Companies that promote from within sidestep many of the pitfalls associated with filling management roles. It helps them preserve their organizational culture, reduce hiring costs, and spur overall productivity within the company, to name just a few of the benefits.
Promoting from within can be especially valuable for small businesses. It streamlines recruiting and supports faster onboarding, which is a benefit for companies that don’t have big budgets for HR and training, and eliminates the challenge of competing with larger companies in the job market.
But hiring from within won’t work if companies are not committed to building leaders. Companies must invest in employees if they expect them to rise through the ranks, offering them opportunities to develop leadership skills. And promoting someone who hasn’t been prepared for the position can be far worse than bringing in a qualified applicant from the outside.
Here are some steps companies can take to build a process for growing employees into management roles.
Identify next-level potential
The first step in building a leadership development program is developing an eye for talent. With small businesses, leaders often get caught up in catching employees when they are falling short, but building leaders from within requires catching employees who are doing something right.
As you scout out potential leaders in your company, keep an eye on those with strong teamwork skills. Great team players have the potential to become strong team leaders for several reasons, not the least of which is valuing and exhibiting humility. Great team players are also typically great communicators, an essential leadership quality.
Leaders should also look for employees who consistently perform their tasks with excellence. While this won’t necessarily translate to excellence in leadership, it typically points to a person who cares about the company and is willing to contribute to its success, and leadership team building will be more effective with employees who exhibit those qualities.
Commit to building leadership skills
Programs that seek to improve leadership skills can benefit every employee, regardless of their position. Even if programs don’t catapult people into leadership positions, they can help them become more adept in their roles.
Better emotional intelligence, for example, can help salespeople engage with potential clients. Similarly, keen decision-making skills can help employees streamline processes and improve efficiency.
As companies invest in building leadership skills, they create opportunities to see and encourage their employees’ leadership potential. Building a leadership development program — even if you don’t present it as such — creates a pathway for companies to grow employees into management roles.
Small business leaders who are short on both time and money can build leadership skills through mentoring. Simply having an employee or two sit in on a business call can provide opportunities to better explain processes and impart skills needed to manage those processes. Once you see an employee with innate leadership potential, inviting them into a mentoring relationship can be all that is needed to improve leadership skills.
Gauge interest with those who exhibit potential
Determining whether or not an employee is interested in leadership is an essential part of the process. Sometimes, those who clearly have the potential for leadership may not desire to pursue such a role (or responsibility). However, if an employee does not have both, promoting them to a leadership position is a mistake, no matter how talented they are.
The process of gauging interest begins with a conversation that explains the opportunity and the expectations. If an employee is all in, you can usher them quickly to the next level. If they decline, make sure they understand exactly what you are asking. Those who have never served in leadership may need a better understanding of the responsibilities and benefits to properly determine if it is an opportunity they want to pursue.
If employees are unsure, offering them a trial run at leadership can be helpful. This allows them to try their hand at management without the fear of getting fired if the role is not a good fit. Providing a safety net can be valuable for both the employee and the company.
It is also helpful to communicate that leadership is not for everyone. Someone who is not skilled as a leader — or who is not interested in pursuing those skills — can still be an amazing team member who contributes significantly to the company’s overall success. Saying “no” to leadership shouldn’t be presented as a bad thing.
Offer clear growth opportunities
Building a leadership development program requires both imparting skills and giving employees opportunities to practice them. Long before someone advances to a leadership role, they can be given projects that allow them to lead from where they are. Those projects can map out a clear path for building leadership skills and securing leadership positions.
For example, a team member can be asked to step into a leadership role while someone is out on PTO or to participate in leadership meetings to explore a new business opportunity. This can allow the employee to experience what leadership could be while also allowing current leaders to evaluate the employee’s skills in action.
Building leaders from within requires an investment, but it can provide a greater ROI than recruiting from without. As companies identify potential, commit to building skills, and provide pathways for advancement, they may find that the great leaders they seek are already a part of their team.
Tiffani Martinez is the Human Resources Director at Otter PR.
Employee management growth stock image by Giulio_Fornasar/Shutterstock
