Act Like Owners: Developing Leadership Skills at Every Level

By Lauren Baldwin, Sr. Organizational Effectiveness Consultant at Kelly

The true test of a leader isn't whether that person can claim Director, Manager, or Chief in their title. It's whether someone can inspire a team to see how their work matters. Or build confidence in others, coach for growth, and create momentum toward shared goals. This perspective reframes leadership as a skill to be developed rather than a position to be achieved.

Leadership capabilities can and should be developed throughout an organization, not just among those with management titles. "Act like owners"—a common phrase among our team members at Kelly—captures a mindset of making decisions with broader interests in mind, taking initiative without waiting for direction, and feeling personally invested in the success of clients and colleagues.

When you recognize leadership as a capability that can be cultivated throughout your organization, you strengthen your entire company. One study found leadership training programs result in a 25% increase in organizational outcomes. Yet Gallup's research finds only 20% of U.S. employees trust their organization's leadership—showing vast room for improvement in this critical area.

The importance of strong leadership can’t be understated, and it represents an immense opportunity for businesses today. To that end, I encourage all companies to examine their approach to leadership development. When organizations invest in leadership capabilities throughout their teams, they create environments where everyone contributes their best.

Here's my perspective on how to build effective leadership skills that drive measurable business results.

Keep your eyes open for leadership potential

We've all experienced people with leadership titles who don't necessarily have leadership skills. Too often, high-performing individual contributors are promoted without the development needed to access the soft skills that make people effective leaders. Meanwhile, many individual contributors already possess leadership capabilities that need nurturing through opportunities to lead within their functions.

Some signs that someone might be ready to take on greater leadership responsibilities include their ability to influence the team, put enterprise priorities into action, and build trusting relationships—regardless of their current role. Leadership requires the ability to zoom out, connect the dots, and contribute to a high-performance culture. When we see these qualities in individuals, they might be ready for that next step in leadership development.

For those who aren't quite ready, it helps to create a culture where you can "fail fast, and fail forward" as I like to say. This means supporting individual contributors by giving them opportunities to grow leadership skills through traditional training or in the flow of work. Leaders and peers need to be comfortable providing effective feedback to help people grow, or sometimes recognize when someone needs to develop specific skills before taking on greater responsibility.

Build a foundation of skills that deepen with experience

According to research from Harvard, 70% of organizations recognize leaders need broader capabilities to meet business demands, yet only about half believe their newly promoted leaders are ready to lead.

When developing leadership capabilities, I've found it's helpful to focus on essential skill areas that evolve and deepen with continued development and experience:

Execution skills

All leaders need fundamental execution skills, beginning with delegation—an area where even veterans struggle. Effective delegation means distributing work based on team members' strengths while maintaining appropriate oversight. Leaders at every level need business acumen to connect daily activities to organizational goals, and strategic alignment to ensure decisions reflect company priorities and values. These skills don't disappear as leaders advance—they mature.

People development

The ability to develop others through feedback and coaching is essential across leadership journeys. This includes both coaching for success to maximize potential and coaching for improvement to address performance gaps. Trust-building becomes increasingly nuanced as leaders create authentic relationships based on reliability and consistency. Collaboration skills enable working effectively across functions, while emotional intelligence helps leaders demonstrate empathy and self-awareness in their interactions.

Inclusive leadership

Creating environments where diverse perspectives thrive and everyone feels valued is crucial for leaders at every stage. This includes developing influence—the ability to motivate through persuasion rather than authority—and mastering virtual communication to build connections across remote and hybrid environments. As leaders gain experience, they develop a deeper understanding of what makes diverse teams successful and how to create psychological safety for all team members.

Change management

Guiding teams through transformation is a skill that evolves throughout a leader's journey. This includes adaptability—responding quickly to shifting circumstances with agility and decisiveness—and comprehensive change management to maintain momentum toward objectives during transitions. As leaders gain experience, they become more adept at helping teams embrace technologies like AI, guiding their integration into workflows while maintaining focus on human connections and purpose.

Leaders build confidence through practice and experience, developing more sophisticated applications of these essential skills as they progress.

Help leaders connect teams to purpose

Daily work often involves countless transactions where purpose easily becomes lost. Effective leaders bridge this gap by humanizing abstract corporate goals and helping team members see the meaning behind their work.

In the staffing industry, this means helping recruiters see the person behind every placement and the opportunity each represents. When employees understand this deeper purpose, their work transforms from routine tasks into meaningful contributions that drive real performance improvements.

This connection to purpose matters significantly. Gallup's research finds managers account for 70% of variance in team engagement levels. Leaders who consistently reinforce purpose create environments where teams perform better because they understand why their work matters.

Implement diverse learning formats

When developing your leadership training, create pathways that combine multiple formats to accommodate different learning preferences and needs. Harvard's research shows organizations are increasingly prioritizing scalable leadership development, with 60% planning to integrate AI into training programs to create more personalized approaches.

At Kelly, our Leadership Development Program forms the foundation of our approach to developing effective leaders. The program builds confidence in new leaders, helping them handle challenging situations like performance conversations and team engagement issues.

Virtual collaboration

LEAP, our Leadership Excellence and Acceleration Program, is a virtual learning experience where leaders collaborate with expert facilitators, subject matter experts (SMEs), and peers. The program was designed by internal and external SMEs to ensure content is relevant, practical, and aligned with Kelly's values, helping leaders elevate their impact with simple, meaningful strategies./p>

People leader events

We host monthly People Leader Events which typically begin with insights from experts—including authors and board members—before transitioning to smaller breakout discussions where leaders apply concepts immediately.

Self-directed learning

For self-directed learning, we've built a robust learning management system filled with books, audiobooks, and courses. We've also incorporated AI simulations that allow leaders to practice difficult conversations—like coaching underperforming team members—in a safe environment where they can make mistakes and try different approaches without risk.

Peer learning

During these sessions, leaders step away from daily responsibilities to share best practices and discuss real challenges they're facing, from navigating team change to addressing engagement concerns. This peer learning creates a community of practice where leaders support each other's growth.

Small group discussions

We're also committed to development "in the flow of work" rather than relying solely on formal training. Our mentorship program brings together individual contributors and leaders in small groups to discuss topics like networking, leadership influence, and growth development. As one leader from our team noted, "Sometimes they don't even realize they're developing skills because it's so fun."

By offering multiple learning pathways, we ensure every leader finds an approach that resonates with their style while building the essential capabilities needed for today's complex environment.

Create a culture of self-directed growth

While it’s important to recognize and nurture potential leaders, self-nomination drives our most successful leadership development efforts. In fact, 75% of our leadership program enrollment comes through self-nominations or peer recommendations. This demonstrates a fundamental shift in how organizations should approach leadership development—moving away from exclusively top-down mandates toward creating environments where professionals recognize their own development needs and actively seek growth opportunities.

Our "learn, develop, and stay curious" philosophy is embedded in our performance goals for leaders and shapes how we equip them to develop high-performing, engaged teams. We've seen this approach create what I call a "multiplier effect" throughout the organization.

One leader valued our development program so much that she voluntarily repeated it years later when she "wanted to make sure she was showing up in her best way" for her team. What made this particularly powerful was how she immediately shared insights with her team, extending the impact far beyond her individual experience. As her team members saw her commitment to continuous growth, they became more engaged in their own development.

We win through our people

When leaders grow, we see the proof in our data at Kelly. Our surveys show that participants in our LEAP program report higher team performance, better engagement, and stronger inclusive practices. This mindset—where people see leadership as a skill they want to develop, not just a promotion they want to receive—creates a company where everyone contributes more fully. The next time you find yourself focused on organizational charts or who has which title, ask instead: “How might we develop leadership capabilities throughout our company?” You’d be surprised at how this simple shift in thinking can change your organization for the better.

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