At least 50% of my coaching work is the result of a promotion gone bad. Why? Because companies haven’t spent the time to develop employees to take on future roles. While these mistakes keep me busy, they are costly to the organization and the individual who wasn’t prepared for the promotion. Giving someone a promotion without equipping them with the necessary skills, is like pushing them out of a plane without a parachute.
The more enlightened companies spend time up front to develop a robust organizational succession plan and create development plans for their high potentials and key employees to ensure that they have the right people, in the right seats, at the right time.
Adam Robinson highlights 4 steps to intentionally develop your future leaders.
One of the easiest steps to take action on now is step 2: conduct career conversations with your employees. What I’ve found is that these conversations are either not happening at all or are not happening consistently. Start having these conversations at least twice a year. Not only will it help in your leadership development efforts, but it will increase your employee engagement.
