As a leader, it is your job to educate and mentor high-potential employees for management positions within your company. You need to provide the foundation and learning environment where they can thrive, and you need to be the role model they can aspire to in a leadership role.
Providing the right experience through added responsibility can help a potential manager learn the ropes and excel in an advanced position, according to The Muse. You need to think about what skills you have as a leader that a manager needs to be successful, and then help cultivate these skills in your employees to make them even better leaders themselves.
Nine members of Forbes Human Resources Council shared what steps a leader can take today to ensure they are preparing high potentials for future management roles within their company. Here is what they had to say:
1. Test Their Skills
Test a high potential with some of your biggest problems. This will keep the high potential engaged and feel valued, and also be a return to your company. Make sure to check in with them and offer help and guidance along the way. Just because they are a high potential does not mean they do not want feedback and support. Checking in with them often will also help create a relationship. - Ben Martinez, HireVue
2. Have Frequent Career Discussions Leaders should discuss long- and near-term career goals, interests, passions and questions with high potentials on a regular basis, with a goal of setting people up for success in their career, not just at a particular company. Be careful to not assume (ie: that management track is more desirable than individual contributor/SME track). Know when to shore up weaknesses and when to leverage strengths. - Catherine Decker, Outsell
3. Focus On Filling The Skill Gaps Identify the high potentials. Identify their skill gaps, not just in relation to where the company is now, but also to where the company might be in five years. For example, should the company go global or expand into a different country, what new skills might be needed? Provide training and mentoring to fill those skill gaps. Start now. - Lisa Williams, US Tower Services, Inc.
4. Be Transparent With Them Inclusion and visibility at the enterprise level on key projects can go a long way in preparing future leaders. Potential does not provide enough preparation if not supported by exposure to the firm's structure, leadership norms and cultural systems, along with a deep understanding of the strategic direction of the firm. Transparency is critical for developmental engagement of high potentials. - Ekta Vyas, Ph.D, Stanford Children's Health
5. Match Them With A Mentor Many times, high potentials have the basics — knowledge, skills and abilities — that are the foundation to be successful. However, to solidify that foundation, the "cement" needed is a mentor who can help them learn to navigate the political environment that climbing the ladder entails, serve as their advocate for new opportunities and provide constructive feedback for needed course correction. - Bridgette Wilder, Media Fusion
As leadership responsibilities increase, it becomes critical to think and act ON the business versus IN the business. Since most of what we learn comes from experience, I highly encourage work roles/experiences that enable people to broaden their business experience across functions/roles. Systems thinking has one of the highest correlations to business performance and requires development. - Dr. Dale Albrecht, Alonos, Inc.
7. Teach Them How To Be Managers
The biggest mistake in management is promoting high potentials into leadership roles because they have the technical skills to succeed, so you expect them to be great managers. In addition to improving technical skills, teach and test for emotional intelligence, grit, compassion and inspiration. Be intentional about what it takes to manage and lead in your organization, and teach that! - Sara Whitman, Peppercomm
8. Create Goals Based On Employee Strengths
Every employee has strengths. It’s up to company leaders to recognize where high-potential employees excel and how their strengths lend themselves to managerial roles. This should be discussed with employees and, if it meets with their aspirations, a career plan should be developed that includes measurable goals and a direct path leading to a management position. - John Feldmann, Insperity
9. Lead Them Into Their Own Growth
Leaders should set an example of how to lead more and manage less. Employees are looking for their superiors to lead them into their own growth rather than manage their day-to-day responsibilities. This means looking at the bigger picture for all positions, identifying areas for growth and leading the growth in the right direction. - Tiffany Servatius, Scott's Marketplace
