Five things you need to know about grooming future leaders

It’s an oft-used phrase that the assets of an integrated communications company go up and down in the elevator every day. After all, all we have is our people plus a rented office and some computers. Yet we spend very little time on 'people', and particularly, grooming the next generation of leaders – bonding them to us, making them ambassadors for our culture, incentivising them, and retaining them.

1. Let them know
There's absolutely no point in identifying potential leaders, working on short and long term incentive plans, and then not letting them know about it for fear of upsetting others. Future leaders are special, and they need to know they've been earmarked so they have the confidence to grow and succeed in the organisation.

2. Relevant learning
It's not just about being recognised and marked out. It's about being taught the skills and techniques they will need as they grow in the organisation. Don't flatter them – equip them with knowledge and skills. That's what they really need to succeed and, ultimately, what they're really looking for.

3. Impact
Much of the glamour has left our business, so make any incentive plan sexy. Anything involving travel usually works, or being able to interact with senior leadership of the network. In Shanghai, we utilised external resources – a leading historian, an art curator, a jazz musician. We sent the our people off to discover the 'real' Shanghai – visiting schools, homes, art galleries, a futurologist. These sorts of 'impact moments' got the highest evaluations.

4. Collective not individual
Growing future leaders within a company is most effective when it's about 'we' and not 'I'. Groom the next generation collectively so that you form a strong network of future leaders around the world, which will be a tool for them (and you) as they grow and develop. They will spontaneously form Facebook groups, pick up the phone, visit while traveling, and work together on pitches and projects. The power of the collective is greater for the future leader than an isolated programme focused only on the Individual.

5. Mentoring
While the big training programme, the trip to Cannes, the breakfast with the chairman, all have impact, it is equally important for future leaders to have regular interaction with senior mentors – 'on the job' schooling that helps him or her in a more informal and consistent way. All TBWA staff have senior management mentors in the network, and they find this to be an incredibly enriching aspect of their development.

'People' isn't a science, but it is vitally important – for the health of our agencies today, and our future health in the hands of those who will ultimately come after.