Evolving leadership dynamics

Larger organizations in most industries gain economies of scale as they distribute overhead expenses across more units of production. This leads to greater profits and stock valuation. Being global, or more precisely, offering products or services in a variety of countries and cultures, increases the size of the market to be served. Technology advances have greatly reduced the costs of reaching these different geographically dispersed markets. However, the market forces to increase size and go global do not necessarily lead to organizational survival. Of the 100 largest United States companies at the beginning of the 20th century, only 16 are identifiable today. Considering more recent history, of the companies in the Fortune 500 in 1970, fully one-third had ceased to exist by the early 1980's. And during the 1980's a total of 230 companies - 46 percent - disappeared from the Fortune 500. Obviously, neither size nor reputation guarantees continued success or survival. 

In contrast to demand-based market forces, the supply of human capital is undergoing a pervasive and powerful shift. The supply of labor is more diverse, and individual workers must possess a greater degree of technical expertise to be successful. At an absolute minimum, companies must be able to accommodate diversity; the most successful companies will leverage their diversity to create new ideas and better match these differences to work demands. At the same time that organizations struggle with increasing deregulation (open and free markets), they will have to contend with an older work force that will find it difficult to stay abreast of change. Reinvent oneself or perish will continue to be the clarion call. Yet successful businesses will be those that do not forsake their own strong histories and foundations and do not undervalue their past learning and the ability to think metaphorically - because in these postmodern times what is old can rapidly become what is new, even at the same time as what is new today is nothing like what was new yesterday.

Successful leaders demonstrate the following five leadership qualities in their personal and professional lives, inspiring others to take action and set a course for future success. Strong leaders also practice key behaviors on a regular basis in order to strengthen the positive impact of these qualities.

The following behaviors will help you focus on your self-awareness and personal development to develop this important leadership quality.

Set goals, prioritize goals, and take responsibility for accomplishing them. Also, take responsibility for falling short of your stated goals or making mistakes along the way.

Successful leaders focus on big picture, avoid distractions, and don’t get bogged down by small, tactical details. Practice these behaviors to promote effective management of your time and attention. Set boundaries between your personal and professional lives. Remember that your organization will follow your lead—if they see you working long into the night, they will assume that they have to do the same. Retain awareness of your strengths, weaknesses, and any potential sources of bias that may impact your thinking and decision-making. Conduct self-assessments and seek feedback from your team, and set improvement goals with measurable targets in areas where you have room to grow. Accept that things can and will go wrong. This anticipation will help you respond in a thoughtful way that does not make a difficult situation even worse.

This leadership quality builds on the principles of the situational leadership theory which suggests that effective leaders adapt to whether an individual or group is ready, willing, and able to take specific action. Delegating, coaching, and mentoring are important tasks for situational leadership, Goode says.

These behaviors will help you demonstrate leadership ability by developing others within an organization.Recruit and develop a team with diverse skills and backgrounds, and give the team members both the tools and the space to build trust among each other.

As a coach, show empathy as well as strength. Effective leaders remain kind and steadfast  at the same time.Delegating responsibility can be harder than completing the task yourself, but this allows you to see what a team is capable of doing. Accomplishing difficult tasks helps a team build confidence and continue its path to growth.Make genuine connections with those outside your organization. Actively seek out people who will make your team stronger, even if their expertise doesn’t perfectly match the needs you have at the moment.

Make training a priority within your organization—and balance it with a culture that allows team members to thrive. As Richard Branson famously  said, “Train people well enough so they can leave, but treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

“As a leader, you have to look forward. You have to think about where the organization is going,” Goode says.

Leaders must consider internal organizational factors, such as product roadmaps and staffing needs, as well as external factors, including government regulations and technology advancement, when making strategic business decisions.

Emphasizing the following behaviors will help develop leadership qualities related to strategic thinking, innovation, and action.

Maintain a flexible mindset and be willing to try new ideas. This is especially true for leaders at startups, where company goals are frequently changing and rigid plans may be hard to follow.

Take a genuine interest in your company and the business it operates in. Your team will feed off of your enthusiasm for what you do—or else take the wrong cues from your apathy.

