Lead and motivate staff: employer guidance

Leadership training helps Northern Ireland employers develop the skills to inspire teams, influence others and drive change. If you manage staff, targeted leadership development can improve your own personal effectiveness and your business performance.

What are the benefits of leadership training?

Leadership training is designed to help you maximise your own performance and that of your business. Key benefits include:

• inspiring your team - building confidence and clarity so you can motivate staff more effectively
• influencing others - strengthening your ability to persuade, align, and engage employees, peers, and stakeholders
• bringing about positive change - leading organisational change with clearer communication, planning and people skills

Leadership development is as much about personal growth - self-awareness, confidence, emotional intelligence - as it is about learning specific management techniques through formal training.

What types of leadership training are available?

Leadership training can be formal, eg, courses, programmes, accreditations, or informal, eg, mentoring, networking, or peer learning. Two important informal approaches for business owners and directors are mentoring and networking.

Mentoring for leadership development

Mentoring is an informal, generally unstructured process in which an experienced business person, ie, the mentor, spends time developing the capabilities and confidence of a less experienced leader, ie, the mentee. It is not a teacher-pupil relationship; instead, the mentor acts as a guide and a safe sounding board for ideas, decisions, and challenges.

Mentoring can help you:

• reflect on your leadership style and decisions
• explore options for growth and change in your business
• build confidence and resilience as a leader

See guidance on business mentoring in Northern Ireland.

Networking for leadership development

Networking is another important form of leadership and skill development for business owners and directors. Business networks bring together people running similar businesses or facing similar challenges, including networks for:

• new businesses and start-ups
• young business owners
• women in business and women in enterprise

Through networking, you can:

• learn from other leaders' experiences and solutions
• share best practices on motivation, team management, and growth
• build relationships that support collaboration and opportunities

Find local events with networking opportunities

Search our Events Finder to find events in Northern Ireland that may have networking opportunities for you and your business.

For both mentoring and networking, your local chamber of commerce and your local enterprise centre are useful initial points of contact. Find business networks with the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry.