Pub. 13 2018-2019 Issue 1

WWW.NEBANKERS.ORG 28 © 2018, Christine Corelli & Associates Inc. Christine Corelli has had a distinguished 25-year career as an international keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and business columnist. She has authored six business books. Her clients are characterized by Fortune 500 companies and major trade associations. She has been a popular presenter at numerous banking associations. To learn more, visit www.christinespeaks. com. To contact her for an upcoming meeting, conference, or special event, call (847) 477-7376. covers familiar ground (in order to hammer home the business concepts every effective leader must possess) is to offer instruc- tion that has practical applica- tion to your leadership trainees’ day-to-day activities. The result of this training should be com- petency in each of these areas: • Strategic thinking • Effective decision-making • Managing and motivating employees • Change management • Accountability • Culture transformation • Customer-service excellence • Conflict management • Execution • Communication skills • Any additional training rel- evant to your bank 3. Send your leadership trainees to leadership events of your state bankers association. 4. Send female leaders and emerging leaders to the NBA’s Women in Banking Conference, for example, or another leadership training program. You could also follow the example of smart companies that have benefitted greatly by implementing in-house leader- ship development programs, or encourage your shining stars to apply for the NBA Leadership Program. 5. Designate a seat at your execu- tive meetings for an emerging leader. If you have more than one emerging leader in your stable, allow them to sit in on a rotat- ing basis—welcome a different emerging leader each time the top executives meet. 6. Request that each emerging lead- er’s supervisor monitors his or her progress, and update the presi- dent on it at regular intervals. Make the same request to your HR department. 7. Instruct your emerging leaders to communicate with one another often in order to share their chal- lenges and help one another.  8. Assign responsibility to your emerging leader for devising vi- able solutions to one or more of the bank’s most pressing prob- lems. When you do, you will be amazed at the results. 9. Set up shadowing. Have your emerging leaders spend a full day tagging along with an executive to see up close exactly what he or she does to contribute to company success. Have them shadow other managers and leaders within your organization as well. 10. Welcome your emerging leaders into your meetings. Solicit their thoughts about the hits, runs, and misses of the previous week. En- courage them to offer their views about what they might have done differently during those last five business days to achieve greater success. One final point. If your bank is family owned and you’ll one day be passing the baton to a son, daughter, grandchild, or another relative, be sure to have in place a succession plan that includes the 10 lead- ership development steps listed above. Your heir apparent needs to be fully ready, willing, and able to step into your shoes and carry your legacy forward. Leader- ship development of family members is a matter you cannot ignore. It has been argued that great leaders are born, not made. But that is incorrect. Because even natural-born leaders must be trained before they can successfully oc- cupy the big office or take the next step in their career. You owe it to your bank—and to yourself—to properly and completely train individuals who are legitimately suited to become leaders. Otherwise, you may be doing nothingmore than courting disaster.  If your bank is family owned and you’ll one day be passing the baton to a son, daughter, grandchild, or another relative, be sure to have in place a succession plan that includes the 10 leadership development steps listed below. Leaders — continued from page 27