“I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” – Ralph Nader
Some believe that leaders are born while others believe that it is possible to make leaders of ordinary people. In the current business environment, companies cannot afford to wait around to hire someone who is ‘born’ with leadership skills and would be much better off by creating leaders from within the rungs. The only way to attract and retain the best and brightest talent is by giving them a clear growth path – initiatives like succession planning, role development, career progression and other such programs ensure that you are creating leaders from amongst your employees. Creating leaders internally also provides more stability and continuity to your company enabling better products and seamless service for your customers. It’s all about tidying up internally!
Just like it is more prudent to retain existing customers, so also it is vital to ensure that the employees on whom you invest time, money and other resources do not leave you simply because there is no vertical and horizontal career path in your company. Your company would never promote any one if there was no succession planning in place. When one person consistently achieves and brings accolades for the company, it is only fitting that the company reward this person with the ‘next move up’ with better salary and benefits. This would mean that someone else would need to fill in the position vacated by this person, and so on. It is much simpler to recruit for the most basic level of the company since learning and growing with a company is always more beneficial.
When people grow with your company, they tend to be more loyal and also would have a better grasp of how the company serves its customers, the kind of products they make, the level of service the customers expect and other such vital information about the company. The more such long standing employees a company has, the stronger its base and roots will be and they would be better equipped to make more informed decisions for their customers and employees. Creating leaders from within also means that these employees would already know how to work and deal with their co-workers and could also act as ‘buddies’ and guides to others, leading them also to be qualified over time for opportunities that could come about.
Creating leaders from among your employees is not an overnight decision and cannot be done is bits and pieces. It is in fact a strategy that must be carefully thought out and meticulously implemented such that your high-potential employees can soon occupy leadership positions and the ones in learning phase can soon turn high-potential.
- To elucidate the importance of creating leaders from your employees, I will tell you a real life experience. A friend worked as a Secretary to one of the leaders in a large MNC. Extremely efficient and meticulous in her work. Seeing her potential, her boss sent to a number of training and learning programs (which at first she saw as added work) and kind of detested them. As she went through these programs, she met like-minded people and those who had vast experiences to share and were highly knowledgeable. She learnt a lot – shared a lot and was soon able to handle much higher level responsibilities and also connect with people with a lot more confidence. The main aim of her boss was to put her in seemingly uncomfortable situations that forced her to find answers and solutions. He was actually paving the way for her growth within the company. I love this example as it is a true reflection of creating leaders from within the rungs means. With time this friend developed in to an astute leader, who also served as an example for many within the company.
- It is the duty and responsibility of supervisors and managers to recognize the ability and capability of each member of their team. Knowing the team well will enable the leader to hand out unique and challenging assignments to the ones that show more potential. Team members who are smarter and have a wider experience tend to get restless more easily than others and such unique assignments will keep them engaged and allow them to display their distinct strengths and better their skill sets. As these team members gain experience in areas similar and yet not completely within the work domain, they will gain confidence and also be able to guide the ‘weaker’ members of their team. The team’s manager would have been successful in creating leaders and the employees would feel valued and know that they are poised for growth. A friend’s boss is a firm believer of creating leaders within the company and so would encourage the team to ‘elect’ on person from amongst the team to conduct the weekly team meeting. This provided exposure to conducting and leading the team, even if it was for 2 hours and also fostered a spirit of appreciation and teamwork amongst the team.
- Another great way of creating leaders is a lot like parenting. Just like parents must not step in at the slightest hint of trouble or difficulty, so also the manager or leader of the team must allow the team to sort out their differences, search for solutions to problems, make suggestions and find new and innovative ways of doing things and other such tasks that would make the team struggle but find a way out. When teams work together to find solutions, the result in a much more cohesive team with better understanding and more respect for each other. It is not always necessary for the manager to be there to sort out problems – in fact ‘spoon feeding’ weakens the team and encourages favouritism.
- In creating leaders, the role of a manager / leader becomes one of support – a counsellor and a guide. This is a natural progression from being the one who makes all the decisions to becoming the one that leads and guides in a way that brings out the best in each team member. In playing the role of a guide, the leader is also further strengthening and enhancing his / her own leadership skills and with time will also move on to bigger and better roles leaving the current position open for the next person that displays the requisite skills. Being only an advisor and ‘guru’ is also a tried and tested method of creating leaders and a practice that has been followed and emulated by many.
- Give your teams / employees enough leeway and discretion to seek out new opportunities within the company. Their growth must not be subject to the whims and fancies of their immediate boss or ‘some decision maker’. The culture of your company must be open and giving if you are serious about creating leaders from within. They should not have to struggle to find their niche, or deal with favouritism and or nepotism. Show them the way, provide valuable insights and unconditional support to meet their goals within the company, else they may leave to join a company that offers them all these.
- In the effort of creating leaders, it must not be forgotten that regular training, coaching and mentoring is required for all – even the leaders of teams. Providing relevant and high-profile training is often associated with talent and skills being recognized and people tend to work harder to be part of such programs. Many companies offer short term training assignments in an overseas country where the person is exposed to a different culture and learns many new techniques, skills and the knowledge of dealing with a cross-section of people. This again must be based on merit and not on, who the boss’ favourite is. Favouritism is a major killer of enthusiasm and can lead to widespread dissatisfaction. Your company will be creating disgruntled employees who in turn will not serve the customers in the way they should.
Most importantly – show that you trust your employees. Listen to them, take their feedback and implement what you can and make creating leaders a relentless objective of your company. When employees feel like a valued and integral part of the company, they will ensure that your customer are taken care of and also will be keen to take on more responsibilities and duties to prove their allegiance and your company would have been successful in creating leaders of today and tomorrow.
