Ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done, let alone grow your people?

When I sat across from a client last week—a leader in a growing, thriving business—she looked exhausted. Her calendar was jammed. She was juggling back-to-back meetings, responding to a flood of emails, handling client demands, and making decision after decision.

When I asked about her team, she paused before answering.

“They’re great people,” she said. “They work hard, and I’d love to spend more time developing them and handing things off, but honestly…I DON’T HAVE TIME. There’s just too much going on.”

Her words aren’t unusual. I hear this almost every week from leaders in every kind of organization. The desire to invest in people is real—but the urgent always drowns out the important.

And here’s the truth: what feels urgent in the moment often comes at the expense of what matters most in the long run.

So why do so many leaders push development aside? It’s rarely about laziness or a lack of care. More often, it’s the pull of these common traps like:

• Urgency: Looming deadlines push coaching to “someday.”
• Efficiency: Checking off tasks feels more satisfying than the slower, less visible work of building people.
• Firefighting: Crises energize leaders but keep them reactive instead of creating space for growth.
• Inadequacy: Leaders lack confidence in how to effectively develop others.
• Later: Believing “once things settle down” there will finally be time—but later never comes.

These barriers are real, and leaders can feel stuck between the tension to keep moving fast now or slow down enough to develop others. But here’s the danger: when development always comes last, leaders unintentionally cap their own capacity, weaken their teams, and leave their organizations vulnerable for the future.

The good news? Development is worth the time. Stronger teams:

• Multiply Your Leadership. Instead of one person carrying the load, you shape an organization led by many and multiply the influence.
• Build Loyalty and Retention. People want to grow and make an impact. Without development, they disengage. With it, they thrive.
• Create Long-Term Strength. Development shifts an organization from being one crisis away from chaos to being ready for whatever comes next.

If you feel stuck in the “too much to do, not enough time” cycle, you’re not alone. The good news is you don’t have to stay there. Investing in your people is both possible and practical—and it’s the single most important investment you’ll make as a leader. With intention, structure, and the right support, you can multiply your impact and lead with more freedom. If you’re ready to take that next step, we can help. Please call or email if you would like to learn more.

Written by Sally Bredeman​