An organization’s success and advancement depends on the growth of its people. Without strong leaders with a shared vision, you can’t expect your company to adapt, evolve, and thrive in a dynamic environment. You must invest in all of your employees, especially those who display ambition and potential for taking over leadership roles in the future.
One of the most powerful ways to invest in your people is to provide them with a leadership development program suited to their individual needs and your company’s needs. Let’s go over four key benefits of leadership development.
How Leadership Development Helps Companies
1. Building Confidence
Not all people are natural-born leaders. This is okay, as there are plenty of candidates who do wish to rise up and take on more responsibility within your organization. However, becoming a strong leader is easier said than done. You might find that some of your potential leaders, though they want to learn and grow, lack the confidence required to take the next step. This is where leadership development training comes in handy.
With the right coaching and guidance, emerging leaders can enhance their communication skills, become more adept at planning, gain valuable hands-on experience, and more. All of these efforts will help the confidence of your potential leaders and prepare them for whatever comes next.
2. The Leadership Development Domino Effect
Investing in leadership development is a holistic effort, meaning the benefits don’t only impact those who receive training, but also spread across your entire organization. Those who receive training can go on to express and teach their newly learned skills to others, enhancing your organizational culture as a whole. This domino effect may even inspire less ambitious employees to take on new responsibilities and continue the cycle of development.
3. Encourage and Cultivate New Ideas
Stagnation is a company’s subtlest and most sinister enemy. Oftentimes, this lack of vitality stems from a lack of new leadership. Established leaders may ignore new ideas or opinions from their younger employees, however unintentionally. The status quo, while comfortable, can become restrictive.
Bringing in some new blood can really shake up a stale organization, but only if new leaders are ready to take on new roles. A solid leadership development regiment will encourage fresh faces to flourish and share their ideas with current leaders within the organization. Better yet, with enough training, these new leaders can help implement these changes with confidence and clarity.
4. Securing Your Company’s Future
Finally, if you want your company to continue its legacy, you must prepare accordingly with a succession planning model that focuses heavily on leadership development. Succession planning refers to the process by which an organization carefully transitions from the established leadership to new leadership. Without a fresh set of prepared leaders to grab the torch, your organization will likely experience a serious crisis when the time comes.
One of the great benefits of leadership development is that it secures your company’s future by curating strong leaders who are capable and confident enough to take over new and existing roles. For more insight into the many benefits of succession planning and leadership development, download our white paper entitled “Preparing New Leadership: A Successful Approach to Succession Planning”.
At Leadership Resources, our purpose is making the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow.
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Businesses that stand the test of time will eventually face the proverbial passing of the torch. Those who have lead the organization for a long time and wish to move on to retirement or other ventures must find the proper candidate to take over their role. This transfer of leadership roles is known as succession. And while succession implies a continuation of the company, it also implies change, which can frighten staff members, especially those directly under the wing of the leader who is leaving.
Current and upcoming leaders must find ways to unite their teams in order to calm these fears and prepare for these changes. Proper succession planning shouldn’t just fill vacant roles with the right people, then, but also put everyone within the organization on the same page. Here we’ll examine a few key ways to promote team unity under new leadership.
How to Promote Team Unity as a New Leader
Reinstate Vision
Every leader, even if they’re occupying the same role at different times, has their own unique leadership style and idiosyncrasies that inform their decision-making. However, above all else, leaders should serve the needs of their organization and their people. This means, regardless of their personal traits, leaders must always keep the company’s greater vision in mind. Under the supervision of their leaders, team members must also work toward this common purpose.
In other words, the company’s vision supersedes the leader and the team, operating as a unifying force in and of itself. No matter who is currently at the helm, the ship is headed in the direction of this vision. By reinforcing and adhering to the company’s vision, new leaders can promote and maintain team unity and the overall organizational culture.
Transition Gradually
Even the most open-minded people struggle with change, especially when it’s abrupt. Among the several benefits of succession planning, the buffer it creates between the old and the new is perhaps the most important. Team members should have the opportunity to get to know their newly appointed leader over a period of time in order to get comfortable with this shift.
