Changing Leadership in Today’s Business World

With the evolution of today’s workforce, leadership is constantly changing in business. If you are not on top of the latest leadership development trends, you are likely not meeting your people’s needs. An organization will experience challenges in effective leadership, goal achievement, and retaining its best talent when its leaders fail to adapt to the changing leadership needs in the workforce.

Leadership has changed in today’s business world due to the impacts of technology, customer and employee evolution, company culture, and a shifting of the financial market. With all these new ideas, innovations, and changes in the world today, business leaders must gain insight and learn how to adapt in their role to best benefit the needs of their people and business. All industries experience different obstacles and needs, but one common need across all businesses is effective and adaptive leadership.

To create exceptional leaders who excel today and in our future workforce, businesses need to encourage, empower, and equip their leaders through change. A great way to do this is to invest in your leadership development initiatives and take a deeper dive into your company culture.

Equip & Empower Your Leaders Through Change

The best way to benefit your people and all areas of your business is investing in your leadership development initiatives. Growing and retaining your people will set you apart  and help you to thrive during times of change and uncertainty with consistency and preparedness. Empowering your leaders through development and training programs will strengthen their skillset, competencies, and their ability to effectively lead others. This will also enhance their confidence in carrying out change management and in handling changes in initiatives, shifts in economic and company culture, and the business world.

Businesses of all sizes faced great impact during the pandemic, showing us that leadership must remain adaptable, prepared, and receptive to change and that leaders must be best equipped to handle whatever is thrown their way. The shift in the market resulted in many businesses suffering in losses of revenue, customers, and top talent. If your leaders are not equipped to be effective in their role and for their employees and customers during hardships or change, your business can continue to experience issues with profitability, production, and loss of both sales and top talent.

The Top Ways for Your Leaders to Succeed in Changing Leadership

Leadership will inevitably continue to transform over time. Leaders will need to adapt or risk falling behind in today’s evolving business world. To develop great leaders, consider these top leadership development actions to help your leaders succeed in today’s changing leadership.

1. Develop Visionary Leaders – Now more than ever, we need leaders who can create a compelling vision. A clear and engaging vision is necessary for a company’s goals, development, and success, and for its leaders to succeed in their roles. Evolving leaders to think and behave with a clear forward focus and both a goal and growth mindset is an incredible approach to enhancing your leadership. Strengthening your leaders around your company vision will help them to articulate this vision from their peers down to their employees, and help to lead your business and its people in the direction the company desires to go in. This will also translate down to the customers and their experience, which is critical to succeeding in today’s competitive marketplace.

Our CEO Bonnie Hagemann’s LinkedIn course Leading with Vision demonstrates the importance of visionary leadership today and for the future of our workforce.  A business will need to invest in its leadership development to keep up with the modern-day employees who desire to be inspired and empowered in their work. When employees have clear goals and direction and feel purpose in their work, they will perform better and have greater job satisfaction. Equipping visionary leaders through continued training and leadership development will be one of the best ways to invest in your leaders and equip them to guide and handle change.

2. Improve Leadership Communication – Communication is essential at all levels of your business and in all its relationships. From C-Suite to other levels of leadership, down to the front line and your customers, leaders must communicate clearly within their organization on all goals, changes, and initiatives. According to Pumble, 2022 workplace communication research reports that 86% of both employees and executives find one of the top reasons for workplace failures to be a lack of effective communication and collaboration. To decrease this jarring statistic, businesses must continue to evolve the competencies of their leaders through leadership development programs and initiatives.

Clear communication improves goal setting and allows your business to reach greater objectives and achievements. Excellent communication will also enhance collaboration in your workplace and will help you adapt over time to different business and employee needs. Enhancing your leaders by strengthening their communication competencies and collaboration skills will help prevent current and future miscommunications which can be critical to clarity and productivity in your business. If leaders are trained and supported to effectively communicate, leaders will be better equipped to succeed through the change management needs of their workplace and through the changes in the business world.

