All
businesses and organisations need to have a detailed and structured idea when
hiring candidates with suitable roles. For instance, the most important role in
a company is certainly the leadership role. A lot of candidates will have a
great bit of technical knowledge, but are they capable of being leaders? How
will you be able to hire someone with a great potential in leadership? To
improve the company’s growth strategy, you must understand that hiring
candidates with leadership qualities is critical.
Why is it important to hire candidates with leadership
potential in the near future?
You can
look at leaders as change agents. They act as the catalyst to grow your company
faster. You should train your leaders such that they are capable of overcoming
market challenges without breaking much sweat. In case your company does not
boast of good leaders, then it is near to impossible to see it grow to the
heights it was meant to reach when started.
Finding
leaders from inside your organisation could be the best thing to do. They will
be well versed with the structure of the company, and will know everything
about how things work inside out. The leader should have a fair idea of how the
company runs, and must follow the work culture without fail. Knowing the
organisation well is bound to leave the leader with a better sense of making
decisions, and the leader can take better growth-related decisions.
One of
the golden rules for an organisation to be successful is by making timely
decisions. Your business is bound to plummet if you do not have leaders with
that decision making ability on time.
So, how can you find such candidates from outside and
from within your organisation?
-
Do
not focus on performance, concentrate on high potential.
The
performance of any employee defines the expertise and ability of his work. It
is certainly something to keep in mind before selecting your leader. You also
need to look behind performance however. Primarily, you must look into the
employee’s desire to grow, skill, and overall capability. Let’s face it, all
individuals are not cut out to be the best of leaders. They might be brilliant
coders and highly important to the organisation, but leadership just does not
come for them. They could be the best performers of the business, but they
aren’t born leaders. This is why it is vital to focus more on potential than
performance for churning out great leaders.
-
Level
of engagement
If your candidate for leadership shows interest
towards the company’s goal and is not just behind money, then he is certainly
leadership material. The person should be inclined towards seeing professional
achievements across the bridge of company rise and growth. Find out if the
individual is handing our suggestions to improve a certain system of the
company. Do not look at this as arrogance, it shows how much the individual
looks at improving on a system. This person is certainly bound to become a
leader sometime or the other.
-
Watcher
or Catalyst
A
lot of employees in the company do not include themselves instantly in certain
procedures and projects. They do not just jump in immediately to give their
views and get involved with the higher authorities. These people are called
watchers, and those who involve themselves immediately are called catalysts.
True leaders generally come out of the catalyst category. They ensure work gets
done faster and in a more efficient manner.
-
Holding
themselves accountable
Leaders
generally hold themselves accountable whenever something goes wrong or in case
of a failure. If you notice individuals shying away after making mistakes, then
they are definitely not leadership material. Studies show that all major
leaders in the industry have always accepted their mistakes and hold themselves
accountable. Leaders are not afraid of accepting the fact that they were wrong.
-
Multitasking
If
you believe you have a comprehensive list of candidates suitable for a
leadership role in your firm, you could hand out a few extra tasks to confirm
the same. Leaders are generally good at multi-tasking and getting a job done.
If you assign 3 jobs to a potential leader, he/she should be able to figure out
a way to get it done before the speculated time. Unless absolutely necessary,
the candidate must not ask you for an extension.
-
Emotional
intelligence
a) Is the candidate a people person?
b) Does the candidate put others before
himself/herself?
c) Is the individual a team player?
d) Does the leader take some time off to
interact with other employees?
e) Does he meet deadlines and multi-task?
If
the answer to most of the above mentioned questions is a ‘yes’, then you have
certainly found the best leader for your business.
-
Remarkable
Communication Skills
Leaders
can put their word out to the others in the organisation. They are excellent
speakers, and can motivate the others to achieve the unthinkable. They can
effortlessly communicate with clients and the higher authority and convey what
they have to.