Why Managers Should Encourage Employees’ Leadership Skills
Having a great management team requires not only good recruiting, but a developmental process for long-term success. Hiring managers from within ensures your management team has a full perspective of the company and its processes. Developing your employees’ leadership skills is still beneficial even if you never promote them to a managerial role. Your employees will not only feel more fulfilled with the extra effort put into developing their professional abilities, but having the qualities of a leader will make them better in their everyday tasks.
Allows for multiple options for promoting from within
Employers rarely get more than two weeks’ notice to fill a vacancy. If a manager gets promoted to another position within the company or finds another role outside of the company, you may be forced to fill the position quickly with the next most authoritative employee in that department. If this employee does not have the necessary leadership skills or the right leadership style, your productivity will undoubtedly suffer.
Developing all of your employees’ leadership skills will give you a chance to decide which employee has the right style of leadership to best suit the team they will soon be leading.
Makes your employees better decision makers
The best qualities of a good leader are focused on making the right decisions. Being in charge comes with a lot of decision making and thus, developing leadership skills such as reasoning, understanding, communication and problem solving will help your employees make better decisions in their roles.
This is especially useful during a busy season when managers don’t have the necessary time to delegate each and every task for all of their employees. It can also allow employees to take a temporary leading role when their manager is gone on vacation or sick leave.
Improves pride of ownership
When an employer takes the time to develop their employees, it doesn’t go unnoticed. Developing employees’ leadership skills is especially rewarding in that it shows them you see the potential in them to one day lead a team or even a company. This can help raise company morale which in turn can increase productivity and reduce turnover rates.
To lead your company past the competition, and for more employee development advice, consider partnering with The Reserves Network. We have a talented pool of workers who are ready to add value to your company today.
