One of the most popular leadership training programmes I currently offer is the Emerging Leaders programme. The focus of this programme is to identify the potential leaders in your organisation and begin training and mentoring them to take the reins in the future.
Retaining Your People
A key demographic that benefits from Emerging Leader programmes are millennials. It’s fair to say that ambitious younger people are always looking to get ahead quickly. With high house prices and rents, the millennial generation is less inclined to stay too long in one organisation if a more lucrative opportunity presents itself.
However, this causes issues for many businesses; the constant reshuffling of people within an organisation, the revolving door recruitment process, and the morale hit when someone leaves for presumably bigger things. It is a natural reaction when one person moves on for others in the group to wonder if there are greener pastures waiting for them too. Another concern is with team unity. While it’s true that you cannot expect everyone in a business to get along, most people learn how to work with others regardless of personal differences. When you are constantly needing to introduce new people into a team, however, the dynamic rarely has a chance to settle. As a side-effect of being unable to retain people, you may struggle to create a cohesive and productive work environment.
Furthermore, without someone in place to take over a senior role when it comes available, an organisation has to risk costly outside hiring or a ‘crash course’ training programme for someone within the organisation.
Emerging Leadership Academy
An Emerging Leadership Academy can help with these issues. By grooming people for future leadership roles, you’re giving them a clear indication of their value to the business and indicating that they have strong future prospects if they stay with you. While a more financially rewarding opportunity might present itself to an individual, you may make them think twice about jumping. After all, if they know that in a few years they will climb the ladder in your organisation, then the immediate incentive to move on may no longer seem as attractive.
Running an Emerging Leadership Academy also says a lot about your organisation. It shows you’re invested in your people as well as your bottom line. When it is necessary to recruit new individuals, such a statement might make you more attractive to a candidate. Emerging Leadership Academies serve as evidence of a career path and of opportunities to develop existing skills and build new ones. Ambitious people are always looking for ways to improve and learn, and you’re offering them the chance to do just that with you.
An Emerging Leadership Academy comprises of taking a group of rising stars from within your organisation, across various departments, and putting them through a structured and modular development programme. A mixture of group workshops, individual coaching, online learning and experiential mentoring is offered.
Strengthening Bonds
Because you’re developing people across your organisation, you can help build a sense of togetherness and strengthen bonds within your group. You might think of it as the mid-90s Manchester United team that was built around a core of youth players who all filtered through to the first-team at around the same time and went on to be the foundation of much of the club’s success heading into the new millennium.
The results of Emerging Leadership Academies can have a startling effect on talent retention, succession, engagement and morale. People who feel they are being actively nurtured and developed often have a more positive view of the company they work for. You may even instil a sense of pride in individuals, which may cause them to speak more positively about your organisation to friends, family and online areas such as Glassdoor. Over time, you can broaden their responsibilities as their skills grow, further cementing a mutually beneficial positive relationship.
Businesses often report a greater degree of collaboration between Emerging Leadership candidates as the programmes put a heavy focus on teamwork. Many organisations further empower their Emerging Leaders with a business-related project such as acquisition, transformational business initiatives and improving culture and wellbeing. You may also find that meetings are more productive as your people feel they now have more of a voice in the organisation. They may well bring new ideas and perspectives to the table that previously they would keep to themselves.
Find Out More
If you’re interested in establishing an Emerging Leadership Academy within your organisation and want to explore your options, then please feel free to get in touch here.
