Executives and CEO’s know that one of their main tasks is finding the right candidate for the succession in management. They are naturally aware that the process of finding the right candidate is not straightforward or even simple. They fully understand that it is a complex situation and requires a worker with a multifaceted ability and other myriads of skills. They are also aware that characteristics that can help a person succeed in one department or environment may not necessarily mean they will also succeed in a different department. But even though they are fully aware of the possible mistakes in choosing the wrong candidates a vast majority of them still make that costly mistake.
If you can set up a proper strategy in finding leaders within your business, you might be surprised to find that there are many more leaders with great potential already working for you than you realize.
Here are 4 tips to help you find them.
- Observe, Observe, Observe
Before you go and look for someone, that is the right fit for the leadership position or role. You need to figure out exactly what you’re looking for in a leader. You need to know and understand the work ethic and characteristics that you want your leaders to have and emulate. When you have that cleared out then you begin to observe your workplace to find a potential candidate with those qualities.
The performance of your employees is limited to defining their ability, skill, and expertise but it is not the only metric that you should take into account when you are trying to identify leaders in your business. You should look beyond the performance indexes and consider their aptitude, desire, determination, and potential.
Some workers may have high-performance metrics but that doesn’t necessarily define what a leader is. Their output performance may be high, but they may not have the potential to fill into a leadership role. This is one of the main reasons why the potential of your candidates must be heavily taken into account when you are creating the parameters for finding your possible leaders.
- Mentor
Create a mentorship program because it can deliver a lot of value to your team and your business. Look at the employees that step-up to the plate and show a willingness to serve and succeed beyond their mentors. These individuals would be excellent candidates for leadership roles. Employees that choose to be a mentor allows your worker the opportunity to showcase their skills and capacity to receive feedback as well as their skills in communicating and motivating others for the success of your business.
Mentees in your mentorship programs may also be potential leaders but will need a little help with a specific skillset. By having a mentorship program, you are creating a conducive environment for the development of their abilities and attributes for their success. This will give you a chance to make sure that your employees are happy which would lead to lower potential turnover rates.
- Offer event opportunities
Start an event and gather all your workers for as much time as you and your business can spare. Ask your workers to pitch an event and focus on big efforts that will showcase cooperation and collaboration. Your employees will always have their ideas on how to improve your business processes and how to help develop the growth of your company. Provide them with space and the opportunity to pitch their ideas to you.
By giving your workers that chance to contribute their thoughts, ideas, and opinions you are giving yourself the avenue to help you find a potential candidate for a leadership role plus there might be good ideas in that pot that you never would have thought about to help your business take it to the next level.
- Contribute and collaborate
Content is an avenue to share thoughts, ideas, and opinions from your business to your audience. Create a space and invite your workers to a leadership strategy event.
Give your workers the chance to contribute or collaborate their skills and or expertise to your company’s internal content and strategy that is separate from what their job requires. Leaders do this for your business daily, they contribute a myriad of skills for the success of your business.
Your potential candidates don’t need to be perfect writers or graphic designers, they just have to share their ideas and opinions. Let your marketing officers screen and interview them to get the most compelling and persuasive ideas and transform them into content that will appeal to your targeted audience. This gives your marketing department new materials and allows you the opportunity to find potential leaders with the aligned vision for your business’s success.
Conclusion
If you implement these tips in your management succession strategy it would give you more chances to identify the right leader with the right skills that you and your business need. But you should also take into account that leaders are not just managers they are individuals that can steer and guide your team to achieving the goals set by your company. They are people who are not just motivated but are workers who are born with special traits and competencies that were raised from their experiences and education.
Place your leaders in a conducive environment where they can attract and keep talented people in their team. Direct their development by stating clear objectives and let them come up with their own process on how to execute every task and challenge. Give them space and a framework to succeed for your business development and growth.
Shivendra helps construction companies and contractors win more projects and grow profitably. Regarded as a master of practical implementation, Shivendra has guided organizations such as Downer and Siemens as well as smaller contractors to achieve double-digit improvements to their bottom line. Underpinning his extensive industry experience are qualifications in engineering and a Ph.D. focused on rapid cost improvement techniques. He is the author of two books, The Competitive Contractor and From Paper to Profit, host of the Competitive Contractor podcast, and the founder of Shivendra & Co and The Constructors Network. You can find more about Shivendra & Co at www.shivendra.com.