Organizations all across the world struggle on a daily basis to strengthen their leadership. That is presuming they have found great potentials to develop into leaders.

The persistent stereotype that leadership development programs are ineffective—that there is no commercial impact or return on investment—is particularly upsetting to those who engage in the L&D sector. This stigma is aided by publications like Barbara Kellerman’s The End of Leadership, in which she discusses the collapse of the “leadership industry.”

This is not the case; leadership development is effective. The most recent study released by DDI supports this.

Is a company devoted to putting money into developing its future leaders? not only in terms of money but also in terms of time, energy, resources, and a shift in one’s beliefs? Smaller businesses may swiftly implement a superb leadership development approach (I hesitate to use the word “program”) to develop leaders from inside even without an L&D budget or even an HR team.

Here’s how to do it.

Start with a predictive assessment tool

Many businesses struggle when evaluating predictive leadership talent. Utilizing specialized techniques, decision-makers can screen out candidates who are not good fits for leadership positions as well as eliminate their propensity to select future leaders who are very similar to themselves.

Managers must decide what success looks like for each leadership post before selecting an evaluation, and then link those abilities and traits to success criteria at work. To make sure your high potentials are capable of carrying out a plan going forward, the leadership abilities and disciplines you are evaluating should be future-focused.

Most evaluations will also look at a person’s previous and present work behaviors, the reasons behind such actions, and the situations and times where those behaviors are most likely to occur in the future.

Expose your leaders or high potentials to new responsibilities

Don’t be afraid to stretch them with work assignments that will expand their knowledge and sharpen their skills.

Empower your leaders to make decisions on their own and take on additional responsibilities to help them feel like they can own a project or big task.

Unleashing an entrepreneurial spirit in developing your leaders from within brings out the best in them.

Consider how all of this will help to create a learning environment. You want them to look at internal learning possibilities at your company, such as joining a cross-functional project, learning a new skill, or organizing or taking part in a lunch and learn.

Promoting a culture of learning within the company sends a strong message that developing your leaders is one of your top objectives.

Coach them, and then teach them to be coaches

In her most recent book, Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen CEO Cheryl Bachelder details the remarkable financial recovery of her firm.

She explains how she established a culture that is reflected in the team’s guiding principles. According to Bachelder, one of these concepts is coaching, a leadership competency in which the business strives to be at the top of its game.

She cultivates her leaders’ coaching skills. People are drawn to leaders who can coach people to success, especially Millennials. So, while putting strong controls in place, coach your new leaders to success while simultaneously increasing their ability to mentor and coach others. In the end, you want coaching to develop into a leadership skill and value that can be duplicated throughout your company.

Help align their goals with your company’s mission

When they can connect their work to the overarching objectives of their organization, people are more motivated. It enables individuals to take ownership of the work they produce and offers them a stronger motivation to support organizational causes. Nothing fosters ownership more effectively than allowing existing leaders to contribute to and collaborate on shared objectives and values.

Implement job rotation

Rotate high potentials across various jobs and responsibilities within the organization to provide them first-hand exposure. It is important to extend, push, and test their level of expertise. Give them new jobs and responsibilities so they can practice new talents and broaden their horizons.

Give them purpose

Give the leader’s work significance and purpose, which will increase their incentive to succeed. Align training, coaching, and mentoring opportunities with work objectives, performance standards, and company goals.

In closing

Becoming a skilled leader is kind of like becoming a skilled doctor or lawyer. Application and practice are key. We become leaders by applying our learning and knowledge and adding experience to our everyday lives. The first step is for decision makers to lay down the righteous path for others to learn, grow, develop, and thrive.