Paul Crichton
Businesses need to invest in nurturing the next generation of talent.
Regardless of the industry, you work in, how you and your management team nurture the next generation of talent in the first decade of their careers can significantly impact their prospects for the future.
Given that the business world is constantly evolving, it can be tricky to pinpoint precisely what career progression looks like for your people. However, one thing is sure, if we don’t develop the next generation, we will not have any future leaders.
So, what can today’s business leaders do to support the development of tomorrow’s talent?
Fostering a culture of knowledge sharing across the business, between different levels of staff, can allow your juniors to learn new skills and develop their capabilities.
Businesses also need to recognise the value of soft skills and actively teach them. Good communication skills, critical thinking, conflict resolution and good decision-making skills are vital soft skills that future business leaders need to learn as they come up through the ranks.
When developing your team, it’s essential to avoid a very narrow focus. Professional development and training should be as broad as possible to expose your future leaders to different challenges and ways of thinking.
A proactive stance on diversity is critical at the more junior level in all organisations. If businesses can be more diverse and inclusive at this point in people’s careers, then future management teams will comprise a much broader spectrum of people from different backgrounds.