How do you find and cultivate future leaders?

In my experience, I have used interviews or goal-setting conversations to gauge who has the orientation to learn and grow versus remaining fixed in their current perspective. In particular, do they possess self-awareness and openness to others' viewpoints? That is key to being a leader - knowing that you don't know it all and inviting others to share their ideas and insights to aid in tackling the challenges or opportunities you face.

Absolutely, leadership is about more than performance - it's about qualities and how a leader will operate. The "who" is as important as the "what" here. I would add that organizational fit is crucial in setting both the leader and organization up to win. To find the right fit, start with understanding your organizational culture and the needs of the specific leadership roles. Then consider what profile of leader is needed. Are they more strategic or more operational? What are their values? How to they approach challenges? How will they lead the team, which may already be in place? Then actively find individuals with these qualities, or the willingness and potential to develop them. Actively support them in this transition.

I am a firm believer that the best performer may not necessarily be the best manager and the best manager may not necessarily be the best leader. Individuals who relate with empathy, are passionate about people, goals and tasks and who have an open sharing mindset will be in my radar for leadership roles. One who accepts additional responsibilities or tasks without thinking that it’s a burden etc but instead looking it as an opportunity !

Ensure that they have visibility and sponsorship. That the opportunity that they are asked to take on is connected in a meaningful way to business results. Here's a PROMPT for emerging leaders: If you could wave a wand and improve one thing about our company, what would it be and why? What would be better as a result? Keep it simple. You may be surprised by what you hear. Look for patterns. Empower them to make a difference.

Stretch assignments can be given to draw people out of their comfort zone and tested. Skills demonstrated can be evaluated and credit given.

At multiple points in my career, accessing coaching provided a trusted and safe way to explore my challenges, reflect on possible paths, and experiment with new ways to lead in a tailored and targeted way. Coaching is a great way to meet a leader where they are at, help them to reflect on and access their strengths in an intentional manner, and setting them up to successfully navigate their career.

To find and cultivate future leaders, there’s nothing like a coaching approach. Believe in people, support them toward their highest good, ask questions that help them discover and self-direct, keep them accountable, and respect their responsibility for their own growth and choices. Leaders rise within a coaching environment and keep revolving through the growth spiral. Followers usually spin out somewhere around the accountability and responsibility for own growth. That self-motivated learner humble enough for input and determined to stay the course to grow and keep moving forward? Leader.

Support can come from various places and perspectives - it can be a mentor, a team of allies, or a peer - someone that an individual trusts to be honest and constructive and who is invested in their success.

Connection is paramount - leaders work with and through people. Rather than doing project related work, a leader does more strategic influencing to lead across the organization. This requires significant insight, communication skills, and people skills. More on the phone then on the computer. This can look like internal networking to gather appropriate and timely information, understanding the whole organization and developing solutions that work for stakeholders, gaining buy in for your initiatives from senior leaders, other departments and your teams. To train effective leaders, help them understand how to pave the way for success and develop their strategic influencing skills.

In my experience, cultivating leaders requires a structured investment of time and should not be a once a year evaluation or HR exercise. For emergent leaders they need to see the organizational commitment in order to build reciprocity and trust to put themselves out there to learn and grow versus being set up for failure.

Future leaders need to behave as leaders, not drive-by managers (issue a command and walk away). They need to be someone who inspires others, instills confidence in their direct reports, someone who is trustworthy and engenders loyalty. These qualities are especially important when leading globally dispersed teams (hybrid, remote, international). You must be able to lead remotely and draw out of your teams the kind of collaboration and productivity that we know is entirely possible without being in the same physical location.

To find and cultivate future leaders, look for who demonstrates ownership, initiative, and teachability. Remember they might be the quietest one in the room. Bonus points if they are kind. Use coaching skills to begin listening to and encouraging them. Their gifts, skills, and motivations will surface. Give them opportunities in those areas. Take it step by step - promoting too early is one of the fastest ways to slow down the good growth of a leader.