Coaching Your Organization’s Future Leaders to Success

If you’re like many Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers currently in the workforce, there’s a high likelihood that when your started your career you didn’t receive any formal leadership development as part of your job training.

This is because the concept of taking a “coach approach” to leadership development is  relatively new. This is why most mid-level individuals needed to actively seek out mentors and coaching programs on their own, and why many people who might have turned out to be talented and driven leaders languished in middle management as opposed to getting the training and support they needed.

A Modern Approach to Leadership Development

The desire to increase formal mentoring and coaching programs has been largely driven by the fact that organizational leaders have begun to recognize that in order for a business to compete at a global level, its leaders need to able to ensure organizational sustainability.

Historically, mentorship was a “one-way street” with the mentor imparting advice onto the mentee. It wasn’t a collaborative and communicative process that we see today, and that trend has been accelerated by the discovery that taking a “coach approach” to leadership development results in more confident, capable, and successful managers and business leaders.

Coaching for success, however, is a more collaborative process that involves assessing each potential leader by his or her own qualifications, motivations, skills, and emotional intelligence.

Start Developing Your “Coach Approach” Today

Know That There’s No Time Like the Present

It’s imperative that companies look to the next generation to help blend emerging technology with the soft skills and fresh, modern ideas and processes that move businesses forward.

But it’s not enough to simply lean on your younger hires; Millennial staff need to feel engaged and empowered to make the best of their role within your organization. Not only does engaging with your Millennial staff help keep your business up-to-date with the latest technological changes, but Gallup found that engaged millennials are 64% less likely to say they will switch jobs if the job market improves in the next 12 months (Gallup)

Train Senior Leadership to Take a “Coach Approach”

We know that coaching and mentoring is critical to developing the next generation of organizational leadership. It’s also an essential component to ensuring that there’s no “knowledge gap” present between generational cohorts.

The easiest way to ensure that your top leadership are equipped with the tools and techniques they need is to invest in professional training and development. By equipping your senior staff with the “coaching” mindset, you can accelerate the learning process and help C-suite executives feel empowered and motivated to participate in training the next generation of staff.

Find New Carrots

Gen X and Millennials are motivated by different factors from their predecessors, and smart organizations will continue to pay attention to and focus on the “carrots” that keep their top team members motivated for success.

For instance, 38% of Millennials say money would motivate them to work harder and stay with their employer longer (opportunities for advancement was cited by 30%, meaningful work 15%, good boss 7%, and working for a fast-growing company 6%) (Millennial Branding/Randstad)

Different people are motivated by different “carrots.” This means that taking the time to develop your emotional intelligence can dramatically increase employee output by motivating them with a “carrot” that speaks to their needs and interests can play a pivotal role in keeping tomorrow’s top leaders in your company today.

At EI Advantage, we help leaders and team members develop their Emotional Intelligence (EI) to better understand how to create workspaces that encourage success and develop top-tier leadership.

Want to learn more about how our services can help you improve your team’s overall performance? Contact us today or reach out on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.