How to Develop Leadership That Will Grow Your Business
Throwing a few resources at leadership development here and there won’t get you the results your business needs. If you’re hoping to scale significantly, leadership development is not just a nice-to-have; it’s a must-do.?
Key takeaways:
As a founder, your leaders are your most valuable asset as they benefit employee retention and engagement. Unfortunately, too many business owners don’t see the benefit of investing in good leadership.?
Studies have shown that in the first 18 months of attaining a leadership position, 50% to 70% of leaders fail. And inconsistent leadership can cost your business a great deal more than you might realize.?
On the other hand, effective leadership can create a company culture of success. This guide will help you navigate these choppy waters and show you how to develop leadership that will take your business to the next level. Let’s dive in.?
1. Focus on professional development
Providing professional development opportunities isn’t just an investment in your employees; it’s an investment back into your business. Mentorship programs reduce training costs and support a company culture of learning.
A survey of over 2 000 employees showed that organizations that offer opportunities for professional development saw an increase in employee engagement by 15%. These companies also have retention rates 34% greater than businesses that don’t offer professional development opportunities.
Professional development opportunities are an excellent way to retain your A players by giving them a chance to take up leadership positions in your company. Developing mentorship and coaching programs can increase employee engagement, resulting in higher productivity and improved growth.
2. Bring employees out of their silos
You’ll need to be intentional about developing leadership potential within your company if you want to see the business growth you desire. The business world is full of stories of companies that spent millions on leadership training with poor results – often because their efforts focused on developing specific skills rather than preparing employees to take on broader roles in the company.
If you allow employees to grow exclusively within their silos , your company’s progress will be short-lived because you won’t have leaders with the experience and vision to manage the big picture. To develop leaders who don’t see their job in zero-sum terms, but rather appreciate the roles that other businesses, divisions, functions, and regions play, you have to take them out of their career comfort zones and offer them challenging assignments in different roles.
And you can do this by crafting a clear policy that encourages employees to develop expertise outside their current business units and functions. Keep an eye on employees who succeed in meeting these new challenges. They’re likely your future leaders.
3. Share the inspiration
Getting people to work outside their comfort zones requires a certain amount of motivation , so your team will likely need a little encouragement and inspiration. As a leader yourself, model the behavior you want your leadership team to display. Share inspiring articles, quotes, and videos to spark innovation and ideas.?
A Harvard Business Review article on the power of small wins revealed that progress is the most important way to impact an employee’s emotions and overall mood during a workday. The more your employees feel like they’re making progress, the more creatively productive they’ll be in the long run. The power of progress is fundamental, and you must cash in on it to boost motivation in your employees.
You can use realistic goal-setting methods to aid your team in meeting objectives. Be sure to celebrate the small wins and provide encouraging and appropriate feedback. And teach your team to have a growth mindset even when they fail.
4. Use leadership assessments
Using assessments to monitor leadership performance can save your company time and money. The most commonly used assessments are:
Leadership assessment methods are the best fit if you want to assess leadership competencies and outcomes. You can employ the multi-pronged approach by leveraging different styles of assessments to mine as much data as possible about your employees’ leadership performance.
5. Cultivate diversity
Diversity is more than just an HR buzzword. And it goes beyond gender and race to encompass age, educational experience, socioeconomic status, and many other factors. Diversity in leadership is linked to overall success and performance. Cultivating diverse leadership results in a diversity of thought, which causes innovation and new ideas to abound in your company.
MetaGrowth can help develop your next generation of leaders
At MetaGrowth , we’re committed to helping you create and deliver replicable, consistent, interactive, and prescriptive training to develop better leaders. We also provide a customized system to track and coach your team based on data from each employee.
There’s no better team than ours to grow your business. We can help you create a clear, deliberate path to drive your business forward. Set up a call with our team to learn more about how our services will help you grow.