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Over the years I have heard some adults say, “What is wrong with young people these days?” These are usually the same people who are “arm chair quarterbacks” and “sitting on the sidelines.” They want to express their opinion, to be heard; however they do not want to invest the time needed to develop the next generation of leaders.  Leadership development requires an investment of time and money, but mostly an investment of you.  Leaders are not developed overnight, but over time.  Many people want to throw money at it; others want to ignore it, while others are waiting for someone else to take care of it.

Many companies state their number one asset is their people; however so few during these economic times are investing in their people and their future.  Developing strong leaders takes a commitment of time and money.  Many profess they believe that training and leadership development will save them money in the long term, but few are willing to invest in a long term approach.  Training and development needs to be intentional and not occasional or hap hazard.  Many managers and companies feel they do not have any training or development issues at this time.  We are running smoothly things are going great so why do we need to spend resources on these types of projects.  This is the essential problem most companies don’t see the need for training until it is too late and they don’t see the need for leadership development until after their current leaders step down.   Here are some of the most common excuses:

1. What difference can I make?  Since my days in college I have volunteered with non-profit organizations focusing on youth.  I still keep in touch with many of them as they start families, develop their careers and grow as young adults.  Most of them could not remember a single thing that I said during a class that I taught but they all remember that I was there and I listened.  You don’t have to be a gifted speaker, a great teacher or just an incredibly cool dude, but you do have to commit to sharing of yourself with others.  The same is true in the business world.  The best managers that I worked with were willing to take the time to share their knowledge with me and to get to know me.  I do not remember all they said but I remember they made the effort to get to know me and offer me encouragement and advice.

2. Why take the time to develop them when they are just going to leave?  So many companies struggle with losing young talent so many of them have cut back on training and development for frontline employees.  This is just the opposite of what they need to be doing.  Yes, there are some employees that you are going to invest time and money on that will leave your company;  however research show that companies that challenge their employees to learn and seek new skills retain those employees longer then companies that don’t.  If you ask most CEO’s what one of their greatest challenges is and it is finding and retaining good employees.  Leadership development will benefit your company, youth group and any organization that wants to grow.  Don’t put in rules to discourage the 5% to 20% that may leave your company, but put into place practices that will benefit the 80% to 95% that will stay with your company.

3. I don’t want to get involved.  I attended a leadership conference a couple of years ago where a professor spoke about a paper they wrote titled, “Am I Worthy.”   The paper and their speech focused on the enormous responsibility they felt in molding the talented students they had be entrusted.  It made me think about how I was doing as a youth leader and manager with the talented people I had been blessed to work.  Am I doing everything that I can to develop this individual?  What can I do differently to mutative this person?  What training do they need?  A manager, supervisor, volunteer that does not want to be involved should step down and hand the leadership role over to someone else.  The number one requirement of a leader is the willingness to help those who follow.

4. It costs too much.  The benefits of leadership development far out way the costs.  Companies and individuals who invest in people see greater production, higher profits and lower retention.  I could never repay the volunteers, managers or co-workers that helped develop me through the years.  As a poor starving college student I learned a valuable lesson from the adults who feed us a home cooked meal every month by asking us not to try and repay them, but to do the same for someone else.  I have tried to live up to this charge both at work, home and within my community.  You may not see the results of your investment immediately, but as with most good things you will over time.

The key is to get started, to invent in your people and to be intentional in their progression.  The old saying still holds true today that, “An ounce of prevention out-weighs a pound of cure.” Get out of your comfort zone and mentor a young person, co-worker or friend.  The investment you make will have a lasting effect.