How to develop leadership qualities in others
Even those people who support the disputed theory that leaders are ‘born’ to excel, admit that environment and training are usually needed to develop successful leaders. Effective leaders are a vital ingredient to business, sports, medical, research, military, and all other team-oriented activities. The important questions, of course, are: Where do leaders come from? How do we find them? How can we identify them? How can we make them? The answers relate to recognizing talent and then encouraging, cultivating, and mentoring those potential leaders so that they can flourish in your organization. Explore the following strategies to help you and your organization succeed in this process…
1. Consider what strategies you currently have in place in your organization.
To gauge what is required in terms of a leadership development program in your organization, you will need to answer the following questions:
• Does our company have a comprehensive plan for developing people as leaders?
• What are the benefits we would receive from having an effective leadership development strategy?
• What would it cost in lower morale, turnover, and lower productivity not to have one?
• What would a successful leadership development program look like for our company?
• How much time, energy, and money are we willing to invest to establish one?
2. Consider those people currently leading in your organization.
Think about the people who are or have been most successful at your company and ask: What kind of training experiences have they had? What kind of educational background do our most successful people have? How many years of experience in our line of work do they have? How do they fit in with our corporate culture? How would I describe their personality style? What best motivates them?
3. Start small.
Having now formed an outline of how you want to develop your leaders and what ‘success’ looks like for your organization, begin mapping out your strategy. Test your strategy by starting small, with a couple of employees with leadership potential and a desire to lead. You’ll need to be prepared to spend time with anyone prepared to make a commitment to their own ongoing growth and development.
