6 Great Reasons to Invest in Young Leaders

Hi LinkedIn Community

This past week I ran the last of 3 consecutive workshops for young leaders in South Australia, getting some really great feedback. And I also received some excellent feedback on a group of young leaders I've been able to spend time with since mid-February.

But what has been great about it all is that it is work I love doing - which got me thinking into why I love doing it so much.

So I started compiling, for my own benefit, why it gives so many leadership trainers, coaches, and teachers great joy to work with and developing young leaders.

I came up with 6 that I thought I'd share with you - but also 2 potential drawbacks I've also encountered.

6 Great Reasons to Invest in Young Leaders:

1. They don't know what doesn't work yet - so they get to work, and make it work - proving older leaders wrong. I must say, this is one of my favourites! So often young leaders try things, not knowing that it shouldn't work. I've even had young leaders tell me they were going to try something - and sometimes out loud, sometimes internally, I've declared it won't work. And then it does! Some of my own best leadership lessons have been in seeing this happen, and then dissecting why it worked. And, some of my best leadership conversations have been sitting down with young people and telling them, after they succeeded, that I didn't think it would - and then unpacking why it did work. These are great, honest, people-building conversations.

2. They commonly trust leaders who genuinely believe in them, and 'borrow their belief' more readily than others. I've told young people I believe in them, and I've told older people I believe in them. Younger people respond quickly to this belief - they act, even if they don't fully believe in themselves - and then make things happen. Older people have more wounds to overcome, and so find it harder to borrow someone else''s belief in them and head into action.

3. When they make mistakes, they are forgiven more readily, which makes it easier to maintain momentum. When an older leader makes a mistake, our trust in them often decreases immensely - after all, they should know better. When a young leader makes a mistake, we forgive quickly and easily - after all, they are still learning. This gives them an opportunity to try again in a much shorter time frame. When the next things succeeds, momentum is regained - which helps organisations immensely.

4. They change quickly and easily. So many organisations are drowning because they struggle to change quickly. Young people seem to sense the need to change to not just keep up, but to be ahead of the curve. This sets up up future success, rather than hanging on to what worked 20, 30, 50 or 100 years ago and hoping it works again

5. They are ready and willing to celebrate success. There is a lot of research on the importance of celebrating success. Yet lots of older leaders have said to me 'Why should I celebrate someone who is just doing their job? They should just get on with it!'. Celebrating success builds morale, generating further success - and a support network for when things inevitably go wrong. Young leaders therefore create an environment of togetherness that older leaders often forget to invest in.

6. Their enthusiasm and energy keeps older leaders feeling young. Perhaps most importantly, it also generates purpose and meaning for older leaders, who gain great joy from seeing those younger than them succeed. It creates mutual respect in the workforce, improving teamwork, and therefore results.

So, that's my 6. But, I've also experienced drawbacks.

Here are two that come to mind:

1. They don't know how good they are, and how good they aren't. Now, this is sometimes a positive, but what I've often noticed is that there are exceptional young leaders - talented, humble, of strong character - who don't know that they are a high quality person, who is highly respected - and so they don't step up when they could make a big difference. This is especially a drawback when there is a young leader who isn't of strong character, and isn't humble - yet they think they are a big deal. Often the poor leader gets more say than the good leader. This destroys morale, and gets young leaders a bad reputation.

2. Quality coaches are in short supply, so young leaders often don't know how to grow and make the most of their abilities - or they never find out that they even are leaders. Often I sit down with young leaders in their late teens and ask them "Who in your family or friends, work, or faith community, believes in you and invests in you?" and I get the answer back of "no one." This breaks my heart. It means that when I show them that I believe in them, and invest in them, I'm the exception, and not the norm. What is horrible about that is that until they experience multiple people investing in them and believing in them, they will always doubt that they are worth the investment and the faith. It's not something I want young leaders to experience. And I'm sure you don't want them to experience it either.

So, get investing. There are great reasons to invest, and quite frankly, not a lot of drawbacks.

Of course, there are more reasons than the 6 and 2 I've shared here. If you have the time, share your own reasons why you invest in others - and some of the challenges you've found in doing so!