How To Train Leaders Within Your Company
Some people may seem like born leaders, but the truth is, they were influenced and trained by existing leaders.
When it comes time to fill a leadership role in your company, don’t look any further than your existing employees. With the right training and coaching, you’ll easily be able to find the perfect person to promote who’ll continue to build upon your company vision.
Training starts with the leaders you have now, such CEOs and top managers. Today’s leaders help mold the leaders of tomorrow.
Look For A Successful Track Record
Many companies reserve leadership training for the employees they’re most likely to promote. Finding these individuals is sometimes difficult. The first step in choosing potential leaders is to analyze the employee’s track record. How have they handled difficult situations? Do they assist their co-workers, even without being asked? Do they offer helpful suggestions? How well have they performed their duties and any projects they’ve been a part of?
The better an employee performs in their current role, the more likely they are to excel in a leadership role. While this isn’t the only criteria, it’s a good starting point.
Start With An Assessment
An employee might want to be a leader, but hasn’t had the opportunity to step into a leadership role. To both train and assess the employee’s abilities, assign them a project, which requires them to manage a team. Offer constructive advice along the way to help guide them. Not only will you discover their existing leadership skills, but also you’ll be training them at the same time.
If you’re not certain about whom to train, send out an email to employees asking who would like to participate. Projects can then be assigned at different times to assess and train for those who are most interested.
Incorporate Regular Training
One of the easiest ways to train leaders and recognize which employees are best suited for higher-level positions is through regular training sessions. Not only will leadership training help employees become more confident in their own roles, but it helps motivate them to become future leaders. Training can be done through coaching sessions, in-house or off-site seminars, inviting leadership speakers and utilizing webinars. The training can either be mandatory or optional.
Look Beyond The Obvious
Extroverts tend to be promoted more often because they naturally stand out. Introverts are sometimes overlooked. Don’t focus on training just the extroverts. Many introverts are highly effective leaders. They just tend to be more quiet and reserved. Focus on both personality types to create a better variety of leaders who’ll work well with all types of employees.
Go From Idea To Reality
An essential part of training leaders is teaching employees how to turn ideas into realities. If you don’t have a project to help employees train on, use fake projects instead. Ask employees to not only come up with an idea to improve the business or its products, but also to create a solid plan on how to turn those ideas into a reality. This teaches employees important innovation and managerial traits.
This is a hands-on way to get employees excited about leadership and help you see who works best in leadership roles. These fake projects could be offered monthly as a fun way to train employees and even gain new profitable ideas.
Conclusion
Your company is full of potential leaders. All they need is the right training and motivation. Talk to employees, analyze performance and provide the training they need to reach their full potential. This continual process will help improve your business and the effectiveness of every employee.
Ready to provide leadership training for your employees? Contact Mira Coaching today to learn how you can help uncover leaders in your own organization.
Image: Vinoth Chandar