While unemployment rates are still higher than average across the nation, the war for skilled leaders rages. The process of identifying and nurturing rising talent within an industry is crucial to establishing our next business leaders. By creating practical and astute assessments of potential leaders and guiding them, you can ensure your company’s future success.

The Need for Leaders

Great leaders can energize and effectively manage people within their fields. Creating and maintaining a ready pipeline of leaders who strive to take on new, larger roles of responsibility is essential for continued growth. The Millennials who are just now beginning their careers pursue companies that offer solid career advancement and the opportunity to learn new skills.

The ambition for leadership can be present from the first day a new employee joins a business. Effective training can harness that ambition. Also, consider that promising new employees are most likely sizing up their potential fit with the competition as well. It’s important to recognize their efforts and clearly communicate future career goals. Without a pipeline of potential leadership, a company runs the risk of leaving essential jobs open for extended periods, and this can affect morale and motivation within the company.

Additionally, bringing leaders in from outside can be risky. Outside leaders often have difficulty adjusting to a company’s established culture. In return, a company’s veteran employees might also have difficulty accepting hired-in leaders, since they arrive with no working knowledge of how the business operates. Promoting from within is, in many cases, less expensive and eases the transition to new leadership.

Identifying Talent in Leadership

Leaders can have a very clear predilection for future success from the first day. However, the bulk of leadership qualities are learned and directed. Depending on the challenges faced and their personal resolve, leaders can quickly, or more gradually, take on greater responsibilities. Adversity and failure can be the greatest teachers. By analyzing past missteps and overcoming those obstacles, future leaders build their critical thinking skills and integrity. As human resources professionals, it’s our job to cultivate this self-reflection.

Conducting a genuine, in-depth interview with potential employees is the first step in identifying these skills. Examining past work experiences — and the lessons learned from those jobs — allows interviewees to explore how their workplace values were shaped. It is also critical for those interviewed to explain how they developed a team within a leadership role. This interview methodology provides a window into how they approach business initiatives.

In addition to professional experience, we should also be homing in on the personal qualities that our companies need in leaders. Many people have a natural aptitude for these qualities, while others work diligently to craft their talents.

• Curiosity: Are these individuals lifelong learners? Are they challenged and interested in new ways of conducting business? Are they aware of how others accomplish tasks?

• Flexibility: Can potential leaders adjust to company expectations and adapt to change? Can they be flexible with others, or are they set in their own ways?

• Innovative: Are they open to new technologies, ideas, and strategies? Do they encourage progressive thinking and innovation in teams? Can they cite examples of fostering creativity and forward movement in their work history?

• Engaging: Can they engage others and create an inclusive environment in the workplace? Do they embrace diversity and appreciate the enrichment it creates in life and the company?

Developing Talent

After identifying prospective leaders within your organization, the process of developing that potential begins. Onboarding to a new role is essential. However, in many companies, it’s poorly executed. The “sink or swim” method is still popular in many organizations. While that method can encourage independence within employees, it can also be painful and lead to a low retention rate.

• Assimilation programs for new leaders provide a valuable, collaborative alternative. This process enables the leader and the team to openly discuss expectations for working together. Communication, goal setting, and analysis of daily procedures are the foundation for the entire team. Rapport should be built quickly so the leader gains insight into employee concerns and can answer team questions about the transition. The last step consists of discussing the key initiatives that must be achieved in the coming year.
• Teaching human resources professionals and other hiring managers how to assess and interview talent for future growth is critical. Often, companies haven’t spent time teaching others how to ferret out great talent. Doing a thorough assessment of a potential leader, and then creating a clear development plan, is another key to building a deep pipeline of leadership talent. Of course, this assessment and interview process links directly to the next point and provides a solid anchor for coaching.
• Coaching, if available, is a great way to enrich this learning experience. Assimilation into a new or larger business culture can be difficult. A coach can provide a sounding board for proposing new ideas and team-building techniques. Many companies use “buddies” to help transitions, but a coach or dedicated resource who can help the new leader navigate an organization’s culture makes it more constructive and goal-oriented.
• Peer assimilation is vital as well. Peer relationships often suffer as people progress in their careers. Building bonds with peers through more formal means, such as a business luncheon or a meet-and-greet, helps the new leader understand his peers on a deeper level. It also provides valuable face time with new leadership for teammates.

Fostering new leaders within an organization is an important component of maintaining a business, and recognizing and assessing those unique talents of leadership and refining them provides an ideal situation for employees and the company. A thorough, focused assessment and interview process, combined with educational and practical training strategies, shape tomorrow’s leaders. Those leaders, in turn, will shape the future of our industries.

Dr. Linda D. Sharkey is Global Managing Director and Partner at Achieveblue, which specializes in leadership development, cultural transformation, and talent and organization development. She is an internationally recognized expert in leadership and organization development. Linda was formerly the Chief Talent Officer for HP and held numerous executive human resources roles at GE. Linda is the co-author of “Winning with Transglobal Leadership” and “Optimizing Talent,” and a founding member of the Marshall Goldsmith Group. She can be reached at LSharkey@Achieveblue.com.