Leadership is not only a required skill, but it is one of the hardest to develop correctly if you want to have successful leaders in your company. There are countless books on how to be a leader, develop leadership skills, and obtain leadership positions. The real question is determining if leadership skills can be gained from reading a book or if this is something that needs hands-on practice.
Leaders are not necessarily trained; they are developed. Many companies think they can just give their employees, especially managers, the material on how to be good leaders and miraculously they will transform into one. Leaders need to be coached, mentored, disciplined, and developed. The first step comes with providing greater responsibility.
The longer a company waits to start developing leaders, the more bad habits their future leaders will pick up that will be harder to get rid of. Not just anyone can be a leader. True leaders will be able to take on the role of having to bend and twist to make the position look right. People that want to be leaders think they need to rush in to save the day and lead their team through the challenge.
A true leader knows that they cannot run a company by themselves. A company is based on a group of leaders working together to motivate and inspire their teams. When a leader cannot find a way to inspire and guide a team to accomplish a task, then they are not a true leader. Anyone can be placed into a position of power. What that they do with that power is a sign of what leadership skills they truly possess.
Leaders find a way to bring together a team of individuals with different skills and abilities. They can find solutions by using their team’s strengths and are then able to execute a plan to get to that solution. Being able to do this over and over again takes great leadership abilities because society is constantly changing, requiring innovation and collaboration.
As a company trying to grow its employees into leaders, here are five strategies to get started:
- Networking
Teaching your employees how to network properly and efficiently will give them the tools to find resources to accomplish projects. Being able to make connections with strangers quickly and effortlessly in essential to a leader’s success. Learning this skill can be obtained by attending networking events. Start with small events at your company like potlucks, after-work events, and sponsored meals. Gradually start encouraging and bringing those that exhibit a skill for networking to attend other events outside of the company with the company’s top leaders.
- Experience
The kinds of experience your employees receive will affect the type of abilities they develop. When giving out assignments, consider what kind of experience they will gain. If there is a specific skill you want an employee to learn, give them an assignment that will help strengthen it. For example, if public speaking is something they need to work on, invite that employee to attend a meeting where you give a regular presentation. After a few meetings, invite that employee to give the presentation in your place. You can also let employees try other positions within the company so that they can understand the responsibilities and roles of that position and develop more skills.
- Struggle
Leaders become stronger when they are allowed to struggle a little. Stumbling along the way helps the employee learn what does and doesn’t work. An employee that never struggles will not know how to cope when hard times eventually come. Encourage those you are developing into leaders to find how to do something on their own. If you give them the task of making a budget, you should direct them to the finance department and let them do the rest on their own. Provide support when it is needed but give them freedom to try and figure things out.
- Mentorship
There are some studies that show how beneficial mentors can be to a company. Forming a mentor-mentee relationship allows the employee to continue receiving advice and guidance towards forming greater leadership skills. A mentor can show their mentee the ropes of leadership and let mentees test out theories and ideas on someone that has experience. Reading the leadership books with a mentor is a great opportunity to discuss what others have done and why their methods do or do not work.
- Mentality
Developing a leader will only come if that employee feels valued. You are training them to be a leader so let them be one. Give them the opportunities to make decisions and run the show. Listen to their ideas and implement the good ones. An ownership mentality will keep your developing leaders invested in the company. Making your employees a part of the company gives them the motivation to rise as leaders for your company. Give them feedback and coaching along the way, so they know where they stand in their development.
It is important to note as a company that not everyone is cut out to be a leader. Don’t push those that don’t exhibit the desire or skills to be a leader; it will only be a waste of time and resources. Work with those that want to be leaders so that you can develop them to be one at an early stage. There may also be some that think they want to be leaders but change their mind; let them.
See the following article for more information about keeping your employees happy:
