Nurture Your Future Leaders

By: Gen Wright

They are the fast-rising and upcoming superstars of the organization. Young and talented, these entry level managers have excelled in their academic years and are looking to duplicate their success in a working environment.

On a smaller scale, they have already shown what they can do. Now, they are in search of more challenges. It is time for them to take bigger risks and make things happen. As your newest batch of managers, they are ready to rumble!

Connect them to the organization

Use the organization’s core values to connect with upcoming superstars of the organization.

On their first day, pick a respectable senior leader in the organization to inspire them with a short talk on the importance of core values. Let the senior leader tell them stories of his or her past experiences to illustrate how the company’s core values have guided him/her to success. The aim is to let new young managers understand that as leaders, they represent the core values of the organization. This gives them a connection to the identity of the organization – an alignment of their personal values with the organization’s core values.

Allow new young managers to cross-train for a short period of time (4-6 weeks) with teams led by more senior and experienced managers who consistently demonstrate a high regard for what the organization believes in. This way, new young managers get to fully understand the meaning of the organization’s core values as it is being practiced on a regular basis.

As an extended practice, new young managers can be given responsibility for values orientation among newly recruited people across the organization. This will give them a greater sense of accountability.

Develop their Emotional Quotient

Although high IQ levels count, let them know that developing their EQ is as critical as mastery of their chosen profession. Workers value a leader’s abilities to control their emotions such as anger, to withstand difficult events and stressful situations, to be fulfilled with what life can give, and to be a cooperative member of the team.

As early as possible, let your young superstars participate in a leadership development program that includes topics such as enhancing self-awareness and self-reflection skills.

Encourage them to practice and seek on-going feedback from co-workers to identify and monitor inappropriate emotional behaviour. This will help young managers learn how to control their responses and quickly recover from any setbacks. Developing their EQ is an investment that will reap rewards in the area of relationships and personal growth once they assume more senior leadership roles.

Keep them Interested

Your new young managers will definitely find it exciting if their job descriptions say: implement change, multi-task, and solve problems. Multiple tasks and challenges are never a problem.

Gradually increase their responsibilities as they show capability to keep them challenged and interested with what they are doing. Give them regular feedback about their past six months’ performance and update them about what’s going to happen next.

New young managers are particular about structure – a clear hierarchy in the organizational chart, a well-defined scope of work, and an outline of their career path is critical if you wish to motivate them.

Special projects are also a welcome responsibility particularly if the assignment is related to the latest in communication technology or social networking. Encourage new young managers to strengthen informal bonds and create solid teamwork by setting up a networking system that allows them to communicate and collaborate.

Give them a life

Work-life balance is a must for long-term career growth. Managers of this generation lead multi-activity lives. They work hard but they also value time for sports, adventure, and recreation with family and friends.

Create fun and let friendship bonds be formed across various teams in the workplace through lunch break celebrations and socials in the office.

Encourage young managers to join clubs or teams that promote wellness or any team sport that they are interested in.

Allow them to spend enough time with their families on weekends to re-charge and re-energize their week.

New young managers are not threatened by job security or big pay checks. They want to learn from their senior leaders, be successful with their teams, and earn the respect of the whole organization. Nurture them early to create well-balanced individuals who will surely be productive as professionals and as respectable leaders in the organization for a long time.

Mel Mendoza is a virtual assistant for whatdoyouwantfromthem.com – an informal network for managers. Create a private social network for your management recruits.

Article Source: http://www.leadershiparticles.net