With each passing day, technology advances, allowing us to not only do more, but do so faster and easier. To keep up with that quickened pace, businesses must tap into their most visionary people, which is why developing leaders of your workforce is so crucial.
For all its good, technology cannot reproduce the human element. We have an uncanny ability to imagine and create. Moving forward, we must continue to develop our knowledge, skills and abilities in order to remain valued players. Our new focus becomes: unleashing human potential.
According to a Bersin by Deloitte study, in 2013, U.S. organizations boosted leadership-development spending by 14 percent, totaling an estimated $15.5 billion. In fact, compared to their counterparts, companies with solid leadership programs:
- typically outperform with results that are seven times greater, and
- are 12 times more effective at accelerating business growth.
Lead time
Those statistics make a strong case for leadership development – one that businesses cannot afford to ignore. But what do leaders look like? Here are five qualities shared by the most effective ones:
- They talk the talk and walk the walk.
Leaders lay the groundwork for those who follow. In other words, they practice what they preach and set the example by backing their affirmations with actions.
- They enlist a shared vision.
Leaders appeal to the masses. They are dreamers and forward-thinkers, always imagining new and exciting possibilities. But they don’t stop there – they enlist others to share in this vision so that it becomes common.
- They don’t settle.
As the famed UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said, “Success is never final; failure is never fatal.” Always are searching for ways to improve, leaders find successes in small wins and opportunities in their failures.
- They are enablers.
We mean “enable” in the best possible way, as leaders show interest in helping others achieve. They gain influence from those around them by building upon their own skill sets.
- They create a sense of community.
Leaders recognize the contributions of others. When one person in the group gets a win, everyone celebrates. They enable a sense of community in which people know and understand their value and contributions to the bigger picture.