Ten Ways to Develop the Leadership Pipeline

Developing leaders need practical experiences beyond “book learning.” In general, every experience which helps them sharpen problem analysis, project leadership, persuasion, and presentation skills is a win – these are the little hinges upon which big doors swing. Here are ten ways to develop the leadership potential of the people your sphere of influence. 

1.     Give them recommended books, articles, and podcasts to study. Tell them why you think the content is valuable for them.

2.     Ask them to explore a new area and report back to you and others.

3.     Delegate a portion of your work (pick something relatively routine for you now, even if it’s difficult for them at first). 

4.     Ask them to run one of “your” meetings (e.g., a team meeting or project meeting). This gives them practice. You get to step up and out of the meeting to think more about what is going on (and especially what’s not being done or said).

5.     Ask them to sub for you in a meeting where you have a conflict. They’ll need you to give context and coaching.

6.     Ask them to review an existing procedure and make recommendations on how it might be improved. This can be individual work, or an effort which requires them to get insights from others.

7.     Give them opportunities to take assessment tools like DiSC and Strength Finders. Review the results with them.

8.     Ask them to co-lead a project with someone who has more experience, as an intentional ‘apprenticeship’ effort. 

9.     Arrange for another leader to provide them with coaching on a skill, or mentoring in an area where you may not have as much experience.

10. Share your work stories with them – good, bad, and ugly – pointing out what you learned. Explicitly say, “I’m telling you this story because you have leadership potential and can learn from my experiences.”