Your team lacks leadership skills. How can you help them prepare for future roles?

To help your team prepare for future leadership roles, provide them with targeted development opportunities such as leadership training, mentorship programs, and opportunities to lead projects or initiatives, while also offering regular feedback and support to build their skills and confidence.

Leadership skills are extremely essential at every level of work.? Hence, it should be a mandatory skill for your team members.? To help them improve or build these skills, the first step is to understand which skills they are lacking and what their strengths are. You can use various assessment tests, have open conversations, have short interviews giving them scenarios of how they will handle a particular situation, and many other measurable tools. Once you have the results in hand, analyze the leadership level of each individual and work towards giving them personalized training to uplift the various aspects of leadership that the members lack.

In my experience, while assessing the skills of the team members, it is also important to understand the motivation and driving factor. The next step is to align Organisation's north star with individual's driving factor. The gap between individual's skills and desired skills can be assessed through available AI tool. Also, a tailored development program can be made. Diligently supporting the Personal Development Plan for team members and giving timely feedback on the progress is crucial.

To help your team develop leadership skills for future roles, start by identifying potential leaders and providing them with targeted training and development opportunities. Offer mentorship and coaching to guide them through real-world challenges and enhance their decision-making abilities. Encourage participation in leadership workshops, courses, and seminars. Provide opportunities for team members to take on leadership roles in projects or initiatives to gain practical experience. Foster a culture of continuous feedback and self-improvement, where team members can learn from successes and setbacks. Finally, recognize and reward leadership behaviors to motivate and reinforce their development, preparing them for future leadership roles.

First things first—figure out where your team’s leadership skills are missing in action. Check out their strengths and weaknesses with performance reviews, self-assessments, and a bit of 360-degree feedback. Once you know what’s lacking, whip up some development plans that align with their career dreams and the team's needs. Leadership’s like a Swiss Army knife—communication, decision-making, empathy, and motivation.

The next step in improving the leadership qualities of your team is to set clear goals for them.? This means that you need to provide a personalized roadmap to each member, setting goals for them and helping them to stay motivated on the path. Make sure that the milestones are explained effectively and encourage them to understand that they need to take accountability for the journey. Guide them into how vital this skill is and give examples to support how important it will be for their career. With the objectives and goals set clearly, your team will be able to work towards developing their leadership skills.

Alright, now that you’ve figured out where your team’s leadership skills are lagging, let’s set some goals. Think SMART—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. It’s like giving them a treasure map to follow. Get them involved in the goal-setting so they actually care about hitting those targets. When they’re in charge of their own development, they’re way more likely to get pumped and make it happen.

Leadership can be learned and developed with the right training and guidance. Thus, in order to help your team improve their leadership skills, offer them the needed training sessions. This includes fun activities, expert lectures, practical sessions, and many more in order to guide them to grasp the concept and how it can be implemented in real life. Encourage your team members to interact with other team leaders within the company, have cross-functional collaborations, and understand the different approaches to leadership and what a true leader looks like. When they have real examples and exercises, the team will be able to gradually build the skill and become bright future leaders.

Establish clear boundaries around work hours, communication protocols, and responsibilities to maintain respect and productivity. Lead by example to show their importance. Review and communicate these boundaries consistently to minimize misunderstandings. Clear boundaries not only prevent conflicts but also foster a culture of mutual respect and well-being within the team.

Mentors are powerful personalities that help an individual bring out the leader inside them. Hence, mentoring is an extremely great and really preferable option these days for the team members to develop their skills. Make sure that you do not keep more than two or three team members under one mentor, and ensure that each member is getting personalized feedback, opinions, and advice. Encourage your team members to give their best and utilize the resource of mentors as a great step to becoming better leaders. Hence, with strong mentorship, your members will be able to truly understand who they are, what leadership means to them, and how they can inculcate it. It will be a life-changing journey for them.

Mentoring is an essential element of successful organisation where it helps to develop a mature line of leadership that can take up independent decision and spread the culture of ownership. The mentorship not only benefits the parent organisation but creates industry wide leadership.

Failures are a part of our lives. No matter what skill or what path we take, we make mistakes and learn from them. As your team members are setting themselves on a journey to be better leaders, help them to understand that this journey too comes with its own struggles and failures. Tell them your narratives, your personal experiences as a leader, and the times when it was stressful. When you share their stories, they will be able to connect better and learn from your lessons. Create an environment where they feel safe and comfortable discussing the problems they face while developing their leadership skills. This will gradually help them increase their resilience and work towards being strong leaders.

In my hard earned experience, it is important to lead by example. Unless, someone in leadership sets example for self development and following Personal Development Plan, it is hard to encourage merely by words. As a leader it is important to think about self improvement and your behavior as leading example for the team.