How do you know if you are developing leaders? If you are working your tail off, and others are standing around, you are not doing a great job developing leaders. If your leaders are developing leaders, you know you are succeeding at leadership development. As a leader of a growing organization your main job is to develop leaders that will take over what you are doing now so you can focus on what is next.
A good leader inspires others to have confidence in himself. I great leader inspires confidence in them to have confidence in themselves- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Even Moses the great Jewish leader had trouble with leadership development. He needed help from his father in law to see he needed to change. In Exodus 18 it says…
The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?" Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws." Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people--men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain--and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you.
A great will leader needs to speak life to their team members. As the leader you must push your team beyond their comfort zone. The act of riding a bike for a first time will feel awkward. The leader must be willing to allow the team to "wobble and fall over a time or two". An empowering leader will give others opportunities to succeed and praise them publicly for their value to the organization.
Many leadership failures are caused by burnout. Leaders who burned out focused on what needed to be done now, not how they could develop others as leaders. A leader who does the job of their team robs the team of their opportunity to develop their gifts. Moses failed when he had not built leaders he could trust while was away. A leader needs a mentor that will call them out when they are doing instead of leading.
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"Most managers feel that training is a job that should be left to others, perhaps training specialists. I on the other hand strongly believe the manager should do it himself"-Andy Grove.
The person leading the training needs to be a credible role model which is why leaders should be involved in training and mentoring. If the leader is providing training, they have the opportunity to serve others by creating opportunities to grow.
Training should be about imparting knowledge as much as it is about imparting vision. When priorities are clear, decisions will be simple. Leaders should create a common purpose and a shared vision. As Simon Sinek explained, great leaders start with why and them explain the how and the what. The leader should sell the vision and train others to implement the vision. The leader should build the team around the vision not the leader.