Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Are you developing leaders?

Q. How do we develop our new hires into our workplace?

A. Developing the natural leadership in your workplace is the fundamental task of the positional leaders. That starts with senior management being committed to their own continual learning. This includes self-awareness, self-development, skill development, improving communication and listening skills, asking pertinent questions, creating a culture where everyone can contribute to the aim of the organization.

Creating a learning culture will help a company achieve its competitive edge in the workplace and a collaborative team environment internally. With a mindset to serve each other inside the company and to serve customers in partnership with vendors, organizations can thrive and contribute toward a healthier society and economy.

That’s the foundation that only leaders can foster. To develop new hires (and all employees) means first, commit to continual education and training. Everyone is a natural leader, whether that leadership is deep inside an individual or it’s just below the surface. Positional leaders and managers develop others and teams. Create goals and bring people together to contribute how the work will be done. Make sure resources and training are provided. Does everyone understand the process and how to improve it to serve customers?

Developing people means developing their communication ability, process improvement knowledge, technical skills, team-building, tools and data collection and analysis, and much more. Develop an education plan. Make leadership development a significant part of it, and then add to it as the team flourishes. In time, you’ll develop self-organizing teams, and their contributions can be profound.