3. Effectively Lead Multicultural Generations – Different people require different management approaches. Living in a diverse and multicultural world means it is critical to embed this into your leaders and company culture. Equipping your leaders to adapt to changes in generational and employee needs is critical for your business and retaining your top talent. With millennials making up the largest working population in the US workforce, leaders must also adapt to these generational differences and changes. Different generations can be valuable for idea-sharing and for decision-making and can provide insight into new trends, ideas, and innovations that other generations may not be familiar with. Being open to new ideas and perspectives will be necessary for leaders to excel in their roles and excel for the ever-evolving workforce and needs of their customer base.

Our workforce today is more diverse than ever, so leaders must also be diverse, inclusive, unbiased, and non-judgmental. Our world is full of different people, personalities, generations, and backgrounds, all of which influence an organization’s leadership and company culture. This continues to change and evolve the workforce, which will require leaders to adapt to these differences and diversities. With DE&I initiatives becoming more popular over the last decade, leadership development must equip and empower leaders to be open-minded, flexible, and warm, and to build community. If a leader cannot think or see beyond their own self-interests, perspectives, and ideas, the business and its people will all be impacted in growth, change, and its future success.

4. Ensure Leadership Accountability – Accountability is important in our day-to-day lives beyond the workplace, so it will be necessary for the future of your leadership. A survey by Monday.com  found that 84% of employees find behavior from their leadership as the single most important factor that influences accountability within their organizations. If a leader is not accountable for their own influence and actions, it can create bigger problems for that individual and the people around them. If a leader fails to recognize and understand their impact or need to change it can negatively influence employee behavior and performance, creating bigger issues in productivity, responsibility, and the efficiencies and goals of your business.

Employees value transparency from their leaders, so leaders must continue to adapt to this changing leadership need. Ensuring your leaders develop self-awareness, individual responsibility, and transparency in all initiatives and forms of communication will ensure all employees feel seen, heard, and included. Investing in your leadership development can help your leaders admit to their faults and enhance critical thinking and problem-solving. It will also cultivate trust, honesty, and openness, which will enhance your company culture improving the work environment for your employees.

5. Improving Efficiency in Leadership – Leadership is changing as innovations and ideas continue to change and evolve in the business world. Whether it is new initiatives, goal setting, or advancements in systems and technology, companies will need to also adapt their leadership to these new ways. If leaders are not efficient or have a clear and efficient strategy to lead from, it will be challenging for your leaders to effectively carry out their responsibilities. Improving and streamlining processes, making changes in strategies and technology needs, and continuous development of your leaders will be necessary to effectively lead your people.

In today’s business world, organizations and their leaders must reinvent and reimagine their workplace, its culture, and its goals. If leaders are not equipped with a growth mindset, all areas of a business can suffer. Thinking ahead will be the best way to stay ahead of the game and the competition and to improve your leadership and business efforts on all fronts. Efficiency in leadership will improve efficiency in employees, and help your organization thrive through times of growth, change, and uncertainty. Old habits will not remain effective in today’s business world, so it is time to invest in your changing leaders and the critical need for their continuous learning and development.

Conclusion

Great leadership will guide others through the fog of uncertainty and will continue to be one of the most critical efforts in your organization. As leadership development becomes increasingly popular and necessary for businesses, organizations will need to equip and empower their leaders. Changing leadership requires businesses to evolve their ideas, initiatives, and goals for both their company and all their people. Investing in your current and future leaders will only continue to be one of the best ways to equip your business to withstand the ever-changing workforce and all its needs. All businesses have unique needs, so check out Our Services to see how EDA’s custom-designed leadership and executive development strategies, systems, and programs will help your business excel in today’s business world.

Sign Up Today for our FREE version of EDASurveys™  to receive unlimited Basic Surveys for your business. This one-stop-shop survey technology tool will help your business gain valuable insight into its needs and culture and help you to enhance your employee engagement and achieve your organizational goals. Try free today to best equip your leaders and your business.