As we approach 2022, the landscape of leadership is evolving rapidly. Embracing new trends is crucial for staying ahead. Let's delve into five key leadership trends that promise to shape the future and prepare us for the challenges ahead.
It’s time to buck the old system and forge new trends, new cultures and new companies
Society faces unprecedented challenges as we grapple with inequality, climate change, crumbling health care systems and supply chains, labor shortages, and the advancement of technology such as AI and polarized political systems.
- And it’s time for leaders to look in the mirror and admit that the way we’ve been doing things isn’t working.
Addressing inequality within your culture
Leaders have the responsibility to ensure that the workplace is as fair and equitable as possible
- Start with pay
- Complete an assessment of employee compensation
- Invest in bias training that focuses on experience sharing and teaching intersectionality
- Create safe spaces for under-represented people to access support and give them a platform to share their stories
- Review and revamp your hiring practices to source more intentionally, looking beyond the homogeneous networks so you can tap more diverse candidate pools
- Conduct panel interviews to allow for various perspectives
- Terminate employees who don’t fit your values of diversity, inclusion and equality
Building your technology infrastructure
Sit down with your leadership team and scenario plan. Outline priorities, investments, and talent requirements.
- Create a simple use case for your top priorities or low-hanging fruit. Then create the roadmap. Without a roadmap, it won’t be easy to get where you want to go.
Creating a Culture of Well-Being
Every person on a company’s executive team must be committed to workplace well-being, modeling a holistic lifestyle where top priorities are physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health
- Leaders must build a supportive environment that focuses on the whole person, not just the working portion
- Companies must offer EAP services that address mental health and financial, spiritual, spiritual and social wellness
Embracing an experimenter’s mindset
To be future-ready, you must be willing to try new things, to experiment
- Possessing a learner’s mind does not mean taking significant risks
- Use a disciplined method of experimentation
- Create boundaries around experiments
- Break large initiatives into bite-sized chunks to create quick wins
Investing in your employees’ development
Map out a learning and development program focused on learning new technologies and software, advancing job-specific knowledge and skills, and teaching effective management and leadership techniques.
- Job rotation or job enlargement – adding new tasks and responsibilities to an employee’s job
- Coaching and mentoring activities
