Finding and Cultivating Future Leaders: A Guide for Your Organization

“Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.” – Vince Lombardi

According to DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2021, developing the next generation of leaders is the top challenge for 55% of CEOs and only 1 in 10 of HR leaders feel they have a strong bench of leadership.

In this month’s edition of Unleashing Potential, we will explore a few of the trends that can help you tackle this conundrum, and give you some specific Leadership Development (LD) takeaways that you can implement now.

And spoiler alert… these LD strategies will also help you develop the very best employees right now. They will help you retain and attract better talent from outside your organization and will contribute to building an amazing internal culture that’s aligned with your values.

So let’s dive in.

The Leadership Development Cycle

leadership development cycle

Nurturing emerging leaders is just a piece of the larger leadership development ecosystem.

So where does the cycle start? Talk about the chicken and the egg.

When you hire someone, you’re laying the foundation for “how we do things here” with your onboarding, ongoing training, and, if you have it, mentoring and coaching. You keep it going with your performance reviews and reinforce it with what behaviors people get promoted or demoted for.

You then give your emerging leaders extra opportunities for professional development. And once ready, you promote them into management, directorship, and other leadership positions.

If all goes well, those leaders repeat that cycle with the next generation. And so on.

So if you’re starting with leaders who model, cultivate, and promote based on the values you want, you’ve got a leg up. If you aren’t? You’ve got your work cut out for you. (Let’s talk.)

Identifying Potential Leaders Within Your Organization

So what’s the first task if we already have that as a baseline? Keeping an eye on the Who’s Who of your employee base. And that can be tough. Not only is there a lot of information to gather, but you have to navigate the minefields of biases baked into the mix.

With the most diverse workforce in history, it can be hard to ensure that those who are bringing new stories and insights to the table aren’t getting stymied for leadership, by leadership, simply because they’re new. Neuro diversity, gender diversity, age diversity, ethnic diversity, introversion vs extraversion may all be uncomfortable for the status quo.

Three ways to start finding your next generation of leaders is to identify employees who are outstanding at the following skills.

1. They attract others to their cause and are the hubs of collaboration

They may be quiet or loud in how they do this, and it might come with some conflict. But if they excel at bringing people together to deal with tough tasks and can transform conflict into constructive and productive activity, that’s a good indication that they have leadership etiquette already.

2. They embrace feedback

Another big clue that someone might be a great future leader is how well they embrace feedback. Good candidates for leadership positions know how to hear and learn from feedback. They solicit feedback. They’re also diplomatic and direct in how they offer feedback. They practice empathy and respect.

3. They’re curious about challenges

Look for contributors who are willing to innovate, re-create, and look forward to challenges. One’s ability to deal with change and think about the future is a great indicator of their ability to lead. They demonstrate a growth mindset and are not afraid to lead into the unknown, and embrace the knowledge that they, and their team, will need to make mistakes to move forward.

Helping Future Leaders Grow

So now you’ve tapped your emerging talent, what’s next? Here are a few ideas, many of which you can implement with low to no cost.

1. Start a mentoring program

Pair up newer employees with experienced ones. This helps accelerate learning and development on both sides of the equation, exposing both to new ideas and perspectives, while transmitting company culture. Ideally, allow mentors and mentees to self-select by what they want to learn, as well as what kind of leader they want to become. Ask for feedback frequently through anonymous surveys to make sure the program is working, and to make the program even better for the next group.

2. Offer opportunities to lead early on

It can be hard to let your people fail. So help them fail forward. Empower your people to take the lead on projects or join different teams. Take a back seat as they make mistakes. And be there to mentor and support them when they do. Help people view failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. The process will help them hone skills like decision-making, proactive problem-solving, and people management. And, the process will help you identify opportunities to help them in their professional progression.

3. Nurture open feedback

Create an environment where feedback is a tool for growth, rather than a corrective punishment. Start with a workshop or micro-learning so that everyone has a baseline on how to give and receive clear, practical, actionable feedback. (Want our help? Click here.) Consider integrating how someone gives, receives, and acts on feedback into performance reviews to elevate it as an organizational priority.

4. Maintain values as an organization

While important on its own, maintaining values as an organization is a critical component to ensuring that you’re attracting the right contributors to leadership roles. It requires consistent communication, alignment, and action. And the current leaders are most responsible for embodying and reinforcing those values. Make sure that leaders know and embrace the values of the company, and that they’re modeling them with their teams. Celebrate values-driven achievement with rituals of recognition and/or rewards to let future leaders know that efforts are appreciated.

5. Invest in leadership training

Leadership training serves several purposes. In addition to developing your workforce’s skills, it also signals to employees that you value them enough to invest in them. And there’s organizational ROI. “A recent study found that running first-time managers through a leadership development program offered a 29% ROI in the first 3 months and a 415% annualized ROI. This means that the business made $4.15 for every $1 spent on training.” (Training Industry)

6. Team coaching workshops

While team coaching is designed to help the entire team’s performance, it also empowers leaders by honing their self-awareness, empathy, and listening skills in real time. And it nurtures future leaders by giving them the chance to see “how it’s done” firsthand. If you want them to learn how to communicate, navigate conflict, solve problems creatively, and drive organizational success, there’s no better way than giving them a front row seat at the table.

Now that you have a few arrows pointing you in the right direction, there’s one last trick we want to share. If you’re worried about succession planning and who’s going to fill all of your future leadership roles in this tight labor market, don’t limit these “development” opportunities to just those that you know are going to be your leaders. One, because you could be wrong.

And two, because while developing great leadership starts by focusing on leaders, it shouldn’t be limited to those with the title or organizational role. Leadership can (and should imho) be a philosophy that cascades throughout an organization. When leadership qualities like empathy, integrity, vision, and passion are rewarded at every level, you will find that “emerging” leaders are everywhere.

The evidence shows it pays off. “The Global Leadership Forecast 2018, found that organizations that embrace a more inclusive approach to leadership training are 4.2 times more likely to outperform those that restrict development to management.” And who doesn’t want that?

Inspired? We hope so. If you’re ready to infuse your organization with leadership skills, (and leaders), let’s connect.

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