This is why you need to cultivate an
environment of healthy leadership, so you can have employees in your
organization rise to the challenge and help your business thrive. To do so, you
will need to not only create a great impression as a current leader but also provide
opportunities and training to others so they can follow in your footsteps.
Let’s look at how to create this trail to leadership.

Set the
Example

Before a leader can even begin to tell others
how to become good managers, they need to set expectations for how they act and
conduct business regularly. Many attributes make up a great leader. To
understand them, you can look at famous leaders of the past. Nelson Mandela
embodied courage and strived for change that he knew may not be popular but
would transform things for the better. Jane Addams had an amazing sense of
empathy as she worked with the poor and homeless. A sense of empathy is as equally
important as the need to make tough decisions, and a good leader will balance
both.

In addition to making business decisions, good
leaders motivate their teams to excel on current tasks
and ensure that they have the tools they need to be as effective and happy as
possible. Communication is key for a great leader. In addition to
motivation, managers should also have an open-door policy that encourages their
team to come in if they have issues and speak candidly about struggles they are
facing in their position. When they come to you, active listening is just as
important as your verbal response. 

While most higher-ups understand that they are
required to organize their team and keep operations running smoothly, many also
need to understand the difference between being a leader and being a manager.
While a manager takes care of the day-to-day duties, a leader looks to innovate
and find ways to improve those tasks for the betterment of the business and
their staff. On top of that, a servant leader actively works to help the
agents under them grow and evolve within the company.

Create a
Development Program

So, how can you help the people within your
organization evolve into the leaders of tomorrow? You can begin by creating a
leadership development program. This training should include direct instruction
on routine management tasks such as filling out reports, going through the
hiring process, and meeting work quotas, but it should also give candidates a
chance to practice less tangible managerial traits like how to show empathy,
motivate employees, and find ways to bring out their unused potential.

The best way to do this is to have the candidate
sit with current leaders as part of a job rotation where they see what each
manager does during the day and how they think outside of the box to help their
agents thrive. Once they feel comfortable, the trainee can also fill in for
their manager when they are away or manage their own team temporarily during a
small project and see how they do and provide positive feedback.

Communication is key when training a future
leader. The current manager should speak to the trainee throughout the training
and get their feedback on the program, ask them about areas where they feel
they are falling short, and provide suggestions for improvement. Treat them as
an equal during the program. Have brainstorming sessions where the current
manager aims to inspire the candidate to come up with ideas on how to improve
the team and their performance. If any of the ideas sound good and will work
for the betterment of the business, then have your staff try it out. This will
give the candidate an incredible sense of accomplishment.

Provide
Guidance on Applying for Leadership Positions

If a manager finds one of their employees to
be a perfect fit for a leadership position, they can help them see the best
chance of success by coaching and mentoring them on how to obtain that
position. Some managers may be afraid of having their employees move onto a
different role as it will create more work in hiring their replacement, but the
true sign of a leader is someone who takes pride in seeing their employees
succeed. 

For starters, you can help the interested
agent with their resume, so they have the best chance of getting noticed when
new leadership positions become available. When
creating a leadership resume, they need to take off all obsolete
skills and instead focus on cause and effect. So, if during their time as a
non-manager, they recommended a new way of doing things that led to a benefit
for the company, you would want to include that. A bullet point could read
something like, “Recommended a new electronic system that reduced filing time
by an hour per day.” A management resume should also include soft skills, such
as that you are an “effective listener” or that you “combine empathy with
motivation to increase efficiency on the team.” 

When a candidate is interested in applying for
a leadership role, their current manager must remind them of what the title
really entails. While it may lead to more money, there are also the less
glamorous aspects of the job, such as providing negative performance reviews,
giving write-ups for attendance issues, and the fact that you will have the
success of the team, or lack thereof, riding on your back. If the employee
understands all sides of management and expresses their love of the challenge
when speaking to a prospective boss, it will go a long way.

Leadership is not always fun, but when done
right, there is nothing more rewarding. When current managers exude confidence,
compassion, and honesty while on the job, the team will notice and follow suit.