Inspire Employees to Become Leaders

Promoting employees to leadership roles can be more beneficial than external hires, but leadership development programs often receive little interest from top talent, according to a recent study published in Harvard Business Review. Employees often see these programs as too difficult, or they do not have time to commit to them. To get promising employees excited to participate in leadership training, first outline leadership training in your recruitment materials. Make employees aware of the opportunity before they even join your team and highlight possible career paths in your job descriptions. Set aside time for leadership training because the top employees with the most potential are likely the most productive and busiest team members. Host lunch and learn events or schedule quarterly meetings, for example, to avoid taking too much time out of employees’ days. HR also should make training resources online, record all in-person training sessions to share them virtually, and publicize leadership development opportunities outside the company, like at local conferences. According to the Harvard Business Review study, some high-potential employees hesitate to take on leadership training because they think it will be too challenging. To address these concerns, consider setting up a Q&A session for promising employees with current leaders. This will give future leaders the opportunity to ask questions about what motivated current leaders to move up the ladder and what challenges and opportunities they found.

Read the full article on Inc.com.

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