Identifying Potential: How to Recognize and Develop Leaders on Your Team
A team leader’s role is dynamic. You’re responsible for employee engagement, keeping projects on track and ensuring everyone is effective in their roles. Perhaps one of the most important aspects of leading a team, however, is helping individuals pursue career development. This could mean helping them hone their soft skills or teaching them to look at the bigger picture when they approach a task.
The key to assisting your team members with their personal growth is identifying their potential early. If you know how to spot leadership qualities in your team, it will be easy to see which employees have the potential to be future leaders. In this article, we’ll discuss how to spot leadership skills and how to develop those skills into an effective leadership style.
Natural Leadership Skills
It’s easy to point out a seasoned leader, but identifying a future leader can be a bit tougher. Potential leaders possess the core skill set that every successful leader needs, even if they don’t realize that’s how they could use those competencies.
As you evaluate your team and search for people who might be good leaders, there are a few natural leadership skills to keep an eye out for:
A knack for motivating others
Calmly overcomes obstacles without getting overwhelmed
Maintains great relationships with coworkers and supervisors
Holds themselves accountable for their actions
Capable of making decisions that benefit the whole team
All of these qualities indicate a person who has what it takes to lead with empathy and put the organization first as they climb the corporate ladder. Do your best to encourage these employees to partake in development programs that can help them hone their skills. You can be the support that helps them practice what they learn in their current role.
How to Develop Leaders
Once you’ve identified your high-potential employees, it’s time to start the development process. Successful leadership development depends on a number of different factors, but there are five things every team leader can do to help employees advance in their careers.
Be a Coaching Leader
It’s important to remember that all employee development starts with you. As a team leader, you can support your employees by offering personalized leadership training. Be an example for your team members and show them what it takes to succeed in a leadership role. Share your vision and strategic goals so they understand where the team is heading and why—be a coaching leader.
Become a Coaching Leader
Our Elevate Your Coaching Leadership program is designed to help you bring out the best in your people, find more purpose in your role and maximize your leadership impact.
A coaching leader is someone who’s invested in their team members’ success and willing to act as a patient guide throughout their professional development. Here are a few ways you can do this:
Ask open-ended questions so you can fully understand how your team member views leadership and what their goals are. This makes them feel heard and respected, which is the foundation of a positive relationship with you.
Provide consistent constructive feedback so they start to recognize growth areas and can begin to identify those areas on their own. You’ll encourage them to focus on those areas and start improving because they know they’ll be held accountable for their progress each time they meet with you.
Allow your team members to own their position and their development plan. Every person moves at a different pace and they need a path that pushes them out of their comfort zone without throwing them in the deep end. Avoid micromanaging your team members to show them you have courage in their abilities and trust that they’ll reach their goals.
These are just a few examples of how you can use coaching leadership in your organization. As you meet with your team members, you’ll discover new ways to personalize the approach for each person’s needs to support them as they work to develop their leadership potential.
Start Early
You don’t have to wait until there’s open management positions to start developing leaders in your organization. In fact, the earlier you can prepare your team members to take on leadership roles, the better.
When you notice someone with leadership potential, start the process the right way. Ask them if they’ve ever considered developing management skills or if they have any interest in moving into a leadership position one day. Sometimes just asking this question can kickstart people’s self-awareness and get them thinking about their future in a new light.
If they are interested in career development, then you can teach them how to develop leadership skills. Starting early gives people time to do a quick assessment of their skills, their current situation and their goals. As they start honing their skills and learning how to be an effective leader, they’re more likely to feel confident applying to any positions that might arise.
Individuals aren’t the only people who benefit from learning leadership skills. The organization as a whole enjoys some positive results as well. For example, as the company needs to fill senior leadership roles, there’s a better pool of internal candidates with a deep understanding of the organization who can succeed in those positions.
Focus on Organizational Values
For someone to be a great leader in your organization, their personal values need to align with the company values. This alignment ensures they’re passionate about carrying out initiatives that further the company’s mission and align with its vision.
Whether you’re a senior leader coaching team members or a human resources representative interviewing candidates, be sure to focus on and explain how different skills and roles contribute to the overall organizational values. This helps employees start to see things from a bird’s eye view and not just from their perspective on the ground. It also reinforces how every single person in the organization is integral to its success.
There are a number of ways you can help your team members recognize core values and identify where they fit into their own projects, such as emphasizing soft skills and offering leadership development opportunities.
Emphasize Soft Skills
Business savvy might look great on year-end reports and performance reviews, but being a leader is about more than just getting results. It’s also about people. Leaders need to have expert interpersonal skills so they can relate to their staff and lead with empathy.
Emphasizing soft skills when developing a leader is important because it reminds them that successful leaders lead with their heads and listen with their hearts. Help your team members practice healthy communication, both by sharing ideas and listening to others. Active listening, especially, is key for leaders because it shows they care about their team and consider their viewpoints when making decisions.
Interpersonal skills can also help leaders adapt quickly to changing circumstances, be more resourceful in difficult situations and become more adept when resolving conflict among their team. These are all aspects of creating a stable, healthy work environment and setting an example for those who look up to you.
Offer Leadership Development Opportunities
Don’t put pressure on yourself to be the end-all be-all for your team. In fact, it’s often better to provide extra leadership development opportunities with outside experts to bring a fresh perspective to your team.
Try to find as many ways as you can to give your team these opportunities. It might be through retreats, workshops, speaking events or even signing everyone up for an eCourse. The more you can outsource your leadership development, the more diverse training your team can access and take advantage of.
Leadership development helps to hone leadership skills across the board. Employees can take these back to your organization and start making meaningful contributions as they find new ways to maximize their role. Not to mention, businesses that actively invest in professional development for their employees often have higher retention rates than those that don’t. Employees want to stick with a company that believes in them and is actively assisting them to move forward in their careers.
Ready to Find Your Next Great Leader?
At Building Champions, we create customized coaching engagements that focus on both the beliefs and behaviors of great leadership. We guide leaders, teams, and organizations to be healthy and high-performing so they can have a greater impact on everyone they serve.
To start identifying potential and developing your team, schedule a call with us. We can help you find a program that’s right for your needs.
