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It's Only Common Sense: How to Develop Great Leaders

Nothing new here, but it bears repeating anyway. As we know, the biggest challenge facing any business today, no matter the industry, is the lack of good, qualified people. An even bigger challenge than that is finding people to lead those we already have on board.

There are just not enough good leaders today. Notice I did not say managers; I expressly said “leaders” because there is a huge difference. Managers manage people while leaders not only manage people but inspire them as well.

A great leader creates a clear and concise vision of where the company and her team are headed. They spend a lot of time, in fact most of their time, with their team helping them to see the vision and then inspiring them to do their best to achieve that mission. Here’s what I see about great leaders.

• Great leaders inspire
• Great leaders create visions
• Great leaders motivate their team to go the extra mile
• Great leaders show the way step by step
• Great leaders are great teachers and mentors
• Great leaders create a circle or trust with their team
• Great leaders have high values and pass those values on to their team
• Great leaders create passion in their teams
• Great leaders attract the best people
• Great leaders bring out the best in the people they lead
• Great leaders create great leaders

That’s the thing I want to talk about today: developing great leaders.

Just as it has become more difficult to find good people, it is that much more difficult to find good leaders. To meet that challenge, companies have been forced to develop their own, to develop them organically. In my opinion, this is the best way to go.

As I have mentioned several times in this column, I have been looking for ways to help companies with their labor challenges. I have been watching webinars and reading books about creating great teams through great leadership by people much smarter than me.

I read at least six books about leadership and then came across a very good book the subject by famous industry guru John Maxwell. His book titled Great Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership, has this excellent section on how to develop leaders.

The following guidelines (in my own words) were inspired by John Maxwell’s book.

1. Make sure you mentor people who want to grow, who want to become leaders. Remember that not everyone does. You must look for the special, hungry, and ambitious ones who want to get to the next level. Often it is up to you as their leader to find these qualities in them. Don’t be surprised if you must convince them that they have what it takes to be a great leader.
2. Identify their strengths. By observing them you can discover what they are good at. What makes them outstanding, even if they themselves don’t see it? Your job is to help them identify their potential and believe in that potential. Show them why they have potential. Indicate what you see in them that causes you to feel they have what it takes to be a great leader.
3. Mentor them to success. Don’t just train; mentor them. Give them the opportunities to practice their skills. This is important. They need practical, on-the-job, real-life experiences to develop their leadership skills.
4. Coach and encourage them to improvements. Many of us have been lucky enough in our careers to have mentors who helped us achieve our own potential. They have helped us on our own career paths. Remember how good that felt? Sometimes it might not have felt that great while it was happening because with a good and honest mentor, the lessons can be hard to take. But looking back to that time we can now see why they did what they did and how we benefitted from their mentorship. Remember those lessons as you apply them to the potential leaders you are now mentoring. You are now becoming a significant contributor to their own career journey.
5. Keep increasing their responsibilities. As your work with them, start giving them more responsibility on your own team and in the company as well. You might be helping to develop a leader who has skills that will fit better on another company team and that’s okay. Every company cannot have enough great leaders.
6. Share your own experiences. Be generous in telling them your own story and highlighting the things that helped you along the way. Be open, honest, and sincere in all your conversations with the leaders you are developing. Most of all, be encouraging.

If you have not noticed there is a distinct trend towards humanism in the workplace as well as in society. New books have been written about this trend in the past six months. Tom Peters new book is called Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism. It’s a new day out there, folks, and the better we treat one another the better we will all function.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.