The Leader’s Role in Growing New Leaders

By AMA Staff

Beverly Kaye, an internationally recognized authority on career issues and retention and engagement, points out in an article in AMA’s Handbook on Leadership that leaders may agree on the importance of developing potential leaders in their organization, but they often don’t do anything about it, arguing about a shortage of time.

Kaye goes on to write, “Leaders take their top performers for granted. The focus is on the task at hand and the factors impacting the organization’s productivity, with attention to people often taking a backseat. This is a natural response to tough times; after all, there’s only so much time in a given day, and those hours have extended way beyond what they once were.

“Sadly,” she continues, “the truth is that when the going is tough there is even more reason to focus on talent in the organization and to continually collaborate with employees on their development and growth. Great leaders know that they absolutely cannot put the development of the next generation of leaders on a back burner. This investment in the future is one that no organization can afford to ignore.”

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