Leadership was affected by the global recession, making the already existing influence of competition, market and geographic location even stronger. Leadership is said to be vital for the success of any organization but it is hard to actually promote leadership or even identify it. Boris Blanche highlights that some people are naturally better at being leaders but this does not come out of the blue. Leadership has to start from within the individual and the business.

There comes a time in the life of any company where leaders need to be changed. Sometimes this is due to necessity. In other cases it is because of natural attrition. Any such moment needs to be seen as an opportunity.

Finding Leaders Within The Organization

The first resource that should be considered is the talent pool already employed by the organization. There are normally many individuals that could become great leaders. Unfortunately, in few cases companies have a way to actually nurture leadership skills.

No matter what many believe, leadership skills have to be grown. It is really important to have programs in place through which those with potential can be identified. Then, proper training should be in place. A failure to do this can lead to losing talent that is really valuable for the organization.

After the staff members are assessed and there is a belief that nobody can be promoted to a position of leadership, now or in the future, it is time to look at other available resources. In most cases the leadership will need to come from somewhere else. However, this does not mean that internal tools are not used in order to assess and keep growing skills and leadership traits in an employee.

Finding Leaders Outside The Organization

Talking more about finding leaders outside the organization, we should highlight the fact that simply because someone established himself as a great leader in another company does not mean that this will also be the case in yours. Every business has a specific culture that is present, established and grown. For instance, people might already be used with a stricter leadership style. If you bring in someone that allows a lot more freedom there is a pretty good possibility that the person is not going to be able to deal with current staff members.

Final Considerations

The bottom line is that it is really important to focus on within when referring to leadership. Those employees that are the best inside the company at the work that they do should be considered for leadership positions. However, it is important to understand that this does not come as a natural thing for many. It is vital to be sure that the person can be a leader and this can only be done when a plan is in place.

If all fails and no leaders are already available, it is time to move to the outside. There is no shortage of available leaders on the market but you need to be sure they will match company structure, goals and aspirations.