At the same time that many companies are experiencing significant challenges hiring and retaining talent due to “The Great Resignation,” some experts estimate that nearly 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring every day. This dynamic has understandably put plans for the training and development of new leaders on the back burner at many companies.
Even though the conversation today tends to focus on finding new talent to hire, it’s as important as ever for organizations to continue nurturing the next generation of leaders. Here, 16 members of Forbes Coaches Council discuss what companies can do right now to ensure they are doing what is necessary today to ensure they have strong leadership tomorrow.
1. Create A Nurturing Organizational Culture
Companies need to create a homey organizational culture so that workers become part of the organization’s family. To do that, companies have to invest in a better environment for workers and create and practice an organizational culture of ownership by collaborators. Validate the idea of collaborators being their internal clients with programs that engage, motivate and reward. – Tania Tome, Ecokaya
2. Work With Youth Organizations
Work with youth organizations focused on preteens. This fosters collaboration, nurturing both the youth program’s success and the organization’s pipeline. Additionally, kids are brutally honest and ask questions rooted in understanding. This affords the opportunity for the organization to increase the clarity of their message for all ages and attract premium talent. – Jateya Jones, Jateya Jones Consulting
3. Create A ‘Watchlist’ Of High-Potential Employees
Does your organization have a “watchlist” of high-potential employees? These are typically two levels below your key leadership tier. Then, create stretch assignments for these high-potential employees outside of their normal areas of responsibility to build bench strength. Provide constructive feedback and assign them a coach or mentor. – Linda McLoughlin, LeadershipWorks
4. Provide A Robust Development Ecosystem
Providing a robust learning and development ecosystem and culture for your people is a great way to succession plan and prepare younger employees for future leadership roles. It can also be leveraged as a recruitment and retention strategy within your organization. Just because you get a new employee in the door doesn’t mean that they will stick around. They need ongoing investment. – Jonathan H. Westover, Human Capital Innovations, LLC
5. Align Current Culture To Next-Gen Values
First, align the current company culture to the next generation’s values. Baby Boomers, for example, were aiming for job stability; Millennials are looking for inspiration, vision and prestige; Generation-Z seeks environmental friendliness. Second, create internal platforms where employees can share knowledge and learn from each other. Third, mentor the next generation and make them feel they fit. – Aina Alive, Bee Agile
6. Go Beyond Traditional Training Methods
Companies need to go beyond—perhaps even discard—traditional leadership training methods and frameworks. Rather than a top-down prescription for training, in a post-pandemic era, the next-gen leadership would prefer to identify and decide on the path that is most suited for their professional growth. Such programs may include more virtual, open-ended, blended programs incorporating VR/AR tools. – Krishna Kumar, Intrad School of Executive Coaching
7. Create Opportunity For Talented Employees
Younger generations are looking for more than just income. They want to create change and pursue their passions, and they prefer organizations that offer career paths with opportunities for intellectual growth and impact. One practical example is employee groups created to build community and create leadership opportunities for talented employees to advance key initiatives that align with their values. – Mari Carmen Pizarro, Whole Leadership Systems, Inc
8. Make L&D A Strategic Imperative For All
Organizational leaders must continue making learning and development a strategic imperative that enables continuous learning at all levels of leadership. As the competencies of the future evolve and new skill requirements come up, organizations must be able to develop their talent appropriately. Leaders must proactively seek training that has relevant education and experiences for the next generation. – James Hotaling,N2Growth
9. Ensure The Culture Retains All Talent Demographics
Ensure the culture is dialed in to keep great talent regardless of demographic. Develop clear metrics to identify leaders and “team players.” And most importantly, invest effort in fostering intergenerational respect. This can be done by identifying and valuing the contribution and styles of each generation and having mentoring be part and parcel of how people move up in an organization. – Lisa Marie Platske, Upside Thinking, Inc.
10. Give Everyone A Chance To Be Leaders
Build people up over time. If you want a lot of potential leaders in your organization, make sure everyone gets the opportunity to show leadership every day. Give people ownership of a project or job, let them make decisions, and give them the opportunity to ask critical questions or contribute strategic ideas at a level they can handle. The more they grow, the more responsibility they get. – Rajeev Shroff, Cupela Consulting
11. Keep These Three Principles In Mind
As a creator of an online leadership development platform, I keep three key principles in mind to prepare the next generation of leaders. First, align development budgets with the biggest needs: transitions, readiness and retention. Second, scale through digital learning but in a way that fosters collaboration. Third, engage employees by making it easy to fit learning into how we work. – Neena Newberry, Newberry Solutions
12. Provide Coaching To Anchor Deep Learning
Nurturing the next generation means that these individuals view their growth and progression in terms of what they are learning rather than how much training has been provided. Training does not automatically translate into learning. Provide coaching to anchor the deep learning of these next-generation leaders and give them autonomy over learning options. – Thomas Lim, Singapore Public Service, SportSG
13. Bring Back Paid Training Programs
Bring back paid training programs and reimburse your employees for reaching milestones such as earning certifications and degrees. Companies took away training and have made it hard to access in recent years to save money. But tie your investments to it and incentivize your employees to stay with you through training programs that encourage professional excellence. This will build retention. – John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.
14. Base Leadership Training On Your Cultural Values
Empower the next generation of leaders to be culture champions. The culture of an organization is a mirror of its leadership. By taking your values and expected behaviors and intentionally creating effective leadership training based on them, you will make your next generation of leaders feel wanted and empowered while you benefit from a bench of leaders you know will live and breathe your culture. – Alex Draper, DX Learning Solutions
15. Listen To Ideas, Insights And Perspectives
Care and feeding are key. Listening to employees’ ideas, insights and perspectives ignites the spark connecting the next generation to the purpose of the company. Fueling the fire with clear roles and responsibilities closely tied to a success profile that outlines what they need to do to advance and how they need to evolve their leadership skills is a hands-on step that younger generations appreciate, even if it is done virtually. – Angela Cusack, Igniting Success
16. Allow Current Leaders To Mentor Upcoming Leaders
Mentorship is very important. Organizations can create structures that allow current leaders to mentor upcoming ones. The benefits of coaching as a powerful developmental tool cannot be overemphasized; as such, appropriate coaching interventions can be used to support the growth of upcoming leaders. Finally, the organization’s growth trajectory should be communicated in a clear and inspiring way. – Adaora Ayoade, EZ37 Solutions
