If your entire leadership team walked out the door tomorrow, would your business be ready to step up to the plate?

Global talent shortages mean that home-grown leadership is becoming integral to the workforce planning of many high-performance organisations. Effective talent management strategies can improve the alignment between home-grown leadership development and business needs. 

As younger generations start to dominate the workforce in Asia and across the globe, employee engagement and professional development have become critical factors in talent attraction and retention.  In order to cultivate and grow future leaders in a period of unprecedented competition for talent, companies must demonstrate a high level of commitment to the development of this tech-savvy and highly mobile section of the working population.

What are the benefits of home-grown leadership?

The global deficit of first-class leaders has heightened the need for effective leadership development strategies. Strategic home-grown leadership can offer long-term benefits for an organisation looking to promote and expand organically. 

1. Combat skills shortages
Are you planning for what your organisation needs tomorrow or what they needed yesterday? From where in the organisation are you going to find what you need? Developing talent in-house by up-skilling future leaders is an effective way for organisations to avoid skills shortages. It can also help keep employees engaged and satisfied by offering them opportunities for professional development.

2. Attract millennial talent
According to the Robert Walters whitepaper 'Attracting and Retaining Millennial Professionals', all of the millennials surveyed rated transparent paths of career progression extremely highly. Yet 40% of employers still do not have the structures in place to facilitate this career development. Millennials also anticipated having the smallest number of employers throughout their working lives. Investing in home-grown leadership could allow an organisation to reap long-term professional and financial rewards, especially as millennials will soon make up the majority of the modern workforce. 

3. More confident future decision-makers 
Home-grown leaders have seen the failures and successes of past employees. Employees who have their leadership skills nurtured will inevitably gain a wider understanding of the different stages, processes and practices of the business. This can cultivate future leaders who are appreciative and therefore loyal to an organisation that has invested time and resources on their career progression. In turn, talent engagement and employee performance and satisfaction can be improved and sustained.

How can home-grown leadership be developed?

1. Define your needs and benchmarks
An organisation must be able to define the fundamental requirements of what they believe to be an effective and successful leader. Typically, an amalgamation of personality, skills and experience that complement business ethics will determine whether an employee has the potential to grow into a leadership role. 

2. Regularly review your talent
Create more frequent opportunities to learn about what your future leaders need to be happy and to succeed. Regularly assessing performance, potential, and organisational needs will help you make more educated, long-term decisions. 

3. Create a sense of ownership
In many sales and business development environments, an entrepreneurial spirit is welcomed and encouraged. In the same way, employers can motivate employees to own their own career development by providing self-assessment and development opportunities so they can grow themselves. 

At Resource Solutions, we have been helping global businesses to improve their recruitment processes since 1997. To learn more about how we can help your organisation capitalise on the benefits of home-grown leadership, contact us today.