4 Steps For Developing Tomorrow’s Restoration Leaders, From The Leaders of Today

To lead or not to lead—that is the question.

There are different schools of thought about how leaders are made. Some believe it’s innate, a “CEO” gene of sorts that naturally compels certain individuals to inspire others and drive results, whether in school or at work. Others think that leadership is cultivated—that most leaders are identified, developed, and built over time.

No matter where you stand, one thing is clear: leadership isn’t just about ability. It’s a blend of both innate skills and intentional development made over time, over and over again, every day.

In chapter 3 of our new book, Building Leaders, we explore this question in depth: How do you develop the leaders of tomorrow in the property restoration industry? Featuring insights from respected leaders like Julie Johnson and Shandie Cook, we’ve outlined four critical principles for making leadership development accessible, actionable, and repeatable.

Let’s dive in.

Step 1: Be a Leader Worth Following

The first step in leadership development is becoming the type of leader others want to emulate.

Practically, this means modeling character qualities like openness and relatability, acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses, and seeking to serve others first. All of these help develop you into a relational leader, someone who is not afraid to speak about the good and the bad with clarity and respect.

Next comes providing the right conditions to nurture and develop others who model these qualities. The aim is to develop leaders who can make a unique impact in their organizations and the lives of people around them.

Julie Johnson on Becoming a Leader Worth Following:

“We modeled leadership behavior at Alpha Omega Restoration,” Julie says. “Then, we gave others the opportunity to step into those positions, with us standing by and observing when we needed to come alongside them.”

Step 2: Layer Coaching, Grace, and Mentorship On Top of Leadership Training

Developing leaders from the ground up is a long-term commitment, often requiring significant time and patience. People are, by nature, works-in-progress, and like anything under construction, there are bound to be a few bumps along the way.

Here’s the tricky part: when those inevitable mistakes happen, how you respond can either propel their growth or stall it entirely. Come down too hard, and you risk shutting potential leaders down, making them hesitant to take risks or step out of their comfort zone in the future. But if you’re too easy on them, you might create a culture that lets mediocrity slide, and that’s a ripple effect no team can afford.

This is where coaching, mentorship, and a healthy dose of grace step in. When emerging leaders miss the mark, they need more than just critique. They need clarity on what was expected, where they fell short, and how to close that gap. With the right guidance and support, those stumbles can become stepping stones, teaching them to lead with confidence and resilience.

Shandie Cook on Coaching, Grace & Mentorship:

“If a team member makes the wrong decision, I tell them: ‘We’re not going to scream at you. We’re not going to get upset. You’re not going to be terminated.’ But we’ll talk about how things should have looked. And maybe I need to understand their point of view and why they did things that way, but then they can understand my point of view. And we walk through a new way to handle that situation in the future.”

Step 3: Double Down on Improving Commitment, Competence, and Confidence

How do leaders get potential employees to the point where trust is well-founded?

A tested and trusted way to evaluate workplace outcomes is to examine two key factors: competence and commitment. When something goes wrong, you can ask, “Was this mistake because they didn’t know what to do (competence) or because they didn’t care enough to follow through (commitment)?”

But there’s a third piece to the puzzle that’s especially important for today’s workforce—confidence. Even the most well-trained employees can hesitate or second-guess themselves if they lack confidence. On the flip side, a worker who is competent, committed, and feels trusted by their leader? That’s a confident worker ready to take initiative and make meaningful progress.

Shandie on Developing Committed, Competent, and Confident Workers:

“Building a committed, competent and confident workforce involves creating a road map for gaining specialization & mastery, knowledge-sharing & decentralization, and trust-based delegation.” — pg 69 of Building Leaders.

Step 4: Standardize Success For Team Members

After all is said and done, the best leaders not only build processes but standardize and codify them into company culture. This involves:

• Standardizing employee training and onboarding across the board.
• Creating consistent habits and routines, like morning reviews or meetings.
• Promoting a roadmap for employee development and progression initiatives.
• Building out pathways for mentorship and continuous learning.

All these help create the necessary support for building future leaders and helping team members succeed.

As Julie Johnson reminds us in Building Leaders, a leader’s job is to ensure the team knows where the target is, and one way to do that is to standardize what success looks like.

Bringing It All Together

As we’ve seen, developing leaders within an organization is not accidental. Instead, it takes a million conscious decisions and moving parts to make it work.

Thankfully, the cumulative effects build a foundation that allows future leaders to thrive.

Remember: Following these principles can help you grow junior team members from rookies to seasoned leaders. The payoff is that you’ll build an organization with people constantly rising to new challenges and prepared for any uncertainty. The rewards—both tangible and intangible—to your company are endless!

For more comprehensive leadership insights like these, check out Building Leaders, where we gather 13+ industry experts to discuss what it takes to build future leaders.

Ready to put these lessons into practice? KnowHow can help you turn theoretical leadership advice into practical action. With step-by-step processes and ready-to-use templates, KnowHow streamlines leadership training, boosts employee empowerment and drives organizational success. Learn more at tryknowhow.com.