”

But in what happens next:

• The first time they try

• The moment something doesn’t go as planned

• The decision they make without you

That’s where the shift happens—from knowing to doing.

A simple question to take with you:

Where is your team right now?

Do they understand…or can they actually do?

And what would change if you spent less time explaining—and more time helping them take the next step?