Fortunately, it’s likely that most staff members will already know this person, as many succession plans promote someone already within the organization. That said, the change in roles can still throw people for a loop, so the more time everyone has to get used to the new situation, the better. It benefits both the new leader and the team to have several weeks (if possible) where the current leader and upcoming leader work side by side.
Create Team Buy-In
Whenever a new idea comes about, creating team buy-in is a major step in furthering its development. The same goes for a change in leadership. While in most cases the team itself won’t have a say in succession planning issues, they should at least be allowed to offer feedback and advice to their upcoming leader. By empowering the team in this way, individuals within the team will feel more connected to one another, establishing unity and trust.
Change is difficult, but it’s necessary for a business to go on, thrive, and adapt to a dynamic world. During a shift in leadership, however, the current team might begin to fracture and waver. This is why every succession planning model should include measures for promoting team unity during this transition. For deeper insights into succession planning and how to keep your company together during a leadership transfer, download our white paper: “Preparing New Leadership: A Successful Approach to Succession Planning.”
At Leadership Resources, our purpose is making the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow.
In the previous part of this series, we examined what Vision means for a successful business. To summarize, Vision refers to the short- or long-term aspirations of an individual or company that are most easily achieved when made transparent and shared among team members, often via a Vision statement. Having a clear Vision helps galvanize the team toward achieving specific goals. But a clear Vision alone won’t ensure success. This is where “Traction®” comes in.
What Does “Traction” Mean?
Before we begin, it’s helpful to note that “Traction” (as well as “Vision”) is a term denoting one of Six Key Components™ used in the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) that holds a specific definition. To dive deeper into that, head over to the EOS® Worldwide website. Plus, you can learn more about how Leadership Resources can help you implement the EOS® management system at your company.
Here in this article, we’ll take a more general approach to Traction.
Just as we did for unpacking vision, it helps to define the literal meaning of a word before diving into its figurative uses. Traction in the literal sense refers to something’s grip or adhesion to a surface to move it along. We often hear of tires with great traction, for instance, which can handle off-roading and rougher terrain. So, in a way, Traction is another word for stickiness.
In terms of business development, Traction actually has a couple of meanings, but they’re related. The first deals with how well a business is doing in the market. A company with several repeat customers and clients, a growing base, and steadily rising profits and value, is said to have high traction. They are “sticky,” reeling people in over and over again. Investors gravitate toward these companies because of their proven sales growth formula and foreseeable continued success.
But Traction also has to do with how leaders keep their team on track, working toward a single vision. In this sense, the term deals with maintaining focus, holding staff members accountable, and encouraging consistent execution to reach goals. Whichever definition of Traction you prefer, aiming to increase it is an important business growth strategy.
How Do Leaders Facilitate Traction?
Truly increasing Traction in a company requires leaders to use all their leadership skills. Leaders must effectively communicate with their team an all accounts. The Vision we described in part one must be made clear and tangible enough for the team to act on reaching toward it every day. Leaders must also motivate their team with reminders of where everyone is heading and why. To keep everyone on track, leaders must also give regular feedback to employees, letting them know when the team is clearly advancing in the right direction and when it’s veering off course.
The company must eventually adopt an organizational culture that breeds accountability. This way, leaders and team members can keep themselves and each other in check at all times. With a strong culture, the company’s mission and current Vision will always be in front, clear as day. One misstep won’t drag the whole team off course. Rather, the team will correct the error together and continue onward.
Traction and Company Success
Traction is a crucial component of a company’s ongoing success. In short, it’s the way in which a company stays on the rails leading toward its Vision. Without Traction, the wheels will fly right off and the vehicle ceases to move or function. The more in sync leaders and team members are with one another, the more efficiently everyone will get there.
If you’re looking to find ways to keep your team on track, check out Leadership Resources. We have several tools for leaders to help them further their own success as leaders as well as the success of their companies. Contact us here to learn more.
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