For any business to grow, it needs to fill a continuing cycle of leadership positions. Most managers in the convenience store industry started out in a support position and moved their way up. Someone, somewhere along the way, saw potential in them and put it to work for the long-term good of the company. Maybe that’s how you got to where you are today, and maybe the next great convenience store manager is out on the floor stocking shelves right now. So how to do you spot leadership potential in your employees?
Characteristics of Potential Leaders
Sometimes, an employee is obviously cut out for advancing their career with you, and sometimes they are very obviously not. Most employees, though, fit somewhere in the middle. It takes careful observation – and often some active mentoring – to recognize and nurture leadership potential. Keep an eye out for these five characteristics to identify leadership potential:
Care factor. Potential leaders care about the people and things in their life. This includes caring about their jobs, but company loyalty is only part of the equation. Any employee who shows that they care about the impact they have on the people around them likely has career potential.
Commitment to training. Leaders are lifelong learners, and they don’t shy away from tackling new skills. When you have an employee who shows pride in completing an online course or fully engages in leader-led training, you likely have an employee with leadership potential.
Accountability. Everyone fails sometimes, but true leaders take ownership of those failures. Does an employee accept mistakes as opportunities to improve, or look around for someone to blame? Those who fall down and get back up stronger are the employees with leadership potential.
Emotional intelligence. Many business experts believe that emotional intelligence is the key to both personal and professional success. Future leaders of your convenience store have the capacity to control their own emotions and show empathy to others.
Communication skills. Leaders know how to communicate effectively, which means they can both get their point across and listen well to others. Keep an eye out for employees who nod while listening, ask questions for clarification, and answer concerns with just the perfect amount of detail.
Then What?
So, you found the perfect employee – or employees – and they have all the hallmarks of a great leader. Now all you need to do is start them on the path to success! Every employee in your store should get the training they need to perform their role, and that acts as a solid foundation for the skills they’ll learn later in their careers. When the time is right you can use training to start them on that journey as well; using training on communication skills or other soft skills. Try using a learning management system to keep all of your training organized and consistent.
Discover Gears to Your Career® with trainingGrid®
The Gears to Your Career philosophy, paired with the trainingGrid LMS, provides the training needed to prepare your employees for promotion and leadership roles. trainingGrid’s intuitive design makes learning management simple and allows employees to begin training with just a click. This flexible system comes with a variety of robust features customizable to fit your needs in addition to built-in reporting and certification tools that track your compliance documentation.
Request a guided demonstration of trainingGrid today!
