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As a seasoned professional, you know that the true power of leadership lies in recognizing the strengths of your team and creating an environment that allows them to express themselves as leaders. However, many leaders forget this and fail to focus on immediate results rather than developing future leaders. The result? Employees who don’t use them, stifle creative potential, and missed growth opportunities.
The power of leadership is not recognized
Research shows that 58% of managers say they have never received formal leadership or management training. If your current managers are under-equipped, think about the untapped skills among your team members who have not yet been given the opportunity to lead.
This lack of leadership development leads to broader organizational issues. Gallup reports that 67% of US workers are unemployed, a statistic that should concern any leader. Incoherence affects innovation, productivity, and retention. If your team isn’t invested in the work they’re doing – or if they don’t see growth opportunities within the company – they’re less likely to contribute their best efforts.
Related: 3 Steps You Can’t Miss When Growing Your Business
Creating an environment that fosters leadership
The key to solving this issue lies in identifying and developing the leaders in your team. By shifting your approach from managing operations to mentoring future leaders, you are creating an environment that supports the long-term success of your organization.
This process involves three key elements: empowerment, risk-taking encouragement, and creativity. Let’s explore how each of these components can help you unlock and develop leaders within your organization.
1. Empowerment. Oftentimes, leaders operate from a top-down management perspective of giving orders and monitoring that tasks are completed. While this approach may produce short-term results, it does little to produce the growth needed for long-term success. Instead, get a sense of teaching. Mentors see potential in others, sometimes even before those people see it themselves. When you move from command and control to a guide position, you empower team members to take ownership of their development. This change allows people to grow and ignites an organizational culture of continuous improvement.
2. Encouragement of Risk Taking: The next step is to create an environment where you encourage your employees to take risks. An important ingredient in such environments is creating psychological safety, defined by Harvard professor Amy Edmondson as a climate where people feel safe to express their opinions, try things, and make mistakes without fear of punishment. When people feel psychologically safe, they are more likely to step up, offer new ideas, and take on leadership roles. Google’s “Project Aristotle” study found that psychological safety is the single most important factor in determining the success of high-performing teams. Without it, even the most skilled workers will hold back, fearing failure or judgment.
3. Invite Novel Approaches. When your team faces the next challenge, encourage them to approach understanding and solve the problem in new ways. For example, instead of assigning roles based on topics or a specific project sequence, try presenting a challenge to the entire team and see who comes out on top. This work will not only promote new ideas but will also bring out natural leaders in the group. When people are free to innovate, solve problems and collaborate without rigid boundaries, you will find your people taking ownership in amazing ways. This is how you uncover hidden leadership potential, and it’s one of the most powerful ways to ensure that your organization is constantly growing new leaders from within.
Related: 3 Simple Ways to Empower Your Team
SOLV Power: Unleashing the Leaders
One organization that has used energy, risk-taking, and creativity to grow leaders within its ranks is SOLV Energy. With their structured mentoring system, employees across their careers can step into leadership roles, collaborate across departments, and solve problems in new ways. Mentors help their students grow in confidence, allowing them to explore new approaches without fear of failure, which fosters a culture of psychological safety. As a result, the organization improves employee satisfaction and improves its ability to innovate.
Related: 7 Ways to Empower Your Team to Succeed in Change
How to improve leadership in your organization
Practical steps to try today to grow leaders within your organization include:
1. Adopt a teaching concept: Shift your focus from managing tasks to mentoring individuals, and encourage managers throughout your organization to do the same. Focus on long-term improvement rather than short-term delivery. Questions I ask to test the mindset of my coaching clients include: Are you simply providing guidance to your team or developing their skills? Do you create opportunities for them to step into leadership roles, or do you make all the decisions yourself? Shifting your mindset from directing to directing is fundamental to raising future leaders.
2. Create psychological safety: Fostering a culture where employees feel safe to express ideas, take risks, and make mistakes starts with how you respond to challenges, mistakes, and new ideas. Encourage open dialogue and actively seek different perspectives. If someone presents an unusual idea, resist the urge to dismiss it. Instead, ask questions, explore possibilities, and show that all opinions matter. Creating this type of environment allows leadership to emerge naturally, as team members feel empowered to take initiative and contribute their unique strengths.
3. Encourage problem solving and growth: Use projects where team members can creatively tackle challenges outside of predefined roles. This will help identify natural leaders who may not have had the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in a traditional setting. Once you’ve identified potential leaders, give them opportunities to lead small projects and take action in other ways. Make sure there is a clear path to leadership development in your organization.
Related: How to Scale Your Small Business in 8 Steps
Your important role as a leader is not just to show the way, it is to build other leaders. Fostering an environment of direction, mental safety, and creativity unlocks your team’s full potential and supports your organization’s long-term health and growth. These are the secrets to developing the next generation of leaders who will carry your company into the future.
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