Are you sending your most promising employees to leadership development training?

Most often, high-potential employees are being sent to leadership development programs for them to realize their full potential. Such is the case of organizations who firmly believe that the future of any organization lies in successful succession planning. Leadership development programs strengthen employee engagement and promote the transfer of knowledge throughout the whole organization.

Organizations which don’t implement succession planning often pay a high price of hiring or pirating people from top notch companies, whenever a highly skilled employee leaves.

Would you believe us when we say that the most important asset of any company is human capital?

Yes, it is, and that is the reason why companies invest early in leadership development.  They identify high potential employees, who they see fit as future leaders of their organization and train them to make the best decisions, and meet future challenges and opportunities with high confidence.

Here are three simple ways to adapt leadership development in your organization:

Set Organizational Goals

Set organizational goals and create company vision.

Align leadership development programs to the company mission and vision. Where will the company be five, ten, or 15 years from now. Is your leadership development program aligned with organizational goals? When will members of the management retire? Have you established a succession plan? Who will replace your managers once they retire?

Defining a clear purpose of your leadership development program will make it easier to identify the type of process you need, and will help you determine when you’ve met your goal.

Don’t Be Afraid to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

There are some employees who might hesitate in taking new roles or accepting new challenges. However, they are often the ones who see the need for organizational improvement, as they are the ones, who are often exposed and familiar with the processes.

“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.” – Mahatma Gandhi

If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change. Not only because you are now viewing your environment through new lenses of thoughts and emotions but also because the change within can allow you to take action in ways you wouldn’t have – or maybe even have thought about – while stuck in your old thought patterns.

Yes, change is difficult, but it paves the way for creation and improvement.

So, how do we prepare our high-potential employees for change.

  • Create opportunities to network within the organization or send them to events that have like-minded individuals or organizations with common interest. Make sure that they are familiar with their colleagues. Ask them to represent your organization in trade fairs or conventions. Through these, they will acquire new people skills and create new contacts.
  • Assign new tasks to them. Break their routine, Engage them in challenges that would help develop their capabilities towards a leadership role. Mentor them, coach them, resist the urge to solve problems for them.
  • Find learning opportunities for them. Send them to external trainings or a higher college degree. Give them opportunities for both personal and professional growth.

Look for Real-World Learning

Send your high-potential employees to a good leadership development program that offer practical solutions to real-world problems. They will learn faster from another person’s experience.

The right leadership development program will always produce the right leaders for your organization. Having a clear understanding of what skills and characteristics your organization requires and then supporting employees as they learn how to adapt to change and meet real-world challenges with knowledge and confidence will foster better leadership within any organization.

For more details, you may contact Benchmark Consulting at (02) 812 7177 or email us at info@benchmark-consulting.com.ph. You may also visit our website at www.benchmark-consulting.net.