Practical Tips for Emerging Leaders: Enhancing Leadership Skills and Driving Business Growth

1. Introduction to Emerging Leadership

The goal of this introduction is to give you a firm and concise overview of what you will find in the upcoming article and highlight the areas that will be the focus of the success tips. In this text, “emerging leader” will be defined as an individual who is not yet a CEO or other top executive but is perceived by the organization as a potential CEO, top executive, or organizational leader. Also, in this introduction, the term organization will be used instead of company, business, or firm. It will emphasize ways and instruments that can prepare individuals for the transition to the top job. Would-be or aspirant leaders of the organization suddenly find themselves propelled from the relative comfort of a successful career as an internal specialist into the top flight of strategy making and corporate decision making, often within the span of only a few years. The key attributes the organization will look for in these individuals are strong strategic thinking, judgment and decision quality, courage, and integrity.

This introduction has to start with the understanding that every organization wants to nurture its future leaders. Interestingly, the readiness of an organization to identify and prepare new leaders is often a direct reflection of the company’s overall health and anticipated longevity. In other words, an organization that lacks emerging, qualified leaders is likely an organization that will fail to sustain continuous growth and consistent success. Is there an emerging leadership problem in today’s business environment? If there is, we should expect unsuccessful companies to be facing a succession crisis, with too many leaders leaving too soon in tight job markets. Businesses that succeed or outperform may be developing their leaders more than those that fail. It is said that leadership is the key factor that differentiates the companies that sustain long-term success, growth, and profit from the rest. Leadership has also been said to be a strategic key and a weapon in the arsenal of successful companies.

2. Key Leadership Skills for Emerging Leaders

Then what are skilled leaders and what makes them effective? In conducting our research, we discovered that one of the overarching challenges for companies is that they have difficulty defining leadership in their context. At its essence, leadership is about people. It is about inspiring, motivating, setting a path, and serving as a role model. It’s not about skills, about what leaders need to do to be effective. In today’s fast-paced and often multifaceted business world, we often don’t pay attention to the specific skills that facilitate good leadership. Similarly, many professionals undertaking leadership roles themselves do not equate the qualities needed to perform well in the role with a need to develop specific competencies and abilities that will facilitate their success. Leaders need to touch all four levels of the leadership pyramid. The set of skills required to function at a particular level on the pyramid defines the leadership capabilities needed. We can create the skills capabilities that allow flexibility and movement through the various levels. If leaders are interested in leading for growth, they need to understand that good intentions without the necessary capabilities will remain just that.

3. Strategies for Driving Business Growth

Leaders with foresight and good judgment can pivot businesses by making major changes to structural components through embracing strategic leadership growth. Some see strategic leadership growth as the ability to move organizations to the future state. The real view is about having the stamina to implement strategic transformation. There is no one-way pathway to achieving this – some leaders transform from within, but most likely it will be those individuals whose core values are anchored in the company script and culture of an organization. The energy to innovate may depend upon the prevailing innovation culture as it is hard for some people to build strategy without holding several innovation cards of their own. Leaders must sustain digital transformation (and change policy, procedures, and the operational model) to improve the performance of their businesses.

Three of the most talked about strategies to solve the core reason that businesses fail (the failure to innovate in creating value) are extending ecosystems, honing digital prowess, and pivoting the business model. While some traditional businesses are extending their ecosystem by entering into partnerships and alliances, actually creating value is the real deal. Of interest is how some traditional businesses are badging their initiatives to allow growth and fulfillment of demand yet managing the impact and potential for increased risk from creating this ecosystem. Driving digital change to reimagine the business model is about unlocking and harnessing the power within data, analytics, and artificial intelligence. Many leaders know embarking upon their digital model is crucial, yet they are less clear about the functions and processes in their business needing change to deliver desired results.

4. Building a Strong Leadership Presence

Raise your self-awareness. To enhance your leadership presence, authenticity is essential. You need to bring your whole self to work and connect with people in a way that feels natural to who you are. Increasing your self-awareness is a crucial first step. Invest time in understanding your strengths, opportunities, and personal traits. You can enhance your understanding through dialogue and regular feedback from team members, peers, and managers. In addition, self-reflection can help you make better sense of experiences, thoughts, and emotions. Look for trends in the feedback you receive and consider any areas where your perceptions and external perceptions differ. Knowing your strengths and the areas where you are less effective will help you make better day-to-day decisions. It will also help you improve your working relationships, set better goals, and enhance your leadership presence over time.

To be a successful leader, you will need to build your presence. This involves projecting confidence, communicating effectively, and developing an authentic leadership style. A strong executive presence contributes significantly to perceptions of your leadership ability and your potential for future roles. Some people are naturally gifted with magnetic and charismatic personalities. Most successful leaders, though, have developed their executive presence over time, adapting their approaches to different situations and audiences. Here are a few practical tips to help you connect more effectively with people, enhance your leadership presence, and improve how you come across.

5. Conclusion and Next Steps

Organizational growth can take a wide variety of forms, such as increasing demand, new product development, corporate acquisition, or increasing efficiencies at either the corporate, business unit, or functional level. They all require that people perform. For a business unit’s functional leader, this means identifying what, in particular, they can do to make a significant improvement in the business’s ability to create demand or its production process. There is no common list of the important issues for a business, given the differences in business structures, products, competitive environments, industry maturity, and functional capability, but there are likely a few leverage points where superior leadership and initiatives can drive a very large amount of business improvement in a short period of time.

The focus of this article has been to help budding business executives build practical handrails to develop emerging leaders who understand their role and take initiative in promoting business growth. Our emphasis has been on leaders who want to lead their functional unit and who think of themselves as leaders first and managers second, regardless of a person’s current level or title. This transition requires an increase in the executive’s self-awareness of the direct impact their personal behaviors have on the organization’s performance.