Leadership Development during a Recession

When you are in the midst of a tough economy, a recession, this makes it convenient if not easy to ignore your responsibilities as leaders to invest and develop employees within your organization. Listen, times are tough. Some of you may even be facing economic crisis. Keep in mind that as a leader you don't create crisis. But, a crisis can create leaders. Now is the time to leverage the current economic crisis to enhance leadership development within your company. Ask yourself these questions:

-What kind of example are you setting during these tough economic times? Many of your employees have probably never experienced a recession.
-What kind of knowledge or experience are you passing down?
-Are you living up to your responsibility to have a personal impact on leadership development within the organization?
-What kind of mentor have you been?
-Are you allowing your employees to stretch - to fail - to grow?
-Are you empowering and demonstrating faith and trust in your employees?

Leadership Responsibility

The key to being an effective leader is the ability to influence the influencers. You have to touch people in such a way that they can reach out and touch other people. You alone will not maximize success during a recession. It takes an entire team. However, it's up to you to make sure you have developed that team to reach their personal maximum potential. Leadership isn't something you learn from a book or a college course. It is developed over time. You can't inject it into an employee but you can enhance their leadership skills through your personal guidance and mentoring. Inspire greatness in others is a phrase often used to define leadership responsibility. This isn't the easiest challenge you will ever face. Potential leaders need time to learn from their own failures; to comprehend consequences and develop scar tissue. Correction is not rejection and constructive feedback is an effective coaching tool. If you suddenly have an epiphany and decide you should become a mentor and start developing your team --- it may be too late. However, if you have been cognizant of the need for leadership and have invested in employee development, you have an advantage over many of your competitors. Now is the time to leverage that advantage.

Leveraging Development

Potential leaders are recognized as already having the basic tools. These tools include intelligence, integrity, character and a moral value system for doing the right thing. The rest of the formula can be developed. That formula includes the ability to become a strategic thinker. One of the most critical skills that need to be developed is the ability to recognize talent in others. This skill set also requires the intuitive mindset to recognize poor performance and the ability to weed out those that cannot meet the challenges necessary to maximize success. "Weed the Garden" before the flowers become overgrown with poor performance and resentment...

As a leader you cannot afford to allow your organization to experience a leadership vacuum during economic turmoil. As a leader you are called upon to make unpleasant decisions during these economic times. You may face unpalatable choices However; those employees that remain committed to the company's success will recognize and respect the necessity for those decisions as long as you are fair and consistent in your actions. It requires courage and a strong stomach. The job that leaders have is difficult, and there are increasingly few people capable of doing it. That makes it even more important that you continue investing in leadership development.