Even during the challenges of the past year, the best leaders have balanced the needs of the now with the demands of the future. One of the key elements of setting an organization up for long-term growth is nurturing the next generation of leaders right now; here’s how.
We’ve set up an entire program to help organizations support growth, maturity, and new skills in their potential leaders of tomorrow. Even with those types of opportunities in place, it’s important that leaders implement other ways to develop well-rounded, growth-minded personalities in order to expose those high potential leaders to new skills and experiences. It’s easier than it might sound, too.
We’ve set it time and time again; a leader’s true responsibility is to put the people around them in a position to succeed. You should never feel as though everything is on your shoulders; if that’s the case, it means you haven’t done the work to find the right people for important roles, or given those people the tools they need to be effective.
With all of that in mind, there are a number of things we recommend doing for potential leaders to ensure they have those tools and skills in place as they develop. Here are just a few.
New Exposure. Especially in bigger companies, even the most talented people tend to get folded into a specialty role. For example, many successful CFOs have never played a wider role in a company before they reach that C-level. That leaves them relatively unfamiliar with myriad aspects of important decisions, people, and experiences in other areas of the business. And like most of us, leaders who aren’t exposed to different roles or experiences will tend to see everything through a comfortable filter. A CFO might not be able to see beyond the balance sheet and, in a top job, that may be harmful to the long-term health of decision-making and growth.
New Roles. Take orders before you give them. Just like moving leaders between departments, assigning them different roles helps them grow as people and encourages the development of important relationships throughout the organization. Over the course of a few years, move your highest potential team members to different roles to see how they work with different teams and handle both leading those teams and working under department heads. This is especially useful in helping them new ways of making decisions and learning the types of challenges different roles and departments each and every day.
Give Them Challenging Projects. Your high potential leaders are the heirs of the empire, right? Make them earn it. When important or especially tough tasks come up, assign them to these new leaders to see how they handle real business challenges and evaluate the solutions they generate.
Support and Dialogue. Providing resources and support to your leaders shows confidence. Not only should top-level team members keep their doors open to answer questions and provide feedback, but that accessibility should also be a priority for everyone throughout the company. All team members should feel comfortable and encouraged to ask for help and to share ideas; if you don’t think a person’s ideas are valuable, it’s your mistake for hiring them. If those team members don’t feel encouraged to think, innovate, and push beyond their normal responsibilities, odds are they won’t be motivated to do anything more than the bare minimum.
Of course, leaders need to go beyond the expected. Providing coaching and growth opportunities shows how much your high potential leaders are valued; improve your recruiting and retention by truly investing in their growth. To learn more, let’s talk.