“Research clearly shows that transformational leaders—positive, inspiring, and who empower and develop followers—are better leaders,” explains psychologist and leadership expert Ronald E. Riggio. “They are more valued by followers and have higher performing teams.”
You may be saying, “Hey, thanks, Ron. But how do we do that?”
How Do I Develop Better Leaders?
Well, at WildSparq, we take leadership development very seriously. That’s why we have developed an incredible platform to help organizations discover, deploy and develop leaders.
Here are three super-important ways to develop better leaders:
1. Develop the right people
Organizations that are serious about leadership development need to make sure they’re investing in the right people. Pinpoint your high-potential employees and focus on developing this group for leadership. High-potential employees share three key characteristics: aspiration, ability, and engagement. These aren’t just your high-performers; they are the people in your organization that have a proven desire to learn and grow. This is crucial to develop better leaders. They’re not hard to find, especially when you have help. WildSparq can show you ways to identify “the right people” and help put them on the path to success.
2. Create feedback opportunities
A large part of effective leadership is tied to being able to provide effective feedback that is timely, specific, relevant, frequent, and actionable. Providing this type of feedback without micro-managing is a fine line leader must learn how to walk. Create new and different ways for your future leaders to engage in the everyday business, not just the company of every day. Leaders should look for opportunities to coach staff as part of their day-to-day work. Good coaches listen, ask open-ended questions, offer support, and encourage employees to push for alternative solutions.
3. Share your “Why?”
Great leaders can explain company values, goals, mission, vision, promise, and unique selling proposition (and all those other fancy marketing terms) at the drop of a hat… And they should encourage and inspire others to get on board as well. If you don’t know where you’re going, chances are you’ll never get there. And neither will your followers. Make your “Why?” The most important thing is that others will begin to believe it, share it, and make it all the more possible every day. This will also make it all the more possible to develop leaders from within your organization — saving time, money, and HR energy that can be better used building your people than looking for new ones.
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Do you think for/develop/build/facilitate leader development for your organization? Explore WILDSPARQ or schedule a live demo to see for yourself! We’d love to show you the Wildsparq difference.