We all look in wonder at the efforts made by leaders like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Mark
Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk to single-mindedly pursue success and create brands that make a difference
to the lives of people. So why is it that despite there being thousands of employees and numerous key
stakeholders in each organization, it is the one or in some cases two leaders who define a brand and its
success? Elon Musk in a recent interview and follow-up article spoke about the problems and
insecurities in meeting the demands of investors. Most often we just get to see their success and
wealth, we do not get to see the hard work and sacrifices they make to achieve their goals. In this blog
post, we see how senior management can groom employees to become purposeful leaders who can
drive organizational growth and change.
Defining Qualities of Good Leaders
Popular motivational speaker and success coach Brian Tracy lists the following traits as qualities that an ideal business leader should possess:
Vision
Courage
Integrity
Humility
Strategic Planning
Focus
Cooperation
Mentoring and Creating the Next Generation of Leaders
Incidents in organizations like Tata & Sons and Infosys; reinforce the power that founders and early
investors wield in large organizations. Each time there’s a high-profile exit, the value of the
organization’s stock takes a massive hit, and it shakes the confidence of the external investors in the
organization’s internal governance policies. It is important that existing business leaders lay out a clear
succession policy, identify individuals to continue their legacy, and train them appropriately.
Using eLearning to Foster Leadership Training
Once suitable staff are identified based on their performance, integrity, and people-skills; it is important
to assign them to relevant mentors who will be able to prepare them for leadership roles. This would
involve close interaction with existing leaders, attending meetings with them, and seeing how they react
to situations and offer solutions to problems both internal and external. Direct mentoring, face-to-face
discussions, regular question and answer sessions, and strategic planning exercises are all key
components of leadership training programs.
In addition to these components, it is important to leverage the power of eLearning the train potential
leaders. eLearning can comprise video nuggets wherein actual thought-leaders can share insights into
their best practices and daily schedules that can help craft success stories. Complementing these videos,
the eLearning can be structured to incorporate actual case studies and examples wherein quick decisions have been taken to resolve issues.
One can also bring in simulated assignments that put the learner into a scenario wherein they have to solve an issue. Example include – Negotiating a better deal with investors, solving a labor-issue in a factory, or addressing a harassment complaint filed against a senior executive. Each of the suggested scenarios taps into different facets of individual attitude and person-management.
Real-life scenarios are more stressful and have a bigger impact. Based on how well a learner tackles the simulation, one can get a measure of how the learner would react in a real-life scenario. With AR and VR getting integrated into eLearning, there are opportunities to deploy a learning experience that puts the learner in a ‘simulated corporate conflict zone’ and create a pressure-situation and see how the learner reacts.
Trust is an important factor and once the right candidate is identified it is important to help them
acquire the knowledge needed to tackle all challenges. As a leader driving organizational change how
would you identify the next generation of leaders and train them to transform them into effective
business leaders? Do share your thoughts in the ‘Comments’ section.
Image Credit – Pexels
