Closing The Leadership Gap

Think about this. A year from now, there’s going to be a new team or project that requires someone on your team to step into leadership. If you haven’t prioritized development, you won’t have anyone who’s ready to step up and you’ll feel the weight of what’s called the Leadership Gap - the largest problem organizations face. You’ll end up with more opportunities than you have people who are ready to take on those opportunities. That’s why developing your people now is mission-critical.

Here are four practical tips for developing your people:

1. Be Consistent.

This is an underrated principle, but the truth is that consistent leaders are the leaders who build the most trust. When there’s chaos, and everything’s going wrong, you are the same. You are calm, collected, and confident. When things are incredible, and the team or organization is on the mountaintop, you are still calm, collected, and confident. When you’re consistent, people know what to expect from you. If you’re inconsistent, people lose trust, and unfortunately, respect. If you want to build that trust with your team in order to develop them well, be consistent.

2. Give Feedback.

This one may seem obvious, but it’s often overlooked. Take it upon yourself to give feedback. Feedback can be awkward and uncomfortable. It’s the elephant in the room that no one wants to shoot, but it’s necessary for growth. It requires us to step willingly into difficult situations. Everyone has blind spots, and we can’t be expected to acknowledge our own shortcomings if we don’t know we have them. Every leader should take responsibility for their team's growth by stepping into discomfort and giving honest feedback.

3. Delegate Responsibilities, Not Tasks.

If you only delegate minute, detailed tasks, all you’re doing is creating order-takers, not leaders. Instead of delegating the how, delegate the why and the what. Delegate what needs to be worked on, why it’s important, and even when it needs to be completed, but trust your team to figure out how to get it done. If you’re always delegating the how, your team is going to feel micromanaged and will sense the lack of trust, and they’ll miss the opportunity to grow.

4. Have Clear Goals.

Sometimes, people are wondering if they’re successful, if they’re doing enough, if they’re winning or losing. The lack of clarity can compound and result in excess stress. The best thing that you can do as a leader is to provide clarity by having very clear goals and expectations.

Now that you know how to develop your people, let’s talk about what happens if you don’t.

The Consequences of Not Developing Your People:

1. Opportunities > Readiness

If you don’t develop your people, you’ll quickly find yourself in the Leadership Gap. You’ll have too many opportunities and not enough people ready to take on those opportunities because there was a lack of proactive development of your staff before the opportunity was available.

2. Turnover

It’s simple. If you don’t develop your staff, you’ll eventually lose them, and many times, it’ll be the people with the most potential who leave because they’re not growing.

3. Low eNPS

If you do any sort of employee health survey, you’ll easily notice which teams are healthy and which aren’t, and so will your executive leadership. One facet of a healthy team is leadership development. When people feel like they’re being developed and they’re growing, they have higher satisfaction levels and thus, more energy to dedicate to your mission.

It may not seem high-priority today, but it will pay off in the long run because the fact of the matter is, effective leaders develop the next generation of leaders.

MT

At Leadr, we help you engage and grow every person on your team. Book a demo with Leadr today.