Start building future leaders today through leadership programs

Young people are knowledgeable, skilled and creative, they work hard and want their employers to value their skill sets. But they also need time to develop and grow into experienced leaders that can lead your organisation for years to come.

The future of any successful business relies on strong pillars of leadership. But the aged care sector is rebounding from a challenging period of change; CompliSpace’s Aged Care Workforce Report 2022 revealed that 45% of aged care workers had seen half or more of their leadership and management teams depart in 2021. 

That’s a huge amount of leadership lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for many, replacing that experience is an ongoing task. 

Courtney Grigg, General Manager at Generation Thrive, a social enterprise of Youth Opportunities, said a focus on long-term change is essential to provide growth opportunities for young leaders in the workplace.

“Young people are the future workforce, the people you are investing in as an organisation,” said Ms Grigg.

“Treat them like they’re up and coming, they’re succession planning, your future leaders, because you also want to invest in them so they can stay, otherwise, you’re going around in circles always having new staff come in and go out.”

By looking at the emerging leaders within your organisation now, and supporting and nurturing them through leadership programs, you can set them – and your entire business – up for success. 

Identifying your young leaders

When looking for emerging leaders who will benefit the most from leadership programs, look for staff who are adaptable, ambitious, and considerate. 

They should be team players you have long-term plans for, while they should be interested in leadership, personal growth and development, according to Ms Grigg.

“Research shows that young people want ongoing learning and development opportunities, they value being invested in both personally and professionally and thrive under programs that offer coaching and mentoring elements,” said Ms Grigg.

“Development programs provide growth opportunities for young people to discover what is important to them and to define what makes them happy and successful within the workplace.

“They enable young people to learn skills that allow them to thrive at work and to create habits and attitudes that empower them to achieve goals, feel successful and adapt to change and uncertainty.”

If you’re interested in learning more about finding young leaders, read our article ‘How to spot emerging leaders in your organisation’.

What programs are out there?

A variety of leadership programs are available for your workers, including those directed at industry-specific aged care outcomes and those which provide all-around leadership skills. 

Industry-specific programs offer tailored information and guidance suited to staff working in a caring environment. For aged care leadership programs, you can consider:

• ASC Training and Development – Developing Leaders in Aged Care
• CareCFO – Emerging Leaders
• Engaging Young Leaders on Aged Care & Community Boards – Emerging Leaders in Governance Program
• Aged & Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA) – Leadership Accelerator Program
• Australian College of Nursing (ACN) – Clinical Leadership in Aged Care

If you’re looking for more general leadership guidance, or specific young and emerging leaders programs, examples include:

• Generation Thrive – Thrive at Work
• Catalyst Foundation – Leading by Design
• Odyssey Training – Emerging Leaders Program
• Lincoln Institute – Emerging Leaders

When choosing a leadership program for your team, look for the options that provide the most suitable learning environment and opportunities. Explore the possibilities, including multiple programs that provide an aged care focus and those that do not.

Learning life skills

Programs for young leaders are all about development, habit change and empowering participants by providing them with the tools they need to apply what they learn in a course in the real world.

Young leaders programs also teach more than just technical skills, they look at key life skills such as personal leadership, social and emotional intelligence, enterprise skills and personal wellbeing.

Life skills are often referred to as soft, enterprise or employability skills and they contribute to relationship-building, problem-solving and business growth. 

In fact, according to the Future of Jobs report by the World Economic Forum, most of the skills required by emerging leaders are life skills. 

Critical thinking and analysis, complex problem-solving and self-management were all listed as skills that employers view as the most important for future leaders (listed on Page 36 of the report), while other top skills highlighted included:

• Analytical thinking and innovation
• Active learning and learning strategies  
• Creativity, originality, and initiative  
• Leadership and social influence  
• Emotional intelligence
• Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation
• Persuasion and negotiation
• Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility

“Employers want staff to have employability skills which they may not have been exposed to before and individuals want to thrive and have opportunities to deal with whatever life throws at their way, not just work,” said Ms Grigg.

“Until you’re in the workplace there are all these unwritten rules people don’t know about and you have policies and procedures and you learn along the way, it can be really overwhelming.”

But staff can tackle that overwhelming feeling through personal development programs that teach invaluable life skills and provide them with a chance to identify growth areas and both personal and career goals.

“The flow on impact can create positive change for workplace culture and your young leaders are then role modelling for others,” explained Ms Grigg.

“We absolutely believe in order to lead others well, you need to know how to lead yourself first.”

Encouraging fresh perspectives

In some workplaces it can be hard to implement change. A study completed by the Harvard Business Review found that older colleagues have trust issues with younger leaders who they believe are less experienced. This is by no means the fault of your young leaders.

There has been a soft skills gap due to COVID-19 as learning opportunities – both educational and in the workplace – have been impacted. 

Ms Grigg believed this has impacted the incoming wave of Generation Z workers the most, highlighting examples such as online learning and communication as a different methodology compared to Baby Boomers. 

“By 2030 Gen Z will make up a third of the working population and it will be increasingly important for organisations to invest in training and development opportunities that add value and upskill this workforce to retain and remain competitive,” said Ms Grigg.

“Our rapidly changing world of work requires young adults to not only attain core technical skills for the job but to rethink the skills they need to not only maintain employment but to also build a successful career.”:

Yet despite the risk that younger people have missed out on opportunities to implement life skills, they have every chance to do so when supported by an encouraging organisation that welcomes their fresh perspectives.

Staff who feel empowered can benefit the most from development programs for emerging leaders as they return to your workplace with:

• Improved positive and assertive communication
• Developed critical thinking and solution-focused problem solving
• Increased resilience and confidence
• Improved organisation and time management
• Increased accountability and self-determination
• Increased focus and drive
• Increased social, emotional, and psychological wellbeing

Nurturing your young leaders

One single program cannot create a lifelong leader – but it starts the journey! So when you begin the process of building your future leaders, look to programs or learning opportunities that support ongoing growth across months, even years.

Ms Grigg said this is an important part of the process as nurturing young leaders not only helps them to become effective communicators and role models, but it means you have better outcomes for staff retention.

“We spend so much of our time at work and often other areas in our life can be neglected. Then we start feeling resentful towards work and without a work-life balance, there’s a high turnover,” said Ms Grigg.

“Retaining staff occurs through personal development and if you get that opportunity to be invested in as a person, not just an employee, you’re much more likely to feel valued and respected and want to give your best back to the workplace.”

Emerging leaders will also make mistakes and this is where encouraging your future leaders helps immensely if they face major setbacks or a lack of confidence. 

Offer mentorship and coaching from within to allow those young leaders to learn from experienced colleagues. Invest in their personal and professional wellbeing and allow those young leaders every opportunity to improve with programs suited to their needs.