Four Steps to Grow Company Leaders

By Allan Pulga 

The benefits of grooming existing staff to become company leaders are many: provide opportunity for advancement, build loyalty and help maintain company culture, values and vision. 

Naturally, most executives (76 percent) would rather cultivate company leaders from within than hire them externally. However, only a quarter of those actually have a dedicated leadership development program in place, according to Inc.com/Monster Hiring Center HR columnist Tim Augustine. 

So how can the remaining companies develop the leaders they need and want? 

In order to identify and develop internal leaders, you need a plan. Augustine’s “High Potential Program” consists of four simple steps: 

1. Define your program. 

“What is your vision for the program?” he asks pointedly. Your internal leadership program should focus on employees who suit the company culture and personality and who have the potential to significantly help the company grow.  

“The program should be designed to elevate the company’s awareness of key employees, provide opportunities to learn leadership skills as well as provide one-on-one communication with the senior company leaders,” says Augustine.  

2. Develop a rigorous nomination and selection process. 

Augustine suggests creating a framework around a specific number of chosen participants – the smaller the group, the better the group participation and teamwork. 

Focus selection criteria on the personality and cultural fit of the individual. “The actual skills of managing and leading are often learned by education and mentoring, but personality cannot be taught,” says Augustine. 

Consider the following qualities:

·   strongly self-motivated

·   conscientious

·   persistent; follows through on commitments and deadlines

·   strong initiative, as shown by extra-curricular activities and accomplishments

·   adept at helping and teaching others

·   flexible and versatile (work long hours, respond to change, willing to travel)

·   interested in continued education

·   able to work independently and also with others (minimal direction required, recognizes priorities, self-directed but team-conscious)

·   desire to improve processes in job, group and company

·   exhibit integrity (professionalism, ethics, honesty)

·   professional appearance

·   customer-focused and enthusiastic

3. Identify and develop content, facilitators and internal mentors.

Augustine recommends conducting a “360-degree survey” for the participants to develop training content and identify valuable skills and competencies. 

Survey questions should target employee knowledge in a number of areas, such as: 

Company Knowledge: history, mission, direction, values, organizational structure

Products, Service and Market Knowledge: (product/service overview, industry overview, client relationships)

Leadership Traits and Competencies

·   Personal Effectiveness: business/proposal writing, presentation skills, negotiating, communication skills

·   Financial Knowledge: interpreting financial reports, strategic finance, accounting reports and analysis

·   General Leadership Skills: mentoring and coaching, team effectiveness, delivering feedback, conflict resolution, interviewing skills, delegation 

4. Provide structure for the program. 

The program must be flexible enough to adapt to individual and organizational schedules. It should combine the one-on-one mentorship of senior leaders with the interactive learning of group sessions, explains Augustine. “After you conduct your 360-degree assessment, meet with each participant individually to review your findings and begin to identify their skills gap,” he adds. “This meeting will also identify specific areas in which mentors/coaches could be used.” 

For example, Atwell-Hicks (the Michigan-based land development consulting firm where Augustine is vice-president of Corporate Services), 10 senior leaders were identified and scheduled for monthly individual meetings with participants. Each leader met with two participants a month to open lines of communication. The company also provided monthly leadership and training seminars. Weekly, monthly and quarterly goals were set to gather feedback and continually monitor progress. 

But no two companies are the same. Your company should customize its leadership program to develop the best leaders according to your company’s size, objectives and most of all, vision for the future.