While I was a VP at Amazon I sent out the "Sunday Missive" to my organization of 100s. It was my way of updating and developing the whole team at once.

I couldn't work directly or meet individually with hundreds of people spread around the globe (a minority of my team was in Seattle with me). But with email, I could reach everyone at once.

The "missive" contained a mix of product and project updates, book recommendations, and development resources. Amazon did not invest very much in formal employee development programs - we were expected to improve ourselves on our own. By sharing what I could of what I was reading or thinking, I hoped to inspire others.

Some things I did that you can do for your team or organization today:

1) I offered to reimburse the cost of any book that someone actually read.

2) I shared my view of our projects, products, and purpose because people who know why we were doing something could then make their own good decisions about their work on the project. They didn't have to wait to be told what to do or to solve problems because they knew the goal we were working towards as a team.

3) I shared books I was reading if I thought they were good. Sometimes I forwarded articles or news. This was both to share specific knowledge and to lead by example in terms of developing myself.

Today, I still hear from people in my organization that they remember some of these Sunday Missives. Probably a few of them will make comments on this post about a particular tidbit they still use.

The larger point for leaders reading this - working to develop your team pays off both while you all work together and for decades afterwards. My last Sunday Missives were probably sent in 2013... and yet they echo to today.

Of course, one resource you can share is to have people follow me here or to get my free newsletter. I'm happy to do part of your team development work for you.

In coming weeks I am going to be writing more posts designed for leaders to share with their teams. For years I've focused on the individual and how you can grow, which I will continue to do. But I think there is a lot of opportunity for me to equip you all with messages you can share to friends, teammates, and organizations.

Much of what powered my career was developing direct reports and teams that both could achieve our hard goals and that wanted to do so. More personally, have people on my team who wanted to help me succeed because they knew we would succeed together was key. I couldn't have gotten to where I am without deep partnerships.

What do you do to help your peers, teammates, and team members grow?