In today’s fast-paced business environment, young employees are not patiently waiting on the sidelines for their turn to lead. They have grown up with opportunities throughout their lives and as they enter the workforce, they are excited and expecting to make an immediate impact. Their youthful energy can be a major benefit, but many organizations are not developing their leadership potential soon enough, which ultimately hinders the organization long-term. In order to maximize the talent in your organization, begin with these 7 steps for developing your next generation leaders:
Step #1 — Identify Who They Are
The very first step that experienced leaders must do is open their eyes to identify who the potential leaders are in their organization. They don’t have to be the youngest employees, but they often are. Ask yourself the following questions:
Who has a consistent and positive work ethic?
Who has influence with their peers and other leaders in the organization?
Who is self-motivated and overachieving?
Who is seeking greater opportunities beyond their job requirements?
Who is adding the most value to the team or organization?
Who solves problems before asking for direction?
As you think through these questions names and faces should come to mind. Walk around the office and look for signs of potential leaders. Your job as a key leader is to identify talent, then take steps to develop it.
Step #2 — Invest In Them
Once you have identified potential next generation leaders, invest in them with third-party coaching and training. Choosing to invest communicates that you believe in them and are willing to help them become a valuable leader for your organization.
Sending potential leaders to outside training or hiring a leadership coach to work with them is an investment, not an expense. It is much wiser to invest in people even if they ultimately leave your company than to not invest and let them stay. There is always a risk of investing in and then losing talent, but the leaders you invest in are more likely to stay and make an impact long-term.
Focus on teaching them foundational leadership skills and vocabulary. Help them understand what leadership consists of and requires. Give them access to seasoned coaches and trainers who will be an objective voice that will connect with them. Give them safe spaces to discuss the flaws and challenges they see in your organization without fearing repercussions and judgment. Provide a sounding board and thinking partner who will help them overcome the challenges they see, which will enhance the organization.
Step #3 —Invite Them Into Mentoring Relationships
Beyond offering third-party coaching and training, connect them with mentors within your organization who are seasoned leaders. These people should understand your organization’s culture, values, mission, and vision. They should be models of what you want to reproduce.
Inviting potential leaders into these mentoring relationships speaks loudly that you believe in them. It elevates their self-worth and confidence. It gives them someone with whom they can turn to so they can process challenges and celebrate wins. Mentoring is a lost art in many organizations because it is squeezed out in the name of busyness. Mentoring is a long game, not a quick fix. If you desire solid, qualified leaders long-term, begin mentoring your potential leaders today.
Step #4 — Give Them Opportunities To Practice In A Safe Environment
As you give them coaching, training, and mentoring, also give them opportunities to practice their leadership in a safe environment where they can make mistakes and learn. One of the greatest reasons people do not step up to lead is because they fear failure. They fear the ramifications of failing.
Remove the fear by giving them opportunities where they can fail without fearing for their jobs or future opportunities. Teach them that failure is the way to success. Show them how to fail forward by learning from their mistakes. Remember, the greatest inventors and leaders of history failed many times before becoming the successes we now recognize them to be.
Step #5 — Give Them Responsibilities And Provide Real-time Feedback
Next, give them responsibility and real-time feedback so they can make immediate adjustments. If you watch NFL football games today, you will notice that they give tablets to players as soon as they come off the field of play. Quarterbacks are looking at images and video of what just happened. Why did a play fail? What is the defense doing? What should we do next time when we are back on the field?
When you give responsibility and debrief immediately, you are able to help potential leaders learn from mistakes and make corrections. Failure isn’t final, but not learning from failure is detrimental personally and organizationally. Give opportunities to take responsibility for tasks or projects, then debrief with them each step of the way. When they succeed, cheer them on. Correct and celebrate with them during this step.
Step #6 — Empower Them With Authority To Take Action On Their Own
Once they and you are comfortable with their level of performance on smaller opportunities, it’s time to empower them to take the lead. This may be a project where you do not provide step-by-step feedback or it may be a task that you let them run with and observe from a distance.
In this step, micromanaging is not an option. You should not “hold their hand” through each action they take. This is their project or task to own. The success or failure of it is on their shoulders. They are not only responsible, but they should have the authority to take action as they see fit. Prepare for lapses of judgment and failures to occur, but let them work through them. If they come to you and ask you to bail them out, refuse to do so. Instead, offer advice and support, then send them back out to make proper adjustments.
WARNING: This is often a difficult step for experienced leaders. You may have done what they are doing before in a different or “better” way. You may want to jump in to fix problems. DON’T DO IT! They need to work through their problems individually and with their teams (if applicable). There is nothing more disempowering than taking responsibility and authority away from someone in the middle of a project. Only step in if the failure of the project will severely damage the team or organization, but do so in a manner of mentoring, not harsh criticism.
Step #7 — Promote Into Strategic Roles Where They Can Excel
Now that you have walked through the previous six steps of this development process, it’s time to promote your potential leaders. There is no exact or perfect timeline for this step. It should be done with wisdom in a manner that is best for the leader and the organization. Trust your intuition. Don’t fear promoting them too soon. Remember, if you have worked through this process, they will have mentors surrounding them to catch them when they fall.
Prepare to promote developing leaders quickly. Remember, they are energetic and ambitious. They are ready to take the reigns and make a name for themselves. Remember that it’s easy for them to become impatient. Help them settle down and encourage them to continue to prepare for their moment. Make sure to promote them into opportunities where they can excel. Consider their unique abilities and experiences. Don’t place a square peg into a round hole. As Jim Collins wrote in his best-selling book Good To Great, make sure you have the right people on the bus and make sure they are in the right seats. One of the worst things that can happen to potential leaders is to be placed in a losing situation before they ever begin. Promote strategically into roles where they can achieve early wins and help move the needle for your organization.
Conclusion
If you work through this 7-step process you will be well on your way to developing and improving the leadership culture of your organization. Leadership is more of an art than a science. You must consider the attributes of the person you are developing as much as the skills they need to learn. To become a leader of leaders you must always be on the lookout for new talent, invest in their growth, connect them with mentors, give them responsibility with real-time feedback, create a safe environment to test their skills, give them responsibilities with authority, and promote when the time is right.
The world is changing at a faster rate than ever before in history. The need for prepared, adaptive leaders is greater than ever before. The next generation of leaders should not sit on the sidelines waiting for their turn many years from now. Instead, do yourself and your organization a favor by developing tomorrow’s key leaders today. When tomorrow comes, you’ll be glad you did!
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Chris McClure is an author, coach, and speaker in the areas of personal growth and leadership development. He helps leaders become GREAT and raise up next generation leaders in their organizations through faith- and values-based coaching and training. You can learn more about Chris and his services at LeadLifeBIG.com.
