The business world is highly competitive, so if you want to enjoy long-term success, you need to fill your staff with strong leaders. You already have great people on your team, so make it your goal to focus on leadership growth this year. Cultivating leaders takes a great deal of time and effort, but it’s well worth the investment.

3 Way to Develop Leaders in 2016

Follow these three steps to turn your top employees into outstanding leaders this year.

Learn to Delegate

It’s difficult for your team to learn and grow if they don’t feel like you trust them. Empower top talent to take ownership of their work by giving them additional responsibilities. Allow them to make key decisions, work with vendors and serve as the client liaison. Keep your distance and only step in to help if asked. Your employees will probably make mistakes, but this is all part of the learning process. Letting go of projects can be terrifying at first, but it’s something you need to do to take your organization to the next level.

Include Others in the Decision-Making Process

You hired talented people to join your company, so you need to trust their opinions. Stop making all key decisions on your own and include your employees in the process. Not only will their opinions allow you to see things from a new — and possibly better — prospective, it will also make them feel more engaged. It’s very inspiring to know your boss has confidence in your ability to make the right decision.

Lead by Example

As the boss, your team looks up to you. You may not realize it, but your actions have a major impact on your employees. Teach them to become outstanding leaders by being one yourself. Make leadership development, constant growth and open communication part of your company culture, so they know exactly what you expect of them. You won’t get very far if you don’t hold the same standards for your own behavior that you do for everyone else.

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