How to Promote Leadership Qualities within the Workplace

A company that is successful at getting its employees to improve standards, create new ideas, go above and beyond its mission, and exceed the set goals and objectives understands how to cultivate leadership qualities within its employees. Cultivating leadership qualities in the work place is beneficial for helping organizations to excel in all areas of a business. In order to promote leadership qualities in the workplace key staff and executives must be prepared to commit themselves to developing a leadership plan.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Meet to discuss, define, and identify what leadership qualities are within the organization. Leadership is not about making demands and barking out orders, but good leadership qualities consist of helping others, team building, improving processes and coming up with ideas without being asked to do so.
2. Once leadership is properly defined, put in place a Leadership Recognition program by designating a committee who will select and recognize employees who are displaying characteristics of leadership. The Leadership committee should come up with a Leadership rewarding system by conducting an agency wide survey asking employees their opinion on what forms of recognitions and rewards they would like to receive. Some good ideas of recognition and rewards are designated parking spots, bonus compensation, a recognition ceremony, certificates and plaques, free lunch or lunch with the CEO.
3. All employees should receive leadership training providing them with information, strategies and techniques on developing leadership qualities. The Leadership Committee should determine a set procedure for selecting and rewarding employees that do an outstanding job of displaying leadership characteristics and qualities.
4. Cultivate leadership within employees by treating them like leaders. Train managers and supervisors on new styles, methodologies and approaches for dealing with their employees in a mentoring fashion. Discourage micromanaging, authoritarian or dictatorship management styles. Train managers in diversity and how to develop team building techniques within their departments and divisions.
5. Revise performance evaluations so that employees are engaged in first evaluating themselves and then getting feedback from their managers rather than simply allowing the manager to evaluate the performance without the employee’s input.
6. Stress the importance of how all job positions and classifications are important from the lowest paid position to the highest paid position. Develop a method to get feedback from all employees in developing the organization’s annual plan, mission statements, goals and objectives.
7. Promote from within the organization rewarding and promoting employees who display leadership qualities.

Tips & Warnings

• The criteria for selecting employees should be a written process that clearly defines or provides examples of excellent and outstanding leadership qualities.
• It is essential to use a professional outside consultant to assist in formulating the Leadership Program and to conduct the diversity and management training.
• The Leadership and recognition Committee should be careful not to discriminate on the basis of sex, race, or use any other form of discrimination when selecting which employees will receive rewards.