Who Should Be Trained to Be a Leader?

Spoiler Alert: Everyone

Everyone has the capacity to be a leader at something.

Not everyone could be an effective navy admiral, of course, and not everyone could be an effective preschool teacher (and someone who is excellent in one of those probably would not do well in the other role). But everyone has the capacity to lead something.

As leaders, we can draw this out in our people. Consider the person’s talents, experience, and interests. Could they teach someone else a skill? Maybe they should do a lunch-and-learn. Do they do well in team-building? Do they enjoy mentoring? Could they create a process, template, or manual to standardize high-quality work for the full team? Could they take point on a chunk of a project? Can you green-light a new idea they bring you, so they can expand your firm’s offerings to clients?

Draw out the leadership in your people. Grow their confidence and competence in one small area—for example, a junior staffer might mentor a summer intern—so that they can expand their abilities and incrementally grow into leadership roles.

And if you have someone in mind for official leadership training, we’d love to have them in one of our upcoming classes! We have in-person programs scheduled to start in September through ACEC chapters in New York City (NY), Syracuse (NY), Waltham (MA), Richmond (VA), and Concord (NH), as well as two online classes with start times chosen to accommodate both the east coast and west coast. A full list of offerings can be found on the website: https://thejenningsgroup.com/leadership-classes.

(image generated using Midjourney)