Why Equipping Your Leaders is a Strategic Move

Why Bother Equipping A Leadership Team When They Can Leave Your Company One Day?

It's a common dilemma for business owners investing in leadership development when the possibility of those leaders eventually departing is a reality. Every resource is precious, and the thought of a trained leader taking their skills elsewhere can be disheartening. However, shifting this perspective reveals significant benefits that far outweigh the risks of attrition.

Here are five unseen reasons why building leaders within your company is a great strategic move:

1. Harness More Concentrated Power

Empowering your employees to lead means decentralizing decision-making and problem-solving. This isn't about abandoning responsibility, but rather multiplying your company's "brainpower." When individuals are trained to think strategically and take initiative, they bring a more focused and dedicated approach to their work. As research by Spreitzer et al. (2000) highlights, psychological empowerment leads to greater managerial effectiveness and a more proactive approach to tasks. By fostering leadership at various levels, you unlock a deeper pool of concentrated effort and innovative solutions within your organization.

2. Increase Corporate Alignment

Effective leaders, regardless of their position, are crucial for disseminating and embedding the company's vision and values. When you invest in their development, you're essentially creating ambassadors who can articulate and reinforce your strategic goals throughout the organization. This cascade effect ensures that everyone is pulling in the same direction. A study by Campbell and Alexander (2002) in the Journal of Leadership Studies emphasizes that clear leadership communication is paramount for achieving organizational alignment and fostering a shared understanding of objectives.

3. Increase Motivation of Staff

People are motivated when they feel valued and see a path for growth. Offering leadership development opportunities signals to your staff that you believe in their potential and are willing to invest in their future. This isn't just about promotions; it's about providing the skills and confidence to take on greater responsibilities. Eisenberger et al. (1997) found that perceived organizational support, including investments in employee development, significantly boosts employee commitment and intrinsic motivation. A motivated workforce is a productive workforce.

4. Increase Their Scope of Influence Over Staff

Delegating leadership responsibilities to your emerging leaders expands their reach and impact within the team. They become additional points of contact, mentors, and problem-solvers for their colleagues, reducing the burden on your shoulders. This distributed leadership model can significantly improve team cohesion and efficiency. Piccolo and Colquitt (2006) in the Academy of Management Journal demonstrated that empowering leadership behaviors positively impacts team effectiveness through increased shared leadership and team potency.

5. More Time to Look Into Business Expansion

Perhaps the most direct benefit to you, the business owner, is the gift of time. When you have a strong internal leadership team, you can delegate operational tasks and day-to-day management with confidence. This frees up your invaluable time and mental energy to focus on what truly drives growth for an SME: strategic planning, market analysis, identifying new opportunities, and forging key partnerships for business expansion. Effective business leaders seek to strategically delegate to optimize their focus on higher-level organizational concerns.

While the concern about leaders eventually moving on is valid, the benefits of cultivating a leadership pipeline within your SME are profound and immediate. The enhanced concentration power, improved alignment, motivated workforce, expanded influence, and ultimately, the freedom to focus on growth, far outweigh the potential risk. Investing in your people is investing in the long-term success and resilience of your business.

Why NLP?

Understanding How We Think. NLP is about understanding how we think and behave. Learning NLP allows your leaders to gain in depth knowledge as to how a staff processes information, gets motivated and performs better. It's about understanding people and what moves them.

Affecting Change. The big picture idea of what NLP is all about is affecting positive change in people’s lives. NLP provides many coaching tools and communication strategies that make instruction clear and understandable so that the teams we work with can quickly get into action and produce great results.

Sort Out Their Own Issues. With the many of the advance techniques of NLP, we are better equipped to sort out our own issues that cause unnecessary stress. This enables trained leaders to self manage and maintain wellbeing while performing at their best.

Talk to us today. Schedule a free consultation to discuss your plans for your leadership team.

References:

Spreitzer, G. M., Kizilos, M. A., & Nason, S. W. (1997). A multidimensional analysis of the relationship between psychological empowerment and effectiveness of the firm. Academy of Management Journal, 40(1), 107-133.

Campbell, S., & Alexander, D. (2002). Communication and organizational alignment: An exploratory study. Journal of Leadership Studies, 9(1), 31-45.

Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., & Sowa, D. (1986).6 Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71(3), 500-507.

Piccolo, R. F., & Colquitt, J. A. (2006). Transformational leadership and job behaviors: The mediating role of psychological empowerment and the moderating role of structural distance. Academy of Management Journal, 49(5), 901-918.