Every leader I know wants to develop more leaders.
While every leader I coach expresses this at some point, they are also quick to own the tension of simply not having enough time.
Know why we think we don’t have time to coach and develop our team? We overthink it!
You don’t need a complicated system, a full day each week or a curriculum you have to write. One of my great friends (and a personal coach of mine), Dr. Dan Reiland, shares a simple plan for leadership development that works to grow your team. Use this as a place to start and trust the process!
The three components of this simple plan are…
1. Get a Group.
Personally hand-select and invite a small number of sharp leaders to join you. The key is to find hungry leaders who want to be there. This is essential. There’s no magic number, how ever many people you’d like to be in this small group. Meet once a month for 1-2 hours. One suggestion is to not meet indefinitely. One goal of developing leaders is to eventually launch them into developing other leaders of their own. Get their commitment to meet for around 6 months.
2. Pick a Book.
Most leaders don’t develop other leaders because they don’t want to create content. Good news: You don’t have to because someone else created it for you! There are endless amounts of leadership books that focus on everything from skill development to how to connect with people. My latest book, Measuring Success, was written with this type of leadership development in mind. It would be a great one to get your group started with! Have everyone in the group read one chapter or selection from the book for each meeting.
3. Ask Two Questions.
Each time you meet, ask these questions about what you read: What are you learning? How are you applying what you are learning? The simplicity of these questions contain the power of the questions. With high energy leaders in the room, the conversation will flow and growth will happen!
As my friend Dan says when introducing this process, Leadership development always starts with a leader. Go be the leader your team needs. Commit to this process. Stick with it. And raise up more and better leaders than you imagined possible!
