Good Leaders Nurture Great Leaders

Too many companies pay lip service to the adage that “people are our greatest asset”.

While products were considered king in the industrial age, today’s business success is more likely centered on something less tangible: ideas. It is no longer about fine-tuning production process to achieve results with the same number of workers. It is about identifying, soliciting and managing talent to produce outstanding ideas and build a differentiating value that supports long-term success in your organization. Talent is vital to the bottom line. “Do we have the best?” “How do we motivate?” “What is the succession plan?”. Despite all the talk about managing talent, it is a competency most companies have yet to develop well. As Aeschylus (Greek Tragedian) once said, “From a small seed, a mighty trunk may grow”, there is great potential in everyone and good leaders can nurture great leaders.

The game of talent begins with hiring. “Am I attracting the best people?”, “What can we do to make our company more appealing to the types of employees we want to hire?” “How do I hire the right people for my company?” Most leaders and human resource personnel spend a lot of time thinking about these questions. No matter what business you are in, the right people will show a palpable zest for it and for their potential role to drive the company forward. The entire talent landscape has evolved and businesses are changing to reflect the new realities. Organisations that are serious about developing agile and innovative employees are constantly reinventing themselves. In a PWC 2017 study, 78% of CEOs have altered their talent strategies to support the employment structure and skills required in the future. This means that they would hire someone who is smart and passionate, even if the person did not yet have the required skills for the position. Some leaders decline to hire people who would not be a good fit for the company, even if they have strong academic qualifications. It is vital during interviews to ask people questions on what drives them, how they work with others, how they measure success to find out how well they will sync with your existing team. With team fit being a considering factor, it is not surprising that an increasing number of companies are letting teams contribute to the hiring decision too. Other than the hiring manager, companies allow teams to conduct behavioral interviewing with the potential candidate and give the team a say in determining in hiring. Rather than hire to fill current openings, hire with an eye to the future and have adequate measures in place to vet whether a candidate will contribute to the cohesive culture you are trying to build.

Pivot to the new way of doing business is also empowerment. Rather than following orders from management, employees are given clear information so that they are able to make intelligent decisions on their own. How can leaders enable empowerment? Spend less time managing and more time doing. As a leader, it is all too easy to surround yourself with your direct reports and neglect to share information with people down the hierarchy. Start and engage in conversations with employees from all departments. Participate in breakfast meetings, working lunches and have dialogues or knowledge sharing sessions. Take time to listen to the ideas and concerns, share the company’s vision and answer questions from your employees. Let information cascade down as information flow is critical for decision making. Employee’s perspectives are important and it is wise to allow them to take ownership and accountability. Make your talent feel empowered to add value on their own and advance the organization to a higher level.

More importantly, leaders need to support and encourage your best talent right now. It is all about building a performance culture, one in which you are constantly on the lookout for top talent, rewarding them appropriately and often and creating structures that give them everything they need to do their jobs well. This may mean that you need to be a good boss, not a bad one. Research has shown that bad bosses ruin workplaces and drive away good talent. A top trait of good bosses these days is accessibility. You need to see and be seen, giving employees permission to engage with you about matters that is at the heart of the business. Employees crave a sense of purpose and connectedness, so give them feedback regularly and solicit feedback from them on what needs improvement. Take time to show appreciation and reward your employees to let them know that they are valued. Do more to foster career growth for your talents and turn the people you have into great talent.

In addition, in this digital age, companies are also turning to social media platforms such as Linkedin and Twitter to recruit talent and market their jobs to potential talent. Learning how to post job openings on Facebook and Linkedin, searching for candidates and creating a compelling profile that will make your company looks like it is the best company to work in are just some of the social media efforts your company need to embark on and continue refining every day. To keep up with savvy talent, leaders and human resource professionals need to focus on building and reinforcing their company presence online. The more positive exposure you cultivate for your organization in the digital space, the more likely top talents will come looking for you.