What is needed of our leaders in polarising times?
What is needed of our leaders in polarising times?
Disruptive times call for transformational leaders who can navigate the turbulent waters of polarising times. We are living in a time of growing division and uncertainty and need our leaders to be beacons of guidance, stability, and vision. Based on the many dialogues we have with senior leaders, below we explore some of the key leadership qualities and strategies that we often find in those most successful and effective leaders.
A leader today is called upon to guide their organisation through immediate challenges but also strengthen the business and its people for future trials, ensuring sustainability and success. The key is to find a balanced approach that emphasizes human values, strategic flexibility, and robust communication.
4 key competencies we see in successful leaders
Problem-solving
When tasked almost daily, to manage increasing diversity of perspectives, increasingly complex matrix organisational structures and the growing focus on cross-departmental collaboration and team disputes, successful problem-solving is often a key quality in any leadership role. Leaders with an ability to authentically engage with others and connect with their people on an emotional level will be better positioned to involve their people in contributing valuable information, supporting the analysis and evaluation of problems that arise. As a result, these leaders will make more informed and better decisions in how best to solve problems that arise.
Results-oriented
A strong results-orientated approach is fundamental to effective leadership. This approach extends beyond merely developing and articulating a vision and setting goals. It also encompasses the commitment to achieving tangible outcomes. With focus and drive for growth, these leaders often manage to successfully help develop their people, as they challenge and encourage an innovative and experimental mindset within their teams, to help push for continuous improvements.
Open-mindedness
Leaders who keep a keen eye on trends impacting their organisation and strive to understand different perspectives are often excellent at encouraging their people to contribute with input for improved performance. With an agility of mind, they do well in understanding complexity and stay open and adaptable to help ensure good decisions, even in ambiguous and volatile circumstances.
Supportive
Supportive leaders recognise and understand the emotions of others. With humanity and a general will to do good for their people, they cultivate trust and motivate their team to navigate challenges. Often good at quickly grasping and helping to set the bigger picture, these leaders inspire an engaging vision, collaboration and help teams work towards the same goals to achieve results.
The style of leadership will need to be adapted to different contexts and business situations. Leaders with good self-awareness of their aptitude in each of the above competencies will significantly improve their likelihood of uniting their people and bridging the divisions that can otherwise be a polarising factor, seeing the energy of employees wasted on internal conflict.
Alumni Global
We are experts in the field of Leadership Assessment and Development. We have used our years’ of experience to develop a proven, structured methodology that can accurately help to measure the performance of your talent pipeline whilst identifying their true potential. We are happy to help if you are looking to create a solid succession plan through the selection or development of sustainable leaders that will boost the success of your organisation into the future.
If we can help you with any area of leadership acquisition or development please do reach out.
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