It’s common for leaders of frontline workers to view this stage of their professional careers as the destination on their leadership journey.
In reality, it’s another starting line, one that can lead to becoming a leader of leaders – a position that acts as the gateway to your talent pipeline.
What makes leaders of leaders different?
While both roles require strong leadership capabilities, leaders of leaders are fundamentally different from individuals who manage frontline workers.
This is because being an effective leader of leaders means being more concerned with identifying and nurturing great leaders than overseeing the day-to-day work of a frontline team.
Rather than focusing on directing work and solving day-to-day challenges, leaders of leaders must empower others to lead with confidence, make sound autonomous decisions, and build high-performing teams of their own.
As such, this elevated position demands a completely different mindset, approach, and skill set.
Six essential steps to get you started
Stop leading everyone, concentrate on the leaders
The first step to becoming a leader of leaders is adjusting your mindset. Leaders of leaders understand that their greatest impact comes through others.
These leaders can identify individuals who show initiative, drive, and potential, equip them with the required leadership skills and knowledge, coach them through any challenges or mistakes, and then empower them to start leading independently.
This is known as the multiplication mindset – and it’s what separates leaders who manage teams from leaders who build lasting leadership capacity.
Success, in this instance, therefore, becomes less about your own performance and more about the capability, confidence, and impact of the leaders you’ve developed.
While you’ll still be accountable for the organisation’s overall performance, you should be able to hold subordinate leaders accountable for their specific responsibilities, performance, and results.
Meet people where they are – not where you want them to be
While the principle of meeting people where they are can be used in lots of different contexts, the best leaders of leaders understand that every individual is at a different stage of their leadership journey.
Rather than expecting everyone to develop at the same pace or in the same way, they take the time to understand each person’s current capabilities, strengths, and growth opportunities.
Instead of trying to force leaders to be where they want them, they meet them where they are. They work with them to identify the areas they’re excelling in and where they still require support, feedback, and guidance.
This approach helps to prevent unnecessary micromanagement, allowing subordinate leaders to come into their own at a speed that’s right for them.
In short, effective leadership development is never one-size-fits-all. Leaders of leaders must tailor their approach to the individual if they want them to realise their full potential.
Develop the leader, not just the skills
While professional skills are undeniably important – and there are many specific competencies that a leader should develop – mindset and character can often have an even greater impact.
This is because they determine whether a leader continues to grow, adapt, and improve over time.
Subsequently, one of the primary responsibilities of leaders of leaders is to encourage curiosity in leaders and support them through self-reflection. By helping them to become more self-aware of how they think, behave, and make decisions, they enable lasting personal and professional growth.
Ultimately, the goal is to develop strategic thinkers rather than operators, ensuring individuals who move into leadership positions can confidently navigate complex challenges themselves.
Stop allowing leaders to become complacent
Has an individual in your team recently moved into a leadership position and started showing signs of complacency? Ensuring that success never becomes a reason for complacency is one of the biggest responsibilities of a leader of leaders.
While it’s perhaps natural and easy for leaders to believe they’ve “arrived” when they progress into more senior roles, they need to be reminded that what earned them their current position won’t necessarily keep them there – and it certainly won’t help them to get to the next level.
Leaders of leaders must continually challenge this potentially dangerous and limiting complacent mindset by creating opportunities for ongoing growth.
Because if the goal is to keep leaders curious, adaptable, and committed to continuous improvement no matter how high they climb the professional ladder, then they must receive regular feedback and have their assumptions challenged.
Once leaders stop being certain that they have all the answers, they become more open to new perspectives and more comfortable with discomfort as part of the development process. Further encouraging growth and success.
Nurture self-replicating leaders
Is there anything more disruptive to an organisation than being leaderless? It’s for this reason that the creation of self-replicating leaders is so vital.
When there’s a conveyor belt of leaders in different stages of development being taught how to train even more leaders themselves, a reliable, regenerative, long-lasting leadership system is created.
Leaders of leaders should therefore encourage CEOs, directors, and others in leadership positions to deliver tailored coaching and encourage responsibility for this throughout the whole organisation.
As a result, one of the most effective ways for leaders of leaders to assess their performance in this area is to observe just how many people can stand on their own two feet and thrive when they’re not around.
Ingrain leadership development into company culture
Far too often, leadership development is treated as a secondary HR initiative or standalone event, such as an annual course, a one-off workshop, or an occasional training day.
But, the most effective leadership development doesn’t happen once a year, it’s ongoing and is present every single day. Creating great leaders requires a culture where feedback, reflection, coaching and continuous learning are normalised and deeply embedded into everyday work.
Over time, this commitment to continuous development nurtures leaders who are more adaptable, self-aware, and capable of developing others, creating a long-lasting competitive advantage.
Start building tomorrow’s leaders, today
Leadership isn’t, and never has been, about creating followers.
It’s about identifying and empowering people who can build and lead others. The greatest legacy any leader leaves behind isn’t measured solely by the results they achieve alone, but by the people they develop and the impact those leaders go on to have.
While business results will always matter, there is no greater measure of success for leaders of leaders than seeing the people you’ve developed become exceptional leaders themselves.
Get in touch with Drew Povey Consultancy
To start building tomorrow’s leaders today and begin honing your skills, mindset, and approach as a leader of leaders, why not speak to the experts at the Drew Povey Consultancy?
We provide tailored leadership coaching – either on a 1:1, team, or keynote delivery basis – to help you enhance your existing leadership skill set and reach your full potential.
To discuss your bespoke leadership coaching services or your specific training requirements with a member of our team, simply fill in our convenient online contact form.
Upon receiving your enquiry, you can rest assured that we’ll be in touch soon to learn more about how we can best help.