Leadership development takes time, and if you don’t have a pipeline in place early on, your company’s growth will be constrained by your own capacity.
Rob Miller, CEO and visionary of RPM, based in Hammonton, New Jersey, says he hit this ceiling at $5 million.
“You’ll hit that ceiling, I promise you, and once you do, then you’re going to have to regroup,” Miller says. “So you might as well start training now. It’s not easy because our days move fast, but you sometimes got to slow down.”
After putting processes in place to develop his leadership team, Miller says they are currently at $7 million in revenue and could reach $10 million in the next two years.
Traits to Look For
One of the first steps in building out a strong leadership pipeline is to know what traits to look for in your employees that indicate a potential future leader.
Jay Rotonnelli, vice president of strategy and business development for Piscataqua Landscaping & Tree Service, based in Eliot, Maine, says they seek individuals who have an interest in being successful, have a high level of integrity, and are willing to learn and be coached.
Miller says employees who take ownership, exemplify their core values, put the team ahead of themselves and are willing to have difficult conversations are all individuals who show signs of leadership.
J.T. Price, CEO of Landscape Workshop, based in Birmingham, Alabama, says they look for those with a desire to win and willingness to learn.
“If someone wants to be great (and is willing to work hard to achieve that) and is willing to learn, we can teach them (just about) any skills they are missing to move into leadership,” Price says.
Some of the most critical soft skills your potential leaders should have include strong communication skills, emotional intelligence, and the ability to navigate uncomfortable situations.
“We’re in the people business from the client standpoint and from the employee standpoint,” Rotonnelli says. “If you’re not able to weave conversations and emotions, it makes it difficult to be successful without those skills.”
Price adds that their future leaders need to be able to manage a blue-collar workforce with empathy and respect but at the same time hold them accountable for behavior and performance. They should also have the ability to interact with customers in a constructive way.
Don’t Wait for Employees to Raise Their Hands
One consideration when seeking future leaders is whether you should only focus on those who express an interest in moving up or encourage those who may not be tapping into their full potential.
“At LW, we have a performance culture, which means you need to be performing at a high level in your current job to be considered for promotion,” Price says. “When we have an opening, the first place we look is to our internal high performers. But it always helps when a team member speaks up and says they are hungry for a bigger opportunity so we can make sure they know what they need to do to be offered that opportunity.”
Miller says at times certain employees may need to be encouraged to consider pursuing a leadership path.
“I can think of one person in particular; he started here as a crew member seven or eight years ago, and now he’s a production manager, and he’s doing great,” Miller says. “He’s still learning, and we’re coaching him along the way, but he’s come so far, and I think that was one of those situations where I pretty much had to tap him on the shoulder and pull him aside and say, ‘You ready?’”
Rotonnelli says they rely on their supervisors and account managers to highlight some of these shyer, promising employees for them to focus on developing.
“We are always talking to our managers and supervisors to say, ‘Hey, just remember where you started,’ and they always say Jay’s famous punchline is, ‘We got here because somebody taught us. Somebody showed us,’” Rotonnelli says. “So, it’s your turn to give back and show some of those folks how they can become future leaders and what they need to do and some of the side work they do to advance themselves personally.”
Rotonnelli says they also use the EOS framework of: does this individual want it, get it and have the capacity to do the work.
“I enjoy nothing more than elevating someone and giving them a career advancement opportunity, but not everybody wants that,” Rotonnelli says. “So it’s how do you cherry-pick and find the ones who embody that and want to be a part of something bigger and better?”
Advice for Others
Rotonnelli says companies are doing a disservice to their overall company and brand if they are not investing in their future leaders.
“You need to make sure that you have people who are embodying what you believe in and the quality of work that you do, so that they can continue on and then start to train the next generation,” Rotonnelli says.
Creating a leadership pipeline not only allows your business to scale, but it can also help with employee retention. Price says almost all of their permanent employees who are performing well in their current roles are being prepared for the next step.
“Because of our consistent growth, the biggest constraint we have is people who are willing and ready to step into the next role at LW,” Price says. “This tends to really help with retaining those high performers who are also ambitious to grow in their careers because they know that if they are ready for promotion, the next role is always open at LW.”
