One of the most important aspects of leadership is developing the individuals in your organization. The current and future growth and stability of your business are directly dependent on your team’s capabilities and contributions. Weak development of future leaders essentially puts your organization in a slow downward spiral, with the marketplace drifting away from your business to competitors or alternative ways to meet their business needs.
Development today is not the same as it was in past decades. The nature of business growth and level of urgency are moving forward at a much greater pace. Some of this is the natural expansion of business opportunity. Some of the pace or cadence is driven by how technology is woven into almost all aspects of our daily and business lives.
The future leaders are also entering the business world with very different tool sets, talents, expectations, and backgrounds, and they differ from current leadership in how they were elevated to their current roles. As a result, today’s leaders can’t simply replicate what they went through in their development cycles. In some cases, the talent emerging into the business world is coming in far more skilled, knowledgeable, and with a wider range of potential contributions. At the same time, there is an abundance of individuals coming into the business world who are substantially less capable than they should be. It is challenging to consider that the educational system in one of the world’s most well-developed countries can produce such mediocre outcomes. As business leaders, our future lies in finding the right balance between development for both ends of the spectrum.
We can learn a little from how businesses have adapted to the consumer market of people who want various products customized to their specific desires. For example, the ways in which consumers gain access to any number of consumables. You can go directly to a store and purchase, which is a more traditional approach. You can order online and have it shipped to you. You can use a phone app to preorder and pick it up at the store parking lot. You can use any number of delivery services to bring groceries or prepared meals directly to wherever you are. As you can see, how we gain access to these items has rapidly evolved. So too must your approach to developing your team and future leaders.
As your future depends on this important aspect of your organization’s success, here are a few thoughts to narrow your focus.
Make development a priority
Be honest with the path you choose and realize it might need to change many times
Prepare, set expectations, and execute
Get input, ask for feedback, listen, and adjust
Encourage and acknowledge progress and support challenges.
Your organization’s marketing budget is spent to attract and keep revenue coming into the business. You need to invest in developing your people, as without them, you have no organization to offer goods and services to the marketplace.
Looking to bring development to a new level of importance in your business? A Promise Guide can help you build a strategy to bring your development needs into contribution. Give JKL Associates a call at MI (313) 527-7945 or FL (40-7) 984-7246.
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