How to hone your leadership skills, and what your company can do to help
- Written by Zara Whysall, Associate Professor of Business Psychology, Nottingham Trent University
The UK labour market has finally started to see a fall in vacancies[1] following a post-COVID spike in open positions. But there are still more than a million job vacancies, which are “damaging the economy by preventing firms from fulfilling order books and taking on new work”, according to the British Chambers of Commerce[2].
A recent survey by this business lobby group found four-fifths of firms can’t recruit the people they need. Companies often look outside for external candidates to fill senior roles[3], but this overlooks current employees who may have the potential to move up within an organisation – even if they do not know it yet.
Overlooking employees often happens when management plays it safe, rather than risking giving “one of their own” an important new assignment. The resulting untapped employee potential can leave people feeling underused and frustrated. You need to be given opportunities to stretch, learn and develop to fulfil your potential at work.
Problems identifying potential
Unfortunately, organisations often rely upon current (or past) performance as a barometer of potential, which is far from ideal – not just because only a small proportion of current high performers also have high potential, but because people with strong potential may not currently be performing at their best. Perhaps they aren’t in the right role, or aren’t being sufficiently stretched or supported.
Either way, your employer shouldn’t conflate your current performance with your potential. This could also perpetuate the lack of diversity that persists at leadership level in many firms. Past performance is limited by opportunity. Some people, due to biases and stereotypes, may not have been offered the chance to show what they are capable of yet.
To avoid these problems, organisations need to assess their employees objectively to find those with leadership potential. This could include doing psychometric tests of their personality and cognitive and learning abilities. Simulations of typical tasks or problems could also replicate the likely cognitive demands of future leadership roles, helping to identify people who can best cope and learn from the experience.
Supporting future leaders
It’s important to remember that potential does not automatically unfold once it’s identified. Indeed, some studies claim that 40% of high-potential promotions end in failure[16].
However, if you’re good at learning from experiences and applying this to improve how you do things, and are motivated to progress and grow, you have a good chance of developing the career dimension qualities needed to be a future leader – and to do this faster than your peers.
But organisations must help by finding ways to stretch employees, while also building the scaffolding to support their learning and development. They should balance challenge with support through coaching, to help employees learn as much as they can from their experiences. If you want to be a future leader, you can then use these experiences to enhance your job performance and reach your full potential.
References
- ^ finally started to see a fall in vacancies (www.ons.gov.uk)
- ^ British Chambers of Commerce (www.britishchambers.org.uk)
- ^ look outside for external candidates to fill senior roles (www.emerald.com)
- ^ This article is part of Quarter Life (theconversation.com)
- ^ Expert advice for budding UK entrepreneurs during a cost of living crisis (theconversation.com)
- ^ Trust is important if you want to succeed at work - here’s how to build it (theconversation.com)
- ^ Why menstrual leave could be bad for women (theconversation.com)
- ^ ability to learn (onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
- ^ people who are more (psycnet.apa.org)
- ^ New technology (theconversation.com)
- ^ workplace trends (theconversation.com)
- ^ help them to be successful in their future roles (hbr.org)
- ^ psychologist about coping with the stresses of the pandemic (m.facebook.com)
- ^ experienced business mentor about supporting small businesses (m.facebook.com)
- ^ Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock (www.shutterstock.com)
- ^ 40% of high-potential promotions end in failure (hbr.org)
