Tag Future Leaders

Developing Future Leaders

Steve Keating 4 Comments

One of the surest ways to “future proof” your organization is to make developing your future leaders a daily activity. Every day! Not when you “find” time, not when you “make” time and not tomorrow. Today and everyday.

If you’re looking at developing future leaders as an expense, even a necessary one, then frankly, you’re looking at it wrong. The development of future leaders is an investment, it’s the one investment that is sure to provide a high rate of return. For your organization, for you, and for your future leaders. 

If you’re serious about creating the next generation of leaders in your organization then here’s a path you may want to consider. 

  1. Identify potential leaders. Not all people are cut out to be leaders, so it’s important to identify those who have the potential to be successful in leadership roles. Some qualities to look for include:
  • Strong communication skills
  • The ability to motivate and inspire others
  • A clear vision for the future
  • The ability to think strategically and make decisions
  • The ability to work well under pressure
  • The ability to build relationships and collaborate with others
  1. Create a leadership development program. Once you’ve identified potential leaders, you need to create a program that will help them develop the skills and knowledge they need to be successful. This program should include a variety of elements, such as:
  • Formal training courses
  • On-the-job training
  • Mentorship programs
  • Networking opportunities
  • Coaching and feedback
  1. Provide opportunities for growth. One of the best ways to develop future leaders is to give them opportunities to grow and develop their skills. This could include:
  • Assigning them to challenging projects
  • Giving them more responsibility
  • Promoting them to new positions
  • Sending them to conferences or training programs
  1. Provide opportunities. There is little point to developing future leaders if you’re not providing them opportunities to truly try out their new skills. Let your future leaders lead today! This could involve leading projects, teams, or even departments. By giving your people the chance to lead now, you can help them develop the skills and experience they need to be successful in future leadership roles.
  1. Provide feedback. Feedback is essential for helping leaders develop and improve. Make sure to provide regular feedback to your future leaders, both positive and negative. This will help them identify their strengths and weaknesses, and make the necessary changes to improve their performance.

This path could lead to the successful development of your future leaders but there is one key element to keep in mind. Make certain your future leaders and being led and not managed. It is vital that they see leadership in action. If the person your future leader is reporting to is a poor leader or a leader due only to their position within the organization, the potential of your future leader is unlikely to be achieved. 

Leaders help create the next generation of leaders. Don’t expect today’s poor leader to develop tomorrow’s Authentic Leader. It doesn’t work that way. When you have your future leaders reporting to today’s excellent leaders you’ll have the chance for excellent leadership in your organization for years to come. 

Authentic Leaders Build a Strong Bench

Steve Keating 1 Comment

Most Authentic Leaders wear at least two hats. The first of course is the hat of leadership. Leadership focuses on the people in the organization. People are what make an organization what it is. People are important, in fact, absolutely vital to the success of an organization. 

The second hat is the hat of management. Management focuses on the nut and bolts of running an organization. There are a ton of seemingly urgent tasks associated with managing a business or organization. In reality many of them are not all that important. 

But forever, managers and leaders alike have fallen into the trap known as the tyranny of the urgent. Once in that trap they spend way more time handling urgent matters, often, very very often, at the expense of the truly important things. The things that involve their people. 

One of those things, perhaps the most important thing, that gets buried in the tyranny of the urgent is developing the people who will one day lead the organization into the future. These are the people who will either maintain or even grow your culture as a competitive advantage. 

Developing these future leaders requires an intentional and deliberate investment of time. It requires that the Authentic Leader invest a piece of themselves in the success of their people. Authentic Leaders invest time to know and understand their people’s goals and objectives. It’s through that process that they learn about their strengths and developmental opportunities. 

When seeking to build a strong bench of future leaders they look for particular qualities that can grow into Authentic Leadership. They make note of an individual’s ability to communicate effectively. Effective communication means both speaking well AND listening well. It means being prepared to share ideas during a meeting and being able to defend their talking points with evidence and support materials. 

Authentic Leaders want their future leaders to possess outstanding human relations skills. The ability to build solid relationships is critical to any leadership role and ALL relationships are built on a foundation of trust. So today’s Authentic Leaders look for honesty and integrity in their future leaders. 

Leaders help groups of individuals become a focused and disciplined team. Leaders who build leaders observe their people to see who everyone gravitates to. Is there one person who other people consistently go to for help and advice? That may be your future leader. 

Authentic Leaders know that all leaders lead by example, whether they intend to or not. So they look for people who model the culture and values of the organization. They also want their future leaders to possess strong personal values and most importantly, live according to those values. 

They know that everyone makes mistakes. They also know that not everyone recovers from those mistakes. So they look for people who first of all are not afraid to make a decision. They pay particular attention when one of those decisions go wrong. They want to see the level of perseverance in the person and their creativity in fixing the wrong decision. They watch closely for the person’s willingness to accept responsibility for the mistake with integrity. People who attempt to hide their mistakes, or worse, shift responsibility to someone else, will never be an Authentic Leader. 

So, how about you. Are you working daily to strategically develop your “bench” of future leaders? If you’re not then I would submit to you that you’re missing a huge part of Authentic Leadership. That’s the part where you leave your organization in even better hands then when you were first given the helm. 

To make that happen you must keep yourself out of that trap of the tyranny of the urgent. One way to do that is to set aside time each day to work with, get to know, and build relationships with your people. Each day. All the time. It must be a priority. It must take precedence over the urgent things that may add no long term value to the organization. 

Your success as a leader depends a little bit on what you do today. But it is ultimately determined by what the people you leave behind do tomorrow. If that causes you to make developing a strong bench of future leaders a priority today, than the objective of this post has been accomplished. 🙂

One Way to Grow a Leader

Steve Keating 4 Comments

It sounds odd but one of the best methods a leader has for growing future leaders is to not lead. Well at least not lead the way most people think of leading which is to be out front showing the way. 

 

What I really mean is to lead from the rear. Push your future leaders out front and see what they can do. 

 

If your goal as a leader is to grow more leaders (that should most certainly be one of your goals as a leader) then you must first understand that leadership can’t really be taught, it must be experienced. You can tell your followers what leadership characteristics are important, you can talk about making good decisions and the sacrifices that Authentic Leaders make but you can’t build a leader with words alone. 

 

So from time to time you must allow your future leaders to lead today. Right now, ready or not here they come! They may make mistakes along the way but you’ll be there to help them fix it. Notice, and this is key, I didn’t say you’ll be there to fix it for them, I said you’ll be there to help them fix it. 

 

Sometimes you may even see the mistake coming but you’ll let it happen anyway, just so your future leader can learn from it. I wouldn’t suggest sitting back and watching a serious mistake just happen but if the mistake involves only minor consequences then use it as a teaching opportunity. 

 

Your future leaders are far more likely to learn from a mistake they had to fix than they are to learn from a mistake you didn’t let happen. 

 

Not allowing your future leaders to take the helm from time to time is like planting grass seed with no intention of ever watering it. It may always have potential but everyone knows it will never be a yard the kids can play in.


Sometimes, maybe even often, the best thing a leader can do to grow future leaders is to simply get the heck out of their way. Give ‘em a push and stand back, lead from the rear and watch your leaders of tomorrow grow.