As the world becomes more connected, more transparent, and more diverse, the issues facing organizations are more complex than they’ve ever been. Continuous automation cycles and the digital disruption of business models pose major new challenges for organizations and their leaders as they seek to transform their strategies for a digital age.
Skills your leaders will need in the future
Businesses require leaders to adapt with ease to the fluctuating world around us and, in turn, continually develop themselves and their skills to keep up with the fast pace of change.
Here are six skills leaders will need in an accelerated, interconnected, innovative and sustainable world:
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Vision of the bigger picture
Leaders will need the ability to seek value for all stakeholders at the same time. A company’s ecosystem of stakeholders includes its’ shareholders, but also its employees, customers, suppliers, communities, and partners.
Leaders need to be able to envision the ripple effects of any action on all these stakeholders, and act strategically and proactively to engage them as partners in a common journey.
The paradox of leadership lies in staying focused on the present, whilst also visualizing the future and creating a roadmap to reach it. Innovation is the way to remain immune to creative destruction and disruptions. Leaders need to drive innovation and experimentation, and to continuously evolve to meet dynamic needs.
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Ability to really listen and understand different perspectives
Engaging with stakeholders includes the ability to listen to them on a deep level, which means letting go of preconceived ideas, connecting to others, and respecting and being receptive to all contributions.
Leaders of the future will need to have enhanced abilities to understand people. For example, a leader needs to build the ability and agility to look beyond the face value of an employee’s behavior, and instead investigate the psychology behind a behavior. Leaders need to focus on a ‘people-first’ perspective. A people-first perspective means that leaders need to place the highest value on people over profits and over technology.
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Authenticity
Leaders will need to be able to follow their intuition with clarity and confidence. But being in touch with one’s intuition requires a high level of authenticity, removing personal barriers such as prejudice.
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Courage
Clear intuition will be necessary to see the path through disruptive technologies, changing demographics and resource availability. Decisions to radically change course will sometimes need to be made.
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Humility
The complex world we live in is a world with multiple voices. With always-on Internet, anyone can engage, create, and broadcast opinions. Leaders need to know that everyone has an opinion and solutions require participation and responsible behavior.
Future leaders need to be hyper-aware of their own emotional range, the ability to override typical emotional reactions to high-pressure situations, and be able to choose and respond with emotional appropriateness.
- Empowering their teams
The digital economy is driven by rapid on-going developments. Leaders cannot take ownership of everything. A leader cannot know it all, and the top-down approach is no longer sustainable. Leaders need to empower their teams to work with autonomy and freedom, and to take decisions. Organizations need to create leaders at all
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