Quality of leadership has a significant impact on the pace and sustainability of an organization’s growth.

Absence of a good leader can make a huge difference. It hurts:

Investing in leadership development via 360 feed back results is better than hiring people who have shown leadership before. For starters, those who were good leaders in another company may not be as successful in your organization.

Secondly, implementing employee leadership programs will offer additional benefits like:

Leadership development involves something more than giving motivational pep talks at random intervals. There must be a sincere and real effort to identify potential leaders amongst employees. And this must be followed by an attempt to hone and improve their skill and abilities.

How are potential leaders identified? What are the minimum performance requirements? How will intangible aspects like soft skills and team work be assessed? Your organization must have a formal and structured employee leadership development program. Your employees should have clear and specific answers to questions like:

Lack of clarity may discourage employees from taking the process seriously. Office politics and employee discontent may become the norm if the leadership program is implemented poorly.

Those who are mentored today will appreciate its benefits. They will be prepared to play a key role in future employee leadership development programs. Such a setup ensures your firm a continuous and steady supply of leaders.

While ordinary employees shy away from challenges, a leader is one who thrives under pressure. They recognize that every challenge represents a new opportunity for the firm to grow faster.

A leadership program where potential leaders are never forced to work outside their comfort zones is bound to fail. Asking an ace marketer to streamline your firm’s sluggish supply chain mechanism can contribute to growth and development.

It is important to adopt a flexible approach and allow potential leaders to fail. A leader who knows what it feels to fail can connect better with other employees and motivate them to work harder. A successful employee who is trained to condemn failure will never be a good leader.

Many firms make the mistake of presuming that leadership development is a one-way street. A robust feedback mechanism where employees can contribute their suggestions makes a huge difference.

Apart from improving communication between management and employees, it helps identify flaws before they cause damage.

Change is a dynamic process that may lead to unexpected consequences. A firm that is really serious about developing employee leaders should be prepared for change.

Adopting a straitjacketed approach and expecting potential leaders to just obey may not work. Instead, work with your next generation of leaders.