Ways to Help Regular Employees Become Leaders in the Future
As a business leader, it is your responsibility to not only lead your team now, but to also prepare the next generation of leaders. Eventually, you will leave your post. You do not want to leave behind a crumbling organization. You want everything that you have started to continue to flourish.
You need to remember that the person who might follow your footsteps is not necessarily among the current high-ranking leaders in the team. Even regular employees could step up to take the post if given the opportunity. As a leader, these are some ways that you help others become future leaders.
Send them to events
If there are conferences, seminars or workshops outside the office, you need to give employees the chance to attend. It is their chance to build a network. It also makes them feel confident representing your company. They will converse with like-minded individuals outside work. They gain new knowledge that they could use if it is their turn to lead the team. If they are interested in pursuing further education, you need to allow them to do it. You do not necessarily have to fund their studies if your company could not afford it, but you can give them flexible working time to accommodate their class schedule.
Give them more responsibilities
You might have to shake things up a bit by giving these potential employees a different task to accomplish. You will also know if they will step up to the plate or they will allow themselves to fall. Either way, these responsibilities will test their potentials and allow self-assessment. Potential leaders who are not confident, but are willing to try, will come to you and ask questions. It is a sign that they could be the next team leaders that you are looking for.
Be a mentor
You also need to open yourself up for mentorship. Open the doors of your office if there are questions from the employees or if there are details that they need to learn, and you are the only source of information. Although it is a good idea to allow them to figure things out on their own, it also helps if you provide a little push through mentorship. Besides, you have invaluable experience that could give them more ideas.
Allow them to commit mistakes and own up to it
You did not become a leader overnight. You stumbled several times along the way, but you keep standing up to continue the fight. You also need to understand these people will go through the same process. If they commit mistakes, you cannot conclude that they are not going to be leaders. You let them fall and see what they will do next. As long as they own up to it and promise to do better, it shows that they could be great leaders. The problem with some leaders today is that they are too proud to admit mistakes. If you have taught this value earlier on, it will be eventually imbibed.
Hopefully, you can find the right people to lead the team soon and be proud of them.
Photo Attribution:
1st and featured image from http://www.performanceok.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/mentoring-main.jpg
2nd image from https://pineconelumber.com/blog/59534/how-to-transition-from-employee-to-effective-owner-leader
