Send to KindleFinding New Leaders
Last week I talked about this interesting phenomenon of high unemployment and companies that can’t seem to fine qualified workers. I’ve also heard some complaints in the area of leadership that are quite similar where companies can’t seem to find the people they need to lead them into the future. In fact, when I was writing my book, Balancing the Generations, my research showed that many consider Generation X to not be leadership material. I think that’s kind of interesting to classify an entire generation that way, especially since I’ve worked with a lot of Generation X people and they do just as well at leadership as any other generation. I think part of the problem is that some companies just don’t know what they’re looking for in new leaders.
Here are a few suggestions. The first is integrity. If your potential leaders don’t have integrity, they won’t be very good leaders. In fact, if you’re not comfortable with their integrity, I’d ask why they work there in the first place.
The second thing is enthusiasm. Not everyone wakes up in the morning and hits the floor running, excited about what they’ll do on the job, but you’re looking for people who have a fairly positive attitude and they exude that in the workplace. It’s very important for a leader and picking someone for a leadership position that has a generally negative attitude about the job or the company is a recipe for disaster.
The next thing you want to look for is communication; can this person communicate their thoughts and ideas. Now it’s true that not every potential leadership candidate will be an excellent communicator, they’ll learn that as they go. What you’re really looking for is someone with an ability to express their thoughts, and a willingness to do that. I’m not suggesting you’re looking for people who are just contrary, but you do want people who obviously think and evaluate things and are willing to express thoughtful opinions.
The last thing I suggest is someone who has a generally positive reputation. Someone who is liked and respected by most people they know. This is not a popularity contest. What I’m suggesting are people who are generally on favorable terms with their co-workers. If everybody likes them there may be a problem, but more importantly, if everyone dislikes them, there definitely is a problem, and that will just get bigger as they move into leadership roles.
The last thing to talk about is the so called born leaders. Are leaders born or made? That’s a subject for another discussion but I’m always cautious about the person that everyone considers to be a born leader. So often they lead through what we call a charismatic approach. That seems to work for a while, but it relies on their followers giving them the authority to be that kind of leader and it’s very much a popularity contest. When they lose that popularity or their followers don’t like a decision, they can very easily lose their leadership authority with those followers. So, while it’s true that some people are born with the innate ability to pick up leadership skills, be very careful of those who you think are just born leaders because I really don’t think that’s what you’re looking for.
I suggest you develop a list of leadership techniques you’re looking for. Make sure all your current leaders have that list. It’s very important to know what you’re looking for and constantly be looking for that next potential leader.
