10 Ways You Can Turn Great Employees Into Great Leaders

Any experienced multi-unit operator understands that great employees ultimately need opportunities to grow and advance. These are your winners and you want to keep them - and you want to keep them engaged. One way to do this is to create a leadership path for those top-performing employees. There are numerous ways for franchise operators to approach this task. Many have successfully implemented concepts such as employee development programs and mentoring programs

Earlier this year at the Multi-Unit Franchising Conference in Las Vegas a roundtable luncheon and discussion took place. Dozens of multi-unit operators with years of experience had the opportunity to discuss some of their own ways of grooming employees for leadership roles. The wealth of knowledge and experience these operators drew from offered many great ideas gleaned from years of trial and error. As these operators discussed their ideas, a few seemed to rise to the top of each table's list.

The best ideas were collected and a top 10 list was compiled. The idea was to create a top 10 list of management best practices that could help other multi-unit operators grow employees into leaders. Here are the top methods:

• Conduct frequent "interviews" with top-performing, high-potential employees to align your mutual goals.
• Create a program to identify employees hungry to grow and advance.
• Cross-train key performers.
• Provide continual growth path; keep valued employees from stagnating (or worse, leaving).
• Groom, train, set goals to reach next level.
• Mentorship program to involve franchisees more fully.
• Build formal development program.
• Shadow training in higher-level functions.
• Invest in development skills; use third-party training to develop broader perspectives and growth plans for top performers.
• Involve managers in strategic-level discussions and planning.