Solving the Leadership Problem: Developing Talents into Leaders
“Employees don’t quit companies; they quit their bosses.” We’ve all heard this old expression. But while it might just sound like a tired cliche from a human resources seminar, it turns out there is actually a lot of truth to it.
Gallup Finds That Employees Really Do Quit Their Bosses
In 2015, Gallup performed a study that had two surprising results:
1. Half of all employees leave their company because of their boss.
2. Bosses account for an astounding 70 percent of the total variance seen in employee engagement scores.
How managers perform directly impacts overall employee performance, which means it significantly affects the company’s bottom line. The same study showed that quality leaders can affect a 48 percent increase in profitability, 22 percent increase in productivity and a 19 percent decrease in employee turnover.
What does this mean for you? It means that the cultivation of great leaders is critical to your organization’s success.
Leaders Are Made, Not Born
If you’re looking for leaders that are able to engage with your employees, you probably already know what attributes to look for. They’re probably empathetic, active listeners, exceptional coaches and effective communicators. These types of leaders create a unified team that is consistently pushing to be better and do more.
However, unless you believe that leaders are born, not made, how can you develop leaders that live those well-known behaviors every single day and consequently engage their employees and push them to their very best?
The Fatal Flaw
Today, companies all over the world send their freshly promoted managers to weekend seminars that are intended to teach them about the principles of good leadership. While these are useful and valuable tools that companies should continue to utilize, they cannot be the only teaching tool. Though these managers are now familiar with the theories of good leadership, they may not have any practical experience with implementing these strategies in the workplace.
Another important saying to keep in mind is “use it or lose it.” This applies to all aspects of life, and workplace lessons are no different. Without a real-world outlet or further engagement, your leaders will slowly begin to forget the things they learned in those seminars, which leads to an inevitable downward spiral for the entire team.
This is the fatal flaw of today’s developmental programs: Managers go to seminars, watch coaching videos and read all kinds of material on how to be the best leaders, but afterward they are left floundering in the deep end with no guidance.
The Missing Piece: Continuous Follow-Up
Continuous follow-up is the key to success here. Even the best leaders need to have lessons and principles rehashed and repeated until they become second nature. The guidance that comes from continuous follow-up is the missing piece that will convert your talents into effective leaders and allow your organization to operate like the well-oiled machine you know it can be.
A continuous follow-up model is a three-pronged approach of practice, commitment, and feedback.
1. Practice
In this case, practice really does make perfect. As with any other newly acquired skill, it takes time and repetition before it becomes ingrained as a habit.
2. Commitment
This may seem obvious, but it is still crucial: Managers must commit to improving their leadership skills or they will fail.
Keep your leaders accountable by having them share their commitment to grow and improve their leadership skills with their team. This will provide just enough positive pressure for them to keep pressing on and honing their skills long after the seminars are over.
3. Feedback
We all need feedback to improve. Development and growth happen best when we receive specific, actionable feedback in a timely manner. This is regularly shown in parenting, sports, and business.
Your leaders should get into the habit of asking for feedback from superiors, peers and — perhaps most importantly — subordinates on a regular basis. Every tier of your organization has valuable insights that can help them modify negative behaviors and strengthen positive ones.
Let’s Make It Happen
The difference between engaged employees and those who leave for greener pastures boils down to this: Do your leaders apply the principles they’ve learned on a daily basis? If not, implementing continuous follow-up will allow you to develop key talents into successful leaders.
Whenever you’re ready to take the next step in developing your leaders, contact QuercusApp for a software solution that keeps up with the fast pace of ongoing feedback. We’re a lightweight solution focusing on continuous, real-time feedback among employees. The result is a powerful process that engages, empowers and aligns your leaders to deliver on the organization’s top priorities. Thanks to our powerful tool, you’ll never look at leadership development the same way again.
