Steps in Leadership Development Process
The power of good leader is magnificent in that he could make the best out of little resources, whereas someone with poor leadership skills will ruin the functioning even with best of resources. That’s why creating effective leaders at various levels in the organization is essential, as in turn adds value to the organization. To identify, attract, fill, and retain corporate leadership talent, companies need leadership development programs focused on hiring strategies, employee development, and career and succession planning. Having the right process in leadership development is essential to building the right pool of future leaders.
Here is a view of the steps that need to be considered in the leadership development process.
Steps in leadership development process
Determine the best leadership style for your organization
While viewing different leadership theories there are various techniques suggested there to understand the suitable style for the organization. Considering situational leadership theory as an example, it suggests people use different ways of handling things depending on the situation. So if an organization use this theory as base, facts like the nature of the role, complexity of the company, and competency of the employees that it caters to are all to be considered. Within the company, leadership styles needed for an HR manager and sales manager would be different. It is also essential to understand the leader fit to avoid failures or loss in the future. There are two ways to assess leader fit: Understanding the individual better, exploring the work culture required in the organization.
Identify current and potential leaders within the company
To assess budding leaders in the organization the leadership program needs to identify expected skills and competencies of the leader. The organization could use competency models to evaluate the performance of the potential employees during review sessions. They could either use their own competency model developed for these purposes or use certain established models. One such model is SHL’s Great Eight leadership competencies. Either which way they are required to set some measuring criteria for successful performance. There are two ways of identifying leaders in the organization: internal and external. An effective way to do this is to roll-out a Competency Mapping exercise in the organization.
Internal: Performance Management
This is basically analysing and assessing the performance of potential employees during their review session, and testing their competencies through several ways: by assigning tasks and goals, receiving a 360-degree feedback or mapping the employee’s progress in the company. It is quite advantageous to make leaders from within as they know the functioning and environment which gives them an upper hand in maintaining or increasing profit.
External: Requirement Process
Other way of bringing right people into the right jobs is by recruiting the suited candidate at first place. Various assessments could be conducted during the interview process to bring in a competent candidate on board.
Identify leadership gaps
In order to understand the leadership gaps assessing the readiness of both individuals and organization is required. To know this there should be complete assessments relating to present and future requirements, the views of the present managerial team, the needs of the employees, identifying potential leaders who would leave the company, analysing the skill set required and also framing a time period for filling the gaps.
Develop succession plans for critical role
Framing a succession plan is beneficial at crucial times, when some leader leaves the company or some contingency that makes them unavailable. This helps in resuming functioning immediately and avoids disruption in the organization. It is advised to have succession plans for all potential roles and not just for the top managerial roles.
Develop career planning goals for potential leaders
It’s no more an individual’s responsibility alone to create a career planning. Organizations are supposed to devise a plan for potential employees and delegate them challenging roles and set goals. If they fail to do so or to provide them with sufficient opportunities for growth, eventually they will lose their potential leaders.
Develop a skills roadmap for future leaders
The leaders are also to be provided with non-traditional learning to understand today’s functioning and to withstand the competition. As a part of an employee’s development plan activities like training, coaching, job rotation, job shadowing, mentoring, and leading projects are included to develop the skills.
Develop retention programs for current and future leaders
Retaining skilled and potential employees and leaders is a greater task. Providing them with rewards is essential to keep them motivated and to create a sense of belonging as well. Both momentary and non-momentary rewards play a crucial role. Constant appreciation, recognition and reinforcement are crucial. It should be planned in such a way that the efforts by these people are appreciated so they feel valued and are motivated to function even more effectively.
Contact us if you are interested in a leadership program that is tailored to the needs of your organization or team.
