Creating Leaders: How can companies hire and train people to become leaders? Here are four steps to effective leadership development.
Companies that produce great leaders become greater companies. ~ www.jaywren.com
Creating Leaders — Four Steps
Creating future leaders is critical to the long-term growth of a company. An element in succession planning, creating leaders from within increases moral, loyalty, and engagement. Here are four elements to leadership development.
- Hire for Leadership
- Teach Responsibility, Authority, and Accountability
- Continual Training for Leadership
- Increase Responsibility
Hire for Leadership
People in any organizations have specific levels of responsibility. Some of those people will stay in the same job for their entire time with the company.
Other people come into a company as developmental candidates. These people may start in entry-level jobs. However, the company has a plan to move these people into bigger roles. Their responsibilities increase as they master each job.
Teach Responsibility, Authority, and Accountability
For new leaders to become successful, they must know their responsibility, their accountability, and their authority. Responsibility defines the tasks and activities under a leader’s management. Accountability creates an understanding of what to expect for failing to manage responsibilities. Authority is the power to make decisions and the power to hold team members accountable. Last, a leader must know the limits of their authority. They must know when to ask for direction from the people for whom they work.
Additionally, leaders must use these elements to teach their team members what the leader expects of them. Leaders can use these elements as reminders for team members to stay on task and meet the leader’s expectations.
Train for Leadership
Most of the articles that I read on types of leaders do not mention how much the conditions in an organization affect the leadership role and style. In an ideal situation, leaders have the authority to hire the best people. They can put people on their team who only need to know the objectives to perform successfully. In this case, leaders have more freedom to use the leadership style that prefer. They can be the coach, the servant leader, the hands-off leader, the strategist, etc.
In less than ideal situation, leaders have must operate with the circumstances they inherit. For example, a leader may have no control over which people get assigned to their team. These leaders may have to deal people in positions for which the people are not qualified. Additionally, leaders may have to work under strict guidelines that limit the leader’s authority to make decisions and direct their teams. In worst case scenario, some leaders must rely on other departments for support. And, some support departments just don’t support the teams they serve.
However, the leader is still accountable for managing their team for success. These leaders must develop styles and practices that make their team as effective as possible. Training, hands-on management, greater feedback, asking questions that provide useful information for the team member and the manager: these are some of the things a manager can do to make the team as effective as possible.
Increase Responsibility
For leaders to continue to grow, their responsibility must increase. Companies promote new leaders into bigger positions. These positions have a higher pay grade. Additionally, they have the greater responsibility.
However, companies cannot always promote leaders. But they must keep the leaders growing and engaged.
What companies can do is relieve experienced future leaders of bottom rung responsibilities. At the same time, companies can give them responsibilities that will prepare them for greater responsibility.