Focus on the future, understand that change is occurring all around you, and maintain a positive outlook.Encourage creativity and innovation in your team through exercises such as brainstorming or prototyping. Let business lines explore new ideas based on the output of these exercises.

Set a practical vision and suitable targets for your company. SMART goal to be considered which are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.

Make informed decisions. Leaders often have to make risky decisions, but you must be able to justify the course of action you are taking. Your team will take notice if you are making reckless decisions—and they will be likely to follow your lead.

Strong leaders consider the ethical consequences of the decisions that they make—for both their customers and their teams.

Taking these behaviors into account will increase your awareness of ethical practice and civic-mindedness, which reflects personal concern for the benefit of your entire organization and the community as a whole.

Use your power and authority appropriately. Remember the old saying: Honesty is the best policy. When leaders are open and transparent with their people , they reciprocate this trust, and the entire organization operates with integrity.

Be open, transparent, and authentic. Your team should know what it is getting from you no matter the circumstances.

Recognize the emotions that your team members are experiencing. Praise those who are succeeding and encourage those who are struggling. Never berate team members, publicly or privately.

Take responsibility for your mistakes, and expect that of others on your team. But don’t stop there. Take the next step and make things right, even if it will hurt your organization’s bottom line. In the long run, the benefits of protecting your organization’s integrity and reputation will outweigh any short-term costs you might incur.

Respected leaders are able to clearly communicate with individuals, business units, the entire company, and to stakeholders outside the organization. In an increasingly global economy, leaders must also acknowledge and respect different communication traditions, Goode says.

How You Can Improve:

Practicing these behaviors will help leaders increase the effectiveness of their communication.

Explain everything from organizational goals to specific tasks and objectives in concise language. If anyone on the team is unaware of your expectations and falls short of meeting them, you are at fault for failing to express those expectations. Communicate these goals and targets frequently so that everyone in the organization knows what you, and they, are working toward.

Understand the nuances of communicating over the phone, via email, and on social media. Identify your strengths and weaknesses for each mode of communication and work to improve where necessary.

Embrace enthusiasm, confidence, inspiration, and excitement when you communicate. Optimistic leaders channel their energy towards betterment of the organisation and that they value team members’ contributions to achieve that goal.

Adapt your communication style to different cultural traditions when necessary. Some cultures expect explicit, specific messages, while others tend to rely on context between the lines. Some cultures also show emotion more readily than others.

Leaders are under pressure to create and operate a welcoming social enterprise sector in their organizations. Social businesses carry out economic operations with the primary goal of assisting the environmental and social ecology. In addition to preserving their performance and profitability in the base country’s economy, these initiatives provide beneficial social and ecological effects. Social entrepreneurship and innovation are focused on ethical business practices and financial outlooks to satisfy stakeholders’ interests while also contributing to the development of communities.

Enterprise executives are held responsible for their acts, whether environmental, ethical, or financial. Leaders are under intense strain to shift the negative relationship between economic growth, the ecology, and community to a good one. Leaders must change their company models to embrace the difficulties of sustainable development as a business growth opportunity. It’s often alluded to as PPP: persons, planet, profits, since business executives now consider stakeholders and shareholders. Sustainable leaders must strike a balance between the pressures of short- and long-term goals. They include new concepts aimed at improving the global ecological crisis.

Ethical and responsible conduct is enhanced by focusing on long-term goals and their connections to stakeholders. It builds trust and ensures a good mix between people, the environment, and profit.

To enhance their business operations and empower local communities, the companies’ sustainability efforts are guided by their areas’ environmental and social demands. Companies must undertake procedures that are part of their corporate responsibility to gain the desired social capital required to meet sales and human capital requirements today. Within the domains of processes and other essential business activities, business executives must consider social goals and the social wellbeing of communities. Businesses attempt to recoup their investment in hospitality facilities by addressing environmental and social problems in their surroundings to limit adverse outcomes that might disrupt the host communities’ daily life.

The writer is MD and CEO of Community Bank. He can be contacted at [email protected]