Unleash your team’s true leadership potential

by Loren Slocum

What has the strongest impact on your company’s success? The economy? The market conditions? Current events? In reality, it’s none of those things. Regardless of outside factors, your company will only be as successful as you allow your employees to be. 

The fact is that when you inhibit your employees’ natural abilities, your company profits are sure to drop. However, when you encourage your employees’ personal development, your revenues will soar.

Today’s most successful companies didn’t attain that status by accident. Rather, their visionary leaders had the ability to tap into their team’s talents so that their employees could lead the company in the right direction. Unfortunately, many business owners are afraid to let their employees exhibit control. They don’t trust their employees to make the right decisions, and they mistakenly believe that leading a company is a solitary venture. 

However, when you enable your employees to discover their strengths and then encourage them to use their natural capabilities most effectively, you breed a team of leaders who each contribute meaningfully to the company’s ultimate success.

To get your company operating at its maximum potential, it’s essential that you promote an essence of leadership at every departmental level. The following suggestions will guide you through this process.

Connect rather than correct
Look around your organization and you’re sure to find that your employees are doing some amazing things. Whether they’re securing new client relationships, creating new procedures that save both time and money, or raising the bar for customer service, your employees are working hard to make a positive contribution to your company’s bottom line. The question is, how often do you acknowledge your teammates for doing such tasks?

Very often supervisors focus only on aspects where their employees need to improve. Instead of acknowledging all the things their employees do to attract more customers, save money and increase customer retention, they focus on the sales deficiency, the decline in profits and the customer attrition rate. While knowing the gaps is indeed important, focusing solely on the negative is not the way to encourage employee leadership.

To foster a team of leaders, create systems that acknowledge your team’s accomplishments. This does not necessarily have to be a big celebratory event; even the smallest gesture makes a big impression on your team’s morale and willingness to contribute. 

For example, you could post sales figures or new customer contracts on the department bulletin board, organize a company luncheon, or even offer a simple good job the next time you talk with your employees. When you connect with your team and get them excited about work and about what they can accomplish, they’ll go above and beyond your expectations to demonstrate the kind of leadership initiative that makes a positive contribution to the organization’s goals.

Create a goal rather than assign a task
Do you know which activities each employee on your team excels at? Most supervisors do not. Despite this lack of knowledge, though, the majority of managers continue to assign tasks to their employees without any regard to the person’s ability or interest. While it’s true that there are certain tasks and procedures each employee must perform for the company to be successful, it’s equally important that your employees are taking on responsibilities that excite them and give them a sense of purpose.

To realize the full leadership potential your employees have to offer, allow them to tell you what they feel they’d be good at so they can best utilize those strengths on the job. Then, help them understand how their abilities and interests can contribute to the company’s success. After all, it’s quite possible that your next great marketing idea could come from someone in the mailroom, or that someone in IT has an innovative way to thank repeat customers.

When you allow your employees to work outside their written job description and demonstrate their creativity and talent, they’ll have greater job satisfaction and a sense of purpose. As a side benefit, you’ll gain a better understanding of what motivates your team and inspires them to perform. You can then work together to lead the organization onward instead of merely requiring your employees to work from a prescribed to-do list. 

Lead by example rather than procedure
To instill a sense of leadership in your employees, you must do more than simply tell them to take on new responsibilities. You must demonstrate your ideal of leadership and your willingness to trust their judgment in all that you say and do. Go beyond what your employees expect of you so they can experience the kind of leadership you want them to display.

Unfortunately, many business owners and managers believe that there can be only one leader in any given company or department. The fact is, though, that everyone can lead at different times depending on the organization’s current need or direction. As a supervisor, you can foster leadership in your employees by knowing when to step back and let a qualified individual lead the group. Realize that during this time your guidance is still necessary; however, instead of dictating the group’s direction according to standardized procedure, your role is to support your employees and help them uncover their true potential.

One of the best ways to support your team during this time is to encourage them to question their assumptions and feelings about a given situation. Some questions for them to consider would be:
• What is unique about this current situation?
• What talents or abilities do I have that can contribute to a solution?
• What do I love about my role in this project?
• What can I learn from this experience?
• What can I do to best demonstrate my expertise in this area?

The more you demonstrate how individual involvement can advance the company’s mission, the more eager your team will be to take on leadership responsibilities.

Embrace the talent each leader has to offer
All business owners and managers have a duty to uncover the talents each employee brings to the mix. When you promote your team’s diversity and employ their inherent abilities in the most productive ways, your company can achieve incredible results. You’ll soon discover that the more you allow your employees to showcase their leadership abilities, the better your chances of creating an organization that even your competitors will want to follow.

Loren Slocum is a wife, mother and author of “No Greater Love... Being an Extraordinary Mom.”  Loren lives in Portland, Ore., with her family and speaks at seminars nationwide. She can be reached through www.lorenslocum.com or at 503-860-0428. 

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