Fostering Workplace Leadership

While any good manager needs to be a leader, one trait of a great manager is the ability to help the people around him or her become leaders too. Promoting office leadership prepares employees for advancement and increases employee retention by creating a sense of ownership and commitment in the workplace. A company is stronger as a whole when employees from top to bottom have spent time developing the skills necessary to step into leadership roles, rather than being thrust into them unprepared.

The folks at The Muse suggested a few tips for bringing out the best in your staff. Here are a few highlights:

Take some time to think about the skills that are important to you as a manager that your employees might not have the opportunity to exercise as often—common examples are public speaking and client communication. Then try to figure out ways to expose your staff to situations that will give them experience in these areas.

It doesn’t have to be for a major project; it could be something as simple as giving an internal presentation or taking the lead on a routine client call. Gradually, the skills and confidence they build in these tasks will make them comfortable taking on larger responsibilities, and eventually managing other employees themselves. They might be sheepish at first, but they’ll grow from the experience and love you for it in the end.

An essential part of handing over responsibilities to your staff is giving them true ownership of the tasks at hand. Give them guidance when needed, but make it clear that they’re in charge and are capable of solving whatever challenges pop up. Your confidence in them will translate into confidence in themselves.

At a point where you’d normally take things over, encourage your employees to take the next step on their own.

You never want to let someone flounder needlessly, but knowing when to lay off can be a valuable tool in fostering development.

Ultimately, handing leadership tasks to your staff is a way of empowering them. By giving an employee increased responsibility and communicating your trust in them by letting them pull it off without hovering over their shoulder, you’re sending a clear message: they are valued, important, and impactful within the company. Staff members who are emboldened with this mentality are more likely to be creative in the workplace and bring forth great ideas.

Employees who feel ownership over their work are more likely to take the extra step to produce great work, and insist that others do too. It’s a contagious attitude that tends to spread around a business once it takes hold. And that’s what real leadership is all about.