Developing Leaders & Managers
If you are responsible for developing leaders and managers, then you need to be the kind of mentor to put them in situations that allow them to grow new skills that meet the needs of leading people, evaluating situations and articulating expectations. You are their mentor for learning how to make galvanizing decisions in new and challenging circumstances.
Developing leaders and managers takes the following:
- Ability to see raw talent and drive within the individual
- Clarity to know the words they describe for themselves as a leader will take time for them to grow into
- Wisdom to trust that their experiences, learning, and mistakes over time will allow others to grow and develop
- Insight to withhold judgement, temper, impatience, and frustration as others grow and develop
- Fortitude to understand that growth and development require clear expectations, strong values, and consistent feedback (both positive and developmental) on how they are doing
- Humbleness to know that you are doing your best when you are struggling to get others to the next stage of growth
- Truth to see that “you cannot want it more than they do”
- Persistence “to stick” when others would tell you not to, and to adapt when it becomes clear it could be too much too soon for them to handle
- Patience to allow people to develop and gain the personal insight they need to become strong independent learners and effective leaders
There is no fast track for developing leaders. It just takes time.
“If you are planning for a year, sow rice. If you are planning for a decade, plant trees. If you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.” Chinese Proverb
