The beginning of the year is often a time when people set goals for their career. As the leader of your company, what goals have you set for your employees’ development? Below are a few suggestions to get you started:
Goal 1: Turn good project managers into great executives.
While employees might be excellent project managers, there is a large gap between managing projects and leading a company. Prospective leaders must be mentored in the big picture of how to run a business, not just manage a project. Next generation leaders need to be included in conversations and decisions about how to run a business before they join the C-suite. Set SMART Goals around how you will train your employees in operations, business development, recruiting, retention, and strategic planning.
Goal 2: Cross train employees.
How well has your organization cross-trained your employees to prepare them for higher-level executive positions? Can the healthcare team also guide the education projects and the retail sector? If not, create a career development roadmap that includes cross-training.
Goal 3: Transfer knowledge to employees.
How much of your firm’s valuable information resides only within the brains of your executive team? Commit to establishing procedures for knowledge transfer to prepare the next generation of leaders. This will prevent a brain drain when your exiting C-suite folks leave. Set goals around what knowledge executives will transfer to specific employees by what date. Keep in mind this knowledge transfer can take 2-5 years.
Leadership development only happens over time. There is no two-day shipping option for great leaders.
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