Too many companies believe that leaders are born. That may be true to a certain extent, but I know from experience that leaders are created. Yes, we all have natural abilities, but our natural strengths must be honed and adapted. With the right support and leadership development training, anyone can become a leader.
Unfortunately, not all companies understand the importance of leadership support. In fact, a survey conducted by Training magazine and Wilson Learning Worldwide Inc. revealed that in 2021, companies only invested 25% of their total training budgets on leadership development — a 5% decrease from 2017.
Leadership training is essential for employee retention and growth and ultimately a company’s long-term success. Here are five ways to use leadership development to create leaders in your workplace.
Stop Telling & Start Empowering
Too many leaders enjoy the sound of their own voices, but great leaders do more than dictate. They empower people to make decisions that support the goals and vision of the organization.
I have been fortunate to have a few great leaders in my professional life. They inspired me, allowed me to make mistakes, and coached me through the difficulties I often created. In the end, we developed better solutions. My leader-mentors saw potential and pushed me to participate fully in developing other leaders.
Keep a full toolbox of leadership development ideas at your fingertips. Actions like asking a potential leader to take on a new challenging, short-term assignment or assigning them to take on a new task within team meetings can expand their responsibilities and give you the opportunity to see what they do with the new role.
Identify the Diamonds in the Rough
Strong potential leaders can be found at all levels within an organization, not just among managers. You should constantly be scanning the workplace to build a pipeline for future leaders — a crucial activity to ensure a sustainable, competitive organization.
Employees with significant potential may fall under the radar because of their age, experience, or middle managers who keep them hidden, so watch out for unconscious bias that creeps into your workplace culture.
When it comes to identifying potential leaders for further leadership development training, consider the following criteria: values, performance, resume, education, drive and determination, popularity, goals, and successes.
Live Your Mission, Vision & Values
Much more is caught than taught. Authentic leaders become real-life models for their companies’ missions and values. When they make mistakes, they are self-aware enough to admit it with vulnerability and correct their way; they don’t defensively blame others or circumstances but rather own up to their shortcomings.
Mutual accountability goes a long way in gaining your employees’ trust and encouraging effective communication and collaboration. Your team will learn more about leadership by seeing you, their leader, live by the company’s values and own up to your mistakes. Plus, they’ll feel more comfortable taking risks and making mistakes of their own.
Build Relationships
Titles and positions of authority are not what make a leader. Our professional relationships are what build our credibility and influence. It’s vital for you to not only foster strong relationships with your employees but also center your company’s leadership development training around relationship building.
Consider why you naturally gravitate to certain individuals while avoiding others. Is it due to personality compatibility? Common interests? How will you ever discover that potential diamond-in-the-rough leader without expanding your relationships?
By mapping out a network of your company-wide relationships, you can highlight where you need to add effort and intentionality. Leadership is essential for creating a unified workplace, so encourage your employees to do the same. This will enable you to note the employees who take your guidance to heart and could be good potential future leaders.
Keep Your Promises
Skepticism and doubt are so pervasive nowadays that it’s refreshing and transformative when people make and keep promises. We are surrounded by people who hedge their promises in “maybe,” or “I’ll try,” or “I’m working on that” that we are encouraged by those who don’t under- or over-promise and then actually follow through.
Great leaders are careful with their promises but make them nonetheless. They work to make the commitment a reality. The extra effort serves as a role model, strengthens relationships, and creates loyalty between the leader and his or her team.
Leadership is ultimately influencing others, and effective leadership development is fundamental to what great leaders do. For our firms to remain healthy and sustainable, we must avoid chaotic, disorganized leader development and focus on supporting our employees’ professional growth.
What does your company do — or plan to do — to encourage leadership development and training? Let me know in the comments!