25 Sep Required Skills for Leaders
Center for Creative Leadership(CCL) and ExecOnline were conducting research (Jan21- Dec22) which identified key tensions organizations must address, to enable leaders to lead effectively in this actual environment. The population participating in the research had the following structure: 43963 leaders, across multiple organizations levels, working across Americas, EMEA and APAC.
Making hard decisions and motivating/engaging talent looks like a paradox and it is one of the three tensions identified by this research.
In today’s VUCA business environment there are two main challenges meaning strategic responsibilities and organizational talent issues.(source: surveys by CCL….)
To address economic pressures, organizations should prioritize skills like strategic thinking, judgment, decision making, and financial acumen.
To address talent pressures, organizations should prioritize skills like empathy, perspective taking, leading others, and effective communication.
How to create an inviting environment for leaders, enabling them to develop and grow their both categories of skills?
- Offer more cross-functional opportunities as well as foster connections within teams by adding group coaching.
- Offer development opportunities easier to be accessed and consumed, as well as opportunities for personal growth and development.
- Identify the leaders who are already strong on one skill set and reinforce learning by pairing training with one-on-one coaching.
Organizations must create the space for allowing the leaders to develop the skills they need for leading effectively in a complex business environment as of today.
Development plan should be the result of a constructive dialogue between organizations and leaders focusing on skills and perspectives leaders want to learn and improve upon because they want to, not because their organization told them to.
This research is providing valuable data which may support conversations for developmental plans for leaders considering the two categories of skills which were identified as critically important.