Effective leadership is the single biggest contributor to an organization’s success; yet businesses often neglect to plan for future leaders. Prepare now to ensure a smooth and effective transition for a new leader starting with your corporate strategy, identifying emerging leaders and providing training and coaching.
Start with Corporate Strategy
Ensure you have a relevant and current strategy that leaders and emerging leaders can champion. Leaders must be able to share and help align goals to that vision. A clear organizational vision allows a leader to develop departmental, team, and individual visions and goals that align with the corporate strategy. Alignment generates the greatest results.
When the organizational strategy is widely understood, new leaders can be selected who have the ability and desire to lead in a way that supports the corporate vision and strategy.
Identify Emerging Leaders
Actively and continuously identify those who can move into leadership roles in the future. Select multiple potential leaders for each existing leadership role and focus on developing their skills. Don’t fall into the trap of selecting leaders who are good “doers” but lack the ability to lead people to achieve results.
Choose those who exhibit leadership skills: goal setting, listening, creating an environment of trust, and demonstrating empathy. Tools such as The Achievement Centre’s Results-Centred 360 and RADAR 180 can help to identify emerging leaders who possess the traits and skills necessary to lead your organization to greater success.
Provide Training and Coaching
An emerging leader has the potential to become an effective leader, but simply assigning them the title will not generate the greatest results. Provide training to help individuals understand the attributes they bring to the leadership role. Allow them to focus on using and refining those skills to become their most effective self. Provide coaching from existing leaders to facilitate the transfer of important skills and knowledge.
Invest in your people. Train, coach, and develop everyone in your succession plan. Although you risk a financial loss if they leave, but there is a greater cost in not developing them and having them stay.
In the very near future there will be many vacant leadership roles as Baby Boomers leave the workforce. Prepare for that future by investing in emerging leaders. As you create a new team of the next generation leaders you will be better positioned to realize greater results.