5 Leadership Trends to Look Out for

1- Building the right business culture for remote teams

Many businesses in the last year or so had to reinvent the wheel in different aspects of their business, one of those aspects being their own business culture. Some were caught by surprise when they realized the kind of culture they were able to maintain in-office is neither sustainable nor efficient for their remote workforce.

Brainstorming ways to replicate your business culture or even coming up with one that suits the new remote work trend is what businesses are aiming to do to increase employee engagement, improve agility, and enhance company morale.

2- Developing an agile mindset

The pandemic was an unforeseen circumstance that served as a reminder—as well as a tough lesson—on the importance of having a “change” or “agile” mindset. One that allows leaders and executives to be quick on their feet and be ready to ditch their old way of doing business and adopt a new strategy for the sake and wellbeing of their business and employees.

Leaders must be aware of their current model of business so that when unprecedented events occur, they can develop newer models that will increase the efficiency of their business. This trend is hard to come by, especially since many of us fear the unknown and aren’t always willing to let go of what is familiar to us, which is both human and natural. One way to break the cycle of fear is to adopt a new attitude to change—an opportunity to advance your company, increase productivity, and identify profitability.

3- Making remote work opportunities available for employees

This trend isn’t only here to stay just until the chaos created by the pandemic simmers down. McKinsey even reported that 80 percent of those questioned in their report actually enjoy working from home, and another 41 percent believe their productivity has improved while working at home.

And we’re seeing many major companies such as Facebook and Dropbox incorporating remote work in different ways. Remote work has proven be effective in improving productivity and employee engagement, and companies around the globe have recognized that and are utilizing it to their advantage.

You’ll see companies making use of this new trend in their own, unique way that best suits their company objectives, so don’t just adopt whatever remote work strategy other companies or your competitors have created. Come up with a plan that is specifically tailored to fit your employees’ needs and one that’ll improve your business’s performance overall.

4- Pushing towards Digital Transformation

The pandemic didn’t start this trend—this has been a prominent trend for the past few years. There had been a gradual increase in demand for more automated processes, but despite this urgency, this IBM research shows that most companies aren’t prepared for this transition.

This goes hand-in-hand with the “change mindset” trend we mentioned earlier—leaders need to be able to utilize technology, and not only that, but also learn how to utilize it the right way. Buying new software aimlessly left and right will not push your company forward, even digital transformation needs to be executed in a strategized manner. For many leaders, developing strong digital acumen proved to be of utmost importance during the pandemic, and will continue to be important afterwards same as it was before.

5- Retaining talent through People Analytics

It’s more important than ever to exercise empathy during this crisis, which is where people analytics comes into play. People analytics is a sophisticated talent retention program that helps you identify talent, nurture it, and improve it to optimize your workforce.

Inclusion, diversity, and equitability have become important elements that define a safe and empathetic environment for employees. People analytics helps you find areas in which your employees can develop, increase the probability of hiring the right employees that suit your business culture, and achieve fair pay for employees.