Leadership is an art. An excellent CEO conducting their business looks like a person masterfully crossing a tightrope. There are pitfalls on either side of the rope, but with coordination and confidence, they can walk forward without falling. Contrarily, a lackluster CEO can’t stand up straight, much less walk forward: Every obstacle and wind gust throws them off balance.

Whether you’re a seasoned CEO or a new manager, leadership is a difficult task to perfect. Identifying potential candidates to develop into leaders can be especially tricky. That’s why I’m sharing these six examples of leadership development that help you identify new leaders and get results quickly and effectively.

1) Performance Management

You should set clear, realistic goals that your employees can accomplish. By setting goals and checking in on results, you’re creating a conversation and a litmus test for potential leaders. A potential leader will reach their goals and motivate their team to achieve theirs, too.

2) Career Planning

Leadership aspirations rarely lie dormant—they’re as clear as day in an employee’s demeanor and performance. But, sometimes you’re responsible for so many people and tasks that you ignore the obvious. Create a space where employees can talk to you about their goals, expectations, and ambitions. There, you’ll find leaders floating to the surface.

3) Individual Coaching

Working one-on-one with leaders is the best way to tackle complex problems, create expectations, and impart your knowledge to others. What are your goals? What are your leaders’ goals? How can the two of you work together in the most productive, fruitful way? Individual coaching is crucial to create personal and company-wide success.

4) Executive Education Programs

Never underestimate the ability and influence of external executive coaches. You may know your business model and its nuanced philosophy better than anyone else, but executive coaches have seen the bigger picture. Ideally, they also bring their extensive experience to the table, identifying common problems and prescribing solutions to create influential leaders and organizations.

5) Exposure to Other Leaders

Host conferences or lectures that feature prominent leaders outside of your organization. There are many ways to fail as a leader and as many ways to succeed. You don’t hold the key to all those methods, but by inviting external experts, you’re allowing aspiring leaders within your organization to learn how companies flourish through strong leadership.

6) Build Resilience

A good leader shines whether business conditions are excellent or disastrous. In the best moments, an outstanding leader furthers their team; in the worst moments, they keep their head up high, emanating their optimism to their team members. By building personal and organizational resilience, you’re increasing your organization’s odds of overcoming crises.

Leadership development is a difficult task. But, with the right methods and a healthy attitude, you can create rock-solid leaders and organizations. Make leadership development a priority for your organization and contact us at East Tenth Group today to learn how we can help.