In our previous article on leadership, we discussed the concept of Digital Leadership and the competencies expected of this type of leader.
There, we underlined that not every leader will become a digital leader, and that it isn't really reasonable to expect that anyway. Naturally, this raised another question, and several of you commented on it: beyond digital leadership, which leadership styles, particularly in terms of management approach, will come to the fore in the years ahead?
In this article, we briefly round up these approaches. Happy reading.
What Characteristics Will Stand Out in the Leaders of the Future?
Let's start with this: in the years ahead, what we might call "leaders' characteristics" may matter even more than leadership approaches. So let's first take a quick look at these shared traits.
In the coming years, we will be talking about leaders who are:
- Always open to learning and exploring,
- Always aware of the importance of the human factor,
- Committed to transparent management,
- Non-hierarchical, putting more emphasis on collaboration and achieving together,
- Focused on data and efficiency,
- Highly tolerant of risk,
- Driven by a culture of persuasion and able to use it to mobilize employees and the wider ecosystem,
- Able to quickly reshape the organization and ways of working as needs change,
- Aware that the digitalization story is not only about technology, and that technology is only a tool,
- Fully aware of the importance of setting a vision, developing strategy and tactics, being flexible, communicating continuously and driving cultural change,
- Equipped with a #digitalfirst perspective,
- Agents of change, able to reposition themselves, their teams and their companies accordingly,
- Role models in continuously developing digital skills,
- Aware that sustainable performance and success are not the job of a single team or department alone,
- Able to lead the effort to keep an inclusive and egalitarian culture alive across the whole company,
- Accountable,
and it will be "their time".
What Will the Dominant "New Generation Leadership Approaches" Be?
That's the list of characteristics, but it's not the whole story. Beyond them, there are a number of new generation approaches that leaders already follow or will adopt. In this article, we will briefly touch on the ones we believe are most important, but there are also approaches that existed before, have changed in content over time, and are still going strong. Customer-Centric Leadership, Technology-Driven Leadership and Agile Leadership are examples.
Let's take a very brief look at a few of the "Leadership Approaches" we think will stand out in the changing world of work in the years ahead.
Coaching Leadership: A leader is only as good as their team. With this in mind, this approach means understanding the team's makeup and the personalities, wishes, fears, strengths and weaknesses of the people in it, and making the best use of every resource to help the team perform better and reach its full potential. The leader approaches the team as a coach rather than a boss and strives to help everyone reach the "best" within themselves. A coaching leader trusts the abilities of their employees, supports them as they unlock their potential and, through their management style, helps them raise their performance. We may cover this leadership style in more detail in a separate article, but this much is worth saying now: just like digital leadership, coaching leadership will be one of the most important approaches in the years ahead.
Inclusive Leadership: This leader is egalitarian and inclusive, and encourages the team to share their thoughts and ideas, take risks and be part of the decision-making and problem-solving process. Trust is the hallmark of such a leader, because they know the battle can't be won alone. They draw strength from diversity and difference, seeing them not as a problem to be solved but as assets that add value to the work and the organization, and they act accordingly. These are leaders who trust everyone on their team, involve them in processes as much as possible, are open-minded and free of prejudice, value everyone's ideas, listen, treat people equally and can create a collaborative work culture. In short, they manage to bring as many different ideas, different talents and different people as possible under the same umbrella and, from there, focus on "creating value together" and "achieving results together". Wonderful qualities, aren't they? Hats off to the leaders who manage it 😊
Accountable Leadership: Next is a newer, less well-known approach, closely linked to transparency and the management practices that have developed around it. So what is it? It is a leadership approach about sharing decisions and their outcomes with everyone as openly and transparently as possible, accepting every outcome, good or bad, positive or negative, and taking full responsibility for all of it. Built on 2 very valuable competencies, standing behind your decisions whatever happens and being (able to be) held accountable, this approach matters especially in difficult times, but because it is so closely tied to transparency and taking responsibility, we believe it is valuable at all times and for everyone.
As we come to the end of the article, I'd like to finish by drawing attention to one point. As you may have noticed, none of the leadership approaches we highlighted is directly related to financial indicators. Of course, indirectly, they all contribute in some way to positive financial results. But none of them is directly linked to the numbers.
On the other hand, what they all have in common is that they are about "Happiness" and "self-actualization". Think of the Coaching leader who helps you bring out the best in yourself, the Inclusive leader who creates an egalitarian environment where you can share your ideas freely and listens to everyone, or the "Accountable Leader" who honestly admits it when they are wrong and takes responsibility for every action, good or bad. Even in their most general definitions, don't they all make you feel that people are "the most valuable" thing?
Or, looking at it from another angle:
If you are a leader today or on your way to becoming one, which one, or which ones, are you?
Why not give it some thought?
If you want to see how far your managers put these approaches into practice in the eyes of their teams, take a look at our article on manager evaluation survey questions.
I think these are all important questions. Until we meet again with new ones,
With love
