How do you know if you have a budding leader or leaders within your company ranks?
In some cases, that individual or individuals will emerge from the ranks right before your eyes in no time at all. In other instances, the employee will take time (perhaps even years) to fully blossom.
No matter how leaders emerge under your guise, it is important that you give as many employees as possible the opportunity to work their way up the company ladder.
In doing so, you enable them to chart their courses for not only leadership opportunities within your company, but perhaps elsewhere.
So, as 2016 nears the halfway point, is a leader emerging within your company?
Why Leaders Are Important to Your Brand
Some employers may look at their rosters and feel like there is no one willing to step up to the plate and become the next leader within the ranks.
Others, meantime, see the talent they have onboard and note that any number of candidates could easily be a department manager in no time.
So, how do you encourage your staff to take their work games to the next level?
Among the ways to go about this:
- Encouragement – It is so easy at times to point out the wrong things that your employees do. Instead of taking a pessimistic view of things in the workplace, always do your best to be positive. Sure, constructive criticism is always necessary and should always be part of your company’s blueprint. That said don’t allow the criticism to take on negative tones. When you encourage your employees to strive for excellence, you will typically get more effort out of them than if you always pinpoint the bad stuff;
- Incentives – When employees are incentivized to strive for things in the workplace, they typically will provide you with even better efforts on a daily basis. Even though it is fine to offer a little friendly competition amongst employees, don’t turn it into a knockdown brawl. Encourage teamwork (see more below) and putting heads together to solve problems, especially as they relate to customers and their needs. One of the incentives you can offer is taking a customer problem, then bringing all company heads (in that related department) together to fix it. For example, if you have a customer feeling like the accounting team is not working with them on a payment issue, sit down as a team and figure out the best response. It could be someone lower down on the accounting totem pole that actually comes up with the best means to solve the problem. Make sure he or she is rewarded in doing just that. All voices in a select department should be heard, not just the individual who is wearing the title of manager or supervisor ;
- Speakers – Remember when you were in school and you would have guest speakers come in to speak to your class on a wide variety of topics? Business owners are best-served when they do the same. Whether it is someone like Michelle Stacy, a woman who has been focused on putting together first-rate cultures in companies, or Dana Perino, a woman who knows all about the importance of communication having served as a White House press secretary, make sure you tap some of the best minds out there. Bringing this kind of talent to speak to your employees can not only benefit them, but also allow them to hear from outsiders as to why their roles with your company are in fact so important;
- Unity – Finally, how much of an effort do you put into encouraging unity and teamwork in your business? If you’ve been a little lax in this department as of late, alter that thinking as you move forward. Your team is just that, a team. Yes, some individuals will shine more than others (there is nothing wrong with that). That said always do your best to stress unity in the office. This is not only true while everyone is working, but it can carry over outside the workplace too. From get-togethers after work to even an occasional weekend retreat, treating your employees as one big family can go a long way in making your brand the best it can be.
Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com
About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.
