How Do You Develop Leadership Skills in Your Employees?

The list seems to be everywhere on what makes a great leader, and it usually includes some of the same characteristics and skills: honesty, clear communication, strong business acumen, and effective negotiation skills. What those lists tend to lose is that effective leadership also involves the right tactical strategy. Effective leaders learn how to launch a comprehensive series of short-term plans and long-term plans that put their company on the road to success.

So how do you develop leadership skills in your employees? Not by hoping the right people rise on their own. You develop them the same way you develop any other capability in the business: name the skills, build a plan around them, fund the training, and review whether the employee is actually getting better at leading.

What Is Leadership Development in Employees?

Leadership development is the deliberate process of building the skills an employee needs to lead other people rather than only do the work: communication, judgment, business acumen, negotiation, and the discipline to set direction and follow through. It combines formal training, a mentor, real responsibility, and honest feedback on a set cadence.

The word deliberate is doing the work in that sentence. Most companies promote their strongest individual contributor and then expect leadership to arrive with the title. It does not. The skills that made someone excellent at the work are rarely the skills that make them effective at leading the people doing it, and the gap between those two closes through practice and coaching, not through a promotion announcement.

How to Develop Leadership Skills in an Employee

Whether the goal is leadership in teams or a management role in information technology, human resources, marketing, or another growing niche, obtaining current leadership training helps individuals sharpen their skills and expand their network of peers. In turn, that encourages professional and personal growth.

Facilitator leading a small leadership training workshop with employees around a conference table

For business professionals and corporate leadership candidates who have to deal with a myriad of responsibilities, it can be challenging to find the time to improve their leadership skills and knowledge. One of the most effective options is to enroll in an executive certificate program offered 100% online by a university with a reputation for excellence. Certificate programs can be effective in developing employees.

Training alone does not make a leader, which is why the federal government treats leadership development as a continuum rather than a course. The US Office of Personnel Management’s leadership development guidance frames it as a progression from leading yourself, to leading others, to leading an organization. Employers get more out of a program when they match it to the level the employee is actually at.

Other strategies for individuals looking to take their leadership skills from the booth to the C-suite include:

Join the local branch of a professional organization and get active in regional meetings to clarify goals and develop a more comprehensive understanding of industry trends
Be active on LinkedIn and other professional social networking sites to build a presence through prudent participation in online discussions
Identify a mentor through alumni groups, professional organizations, or civic groups to develop the inspirational leadership skills they need to excel at the next level of management
Give the employee a real assignment with real consequences, such as owning a project, a vendor relationship, or a process improvement, so the new skills get used rather than filed

Senior manager and mid-career employee in a mentoring conversation in an office breakout area

Building a Leadership Plan

Often, the first step in designing a strong management leadership plan is to identify valuable skills and knowledge and then align them with the employee’s interests and career goals. In addition, an emerging leader can draw on a variety of sources, including:

Consultation with admission counselors to compare leadership programs
Meetings with human resources to identify opportunities for advancement inside the company
Reviews from alumni of the educational institutions under consideration
Networking with other professionals already working in the desired career path

Keep those organizational leadership skills up to date, then sharpen them with additional knowledge to improve leadership opportunities for employees who want to move into management and for current managers seeking to improve their leadership effectiveness. Executives, meanwhile, get a clearer understanding of strategic leadership and of specific disciplines within the company.

A plan that lives only in the employee’s head is not a plan. Write down the skills being developed, the training or assignment attached to each one, who is coaching, and when it gets reviewed. The Small Business Administration’s guidance on hiring and managing employees makes the same point about people practices generally: the documented version is the one that survives a busy quarter.

HR manager reviewing an employee development tracking dashboard on an office monitor

Effective Leadership Skills

Developing short-term and long-term leadership plans puts both the employee and the company on the path to success. Before enrolling in a training program on executive leadership, it is important for business professionals to conduct thorough research on those programs to ensure they receive the greatest return on their investment. A program built and taught by industry leaders from a range of business sectors can provide the skills, knowledge, and tactical strategy that sustain professional development and increase the longevity of a career.

Ask the program two blunt questions before the invoice is signed. Who teaches it, and what does the employee produce by the end of it? A program that ends with a certificate and nothing else leaves you no way to tell whether the money bought a capability or an afternoon away from the desk.

A Style of Leadership

The first thing that matters for a leader is analyzing their own leadership style. How does the individual lead? What are the weaknesses that might hamper that style from achieving their desired goals and objectives?

One way to assess this is to take one of the leadership style quizzes found online. These quizzes outline the important characteristics found in each style. Once leaders assess their style, they can look for ways to improve that style and the abilities behind it.

An innovative leader should expand the capabilities of creative team members to bring new processes to the table. The purpose of encouraging creativity is to help team members get out of their comfort zone and work harder to achieve success. This highlights the fact that innovation is important in leadership.

Team leader listening to a team member during a huddle on an operations floor

Listening Skills

Listening skills are by far one of the most important aspects of good leadership. A good leader should be an effective communicator, and needs to communicate their goals and how those goals will be achieved. A good leader also has to believe in two-way and open communication, which starts with listening to what team members have to say.

Listening is a measurable habit, not a personality trait. Count how often a manager asks a question before giving an answer in a team meeting, and how often something a team member raised actually changed a decision. Employees learn very quickly whether raising an issue is worth the effort.

Developing Leadership Skills

Honesty, clear communication, good commercial acumen, and excellent negotiating abilities are among the qualities and talents that appear on everyone’s list of what makes a great leader. Effective leaders understand how to create a complete set of short-term and long-term strategies that put their firm on the path to success.

The last thing a leader can do to improve is to realize that improving one’s capabilities is an ongoing process. They should never stop learning and educating themselves. The same applies to the company: leadership development that runs once and is never reviewed produces a certificate, while leadership development that is documented, funded, and revisited produces the next set of managers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Does It Mean to Develop Leadership Skills in Employees?

It means giving employees the training, practice, and feedback that turn technical competence into the ability to lead other people. That covers honesty, clear communication, business acumen, and negotiation skills, and it usually combines formal training with a mentor, real responsibility, and a review cadence that tells the employee whether they are improving.

How Do You Build a Leadership Development Plan for an Employee?

Start by identifying the employee’s valuable skills and knowledge, then align them with their interests and career goals. From there, consultation with admission counselors, meetings with human resources to identify opportunities for advancement, reviews from alumni of the educational institutions you are considering, and networking with other professionals on the same career path all help you choose the right program.

Are Executive Certificate Programs Worth It for Emerging Leaders?

They can be, provided you research the program before enrolling. An executive certificate program offered 100% online by a university with a reputation for excellence lets a busy professional keep working while they study. A program taught by industry leaders from several business sectors gives the greatest return on your investment and supports the longevity of a career.

How Does a Manager Identify Their Leadership Style?

Leadership style quizzes found online outline the important characteristics of each style and give a manager a starting read on how they lead. The more useful step is the follow-up: name the weaknesses that might hamper that style from achieving the desired goals and objectives, then look for specific ways to improve the style and abilities behind it.

Why Are Listening Skills So Important in Leadership?

A good leader has to communicate their goals and how they will be achieved, but communication that only runs one way stops working the moment a team knows something the leader does not. Two-way and open communication surfaces problems early, and listening to what team members have to say is what makes an employee willing to raise them at all.