There are many benefits to grooming potential future leaders from within the company. These include familiarity with company operations, the strength of existing connections with other workers, and a deeper understanding of the corporate culture. The Wall Street Journal offers these six tips to mould potential leaders from within your current team:
1. Job Rotation
Give your workers a chance to broaden their expertise by working in different parts of the company. This will allow you and them to discover both their strengths and the areas where they need additional training. It will also give them an appreciation of other roles that will be beneficial in managing others in those areas.
2. Provide “Stretch” Assignments
Offer a chance for your employees to prove themselves while also cultivating new talents. Providing assignments that stretch them outside of their comfort zone will force them to learn to better manage stress and tap into their creativity and problem solving abilities. Even failure can provide valuable lessons that can better your team.
3. Offer Mentoring Programs
Mentoring programs, done right, can be very valuable for developing leadership strength in your organization. Getting the right mentors on board and training them on their role is essential, however, as mentoring, done wrong, can do more harm than good.
4. Provide Frequent Support
Their is a difference between pushing your team and paralyzing them with stress. Offer up support for new assignments and have an open door policy for newer workers. Evaluations are a good tool for identifying problems early on.
5. Tap Into Older Worker’s Knowledge Base
Just because someone retires, doesn’t mean their knowledge has to leave with them. Try to keep your older workers available for consulting should the need arise.
6. Not Everyone Will Make It
Not everyone is cut out to be a leader, so be prepared to let some candidates gracefully step off of the leadership track. Keep fresh candidates rotating into the program, have senior members tutor the juniors, and constantly evaluate to see whose talents are a fit for the role and whose aren’t.
[Source] http://guides.wsj.com/management/managing-your-people/how-to-develop-future-leaders/
Want more? Kyosei Consulting can help you develop both current and future leaders to ensure that your company is built to last.
