Leaders are made not born. As a manager, it’s critical to groom employees to become future leaders. It’s an investment that can affect both the present and future at your company. Employees often can be reluctant to be leaders and don’t see their own leadership potential. As a manager, you can help bring out the leadership qualities in every employee. This can lead to increased productivity in the short term and powerful leaders in the future. Here’s how to help your employees become leaders:

Sometimes all it takes is an opportunity to lead. If there’s an upcoming project or new client, empower your employees to take charge. As a manager, one of the most beneficial things you can do is delegate power to your employees. Show them that you trust them with this power and that they can make a real impact on the company.

When employees are given the power to lead, some of the decisions they take may be the wrong ones because it’s the first time they are in a position to make the important decisions. Allow them to struggle through important actions or decisions. When they don’t have anyone to lean on, they will have to come a decision on their own and whether it is the right decision or not, they will learn valuable lesson. Through success and failure, they will grow in confidence and become effective decision makers.

After you have given them a chance to make decision on their own and experience the learning curve themselves, assign them a mentor or be the mentor yourself. They have already tried their best on their own so give them a chance to see how a leader in the company approaches decision making or other leadership responsibilities. Through experience and observation, they’ll be able to take things away from the way you lead. Meet one-on-one often to talk about their goals or ideas that they may have.

After they’ve led a project or a team, give them honest feedback. Continuous communication with employees can help you identify any obstacles to their development. When their performance is exceptional make sure you let them know. If they have made bad decisions and the performance has been poor, encourage them and help them identify how they could do better. Create plans for their development with them and help set achievable goals.

Make a conscious effort to help your employees become leaders. Leaders can come from within the company and investing time into potential leaders is one of the most important responsibilities you have as a manager. If you are looking to add leaders now to your team or find the best talent, please contact us and we’ll connect you top candidates.