How to Find and Develop Leaders in Your Organization

One of the consistent struggles we hear from organizations is how to identify and train current and future leaders. It’s such an important topic that I’m splitting it into two posts, the first is how you can identify leaders, and the second is how to train and keep the leaders you identify.

I’ve found the best leaders are easy to spot over time when you know what to look for. I trust my gut when it comes to finding future leaders, but let me try to clearly explain how my gut identifies those rising stars:

  • Leaders are at the center of the work pod – Do you see people stopping by one co-worker’s desk often throughout the day? Don’t think of those employees as wasting time; they’re pointing you towards a future leader.
  • Leaders are easy to spot in meetings – They come prepared and ask good, even challenging questions.
  • Encourage your problem solvers – If you have a thinker on your team who always comes up with great solutions to problems, you have a potential leader.
  • Bring a possible leader into a brainstorm – Can you see them producing great ideas and championing better ideas?
  • Put a potential leader under pressure – One of the best ways to find a leader is to assign an employee a task.

Your potential leader will demonstrate over a few months how they can rise to the challenges you’ve provided. In general, leaders are persuaders. The best leaders are persuaders who make teams better, inspiring co-workers to do great work together. Hopefully you know that by identifying and encouraging your future leaders, you’re securing the future of the company.

Next time I’d like to demonstrate to you how to keep the leader you’ve identified and start to mentor and train them.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carina Wytiaz

Carina Wytiaz

Carina Wytiaz is a professional writer and Internet marketer, with experience drawn from her time at FranklinCovey, Borders, ah-ha.com, Marchex.com, OrangeSoda.com, and several traditional marketing and advertising agencies. She loves helping employees feel more included and valued through exuberant appreciation experiences, and helping companies realize the incredible potential of their human capital.

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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
 

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