Question for Joel: How can leaders help their stars win?

So my question this week stems from recent conversations with friends in senior management positions in healthcare, life sciences and technology.

The issue is that my friends are tasked with leading a group of people that don’t have the knowledge and skills to do the jobs assigned. Consequently they are having to do more of the work themselves and struggling to complete assignments and meet deadlines despite putting in a lot of extra hours.

It seems their managers are aware, one of which seem to be in the same boat, but no one is doing anything to address the problem. Two out of three are not coping and consequently, looking for new jobs. The other is thriving on being needed but understands the risk that he could fail simply because he can’t sustain the pace.

Some of the tasks asked of those reporting to my friends seem pretty fundamental to their respective positions. So part of the issue is probably attributable to inadequate or lack of training. But I have to wonder how much on-the-job training is reasonable to expect especially if the skills could be acquired fairly inexpensively thru other means. Is it reasonable to expect the managers to provide the training, find the courses and/or offer to pay for them or should it be an individual responsibility.

What else do my friends and other stars in their situation need from their managers to help them to succeed? And how do they go about getting it?