How to Develop Leaders Who Are Bold Thinkers

How to Develop Leaders
As you seek to develop leaders that can step confidently and effectively into critical and strategic roles at your organization, do not forget to see that these high potentials develop the underestimated characteristic of bold and creative thinking.

Leadership Bench Strength
We all know how important it is to build leadership bench strength to plan ahead for succession in the most critical roles. Every forward-thinking and responsible executive looks to the future while simultaneously performing in the short-term. If these current leaders truly have the interests of their company at heart, they will include a plan to groom the top talent that can succeed them as part of their talent management strategy.

Leadership and Organizational Change
Change is the name of the game in today’s global and fast moving marketplace. Sometimes the change is under a leader’s control. But often stuff happens that is out of their control — a technological breakthrough that makes your offering suddenly obsolete (digital cameras nearly sunk Kodak that depended in great part on selling film), a fickle change in styles (cargo pants are now oh-so-passé), a downturn in the economy (the 2008 market crash).

For a company to pick up the pieces and survive after major change, leaders have to think creatively, respond quickly, adapt to the rapid change, and solve the problem at hand. Companies need thought leaders who have the ideas and the courage to move forward. They need to be up to the challenge of changing direction and crafting a new direction.

Expose High Potential Talent
The key is to expose your high potential talent to as many different situations as possible to test their resilience and ability to sort through priorities in an increasingly complex, ambiguous, and ever-changing environment.

Prepare New Leaders
Help prepare them for leadership by:

• Assigning them to stretch assignments and strategic projects that require solving real business problems, not just manufactured scenarios.
• Placing them on cross-functional teams of current thought leaders so they can see what it takes to innovate, flex, and handle whatever unexpected challenges arise with employees from all facets of the organization.
• Giving them the support of mentors who can walk with them through the challenges leaders must face and conquer.

The Bottom Line
Help leaders raise the bar by learning by doing and you, in the meantime, will have an opportunity to observe who is able to both think boldly and then follow through effectively.

To learn more about how to take your leaders to the next level, download How to Fast Track Your Leaders with Just-in-Time Action Learning