(Part 1 of 3) Do You Want to be a Great Leader? Then Be a Great Human

Learning HR skills is at the heart of every great leader?

In a world of constant and rapid change, leadership skills are as valuable as ever

Having the pandemic spread around the globe in the early days of 2020 has hugely affected how businesses operate.

Leaders have had to rethink many concepts that organizations may have previously taken for granted, such as how to communicate and engage within teams, strengthen relationships with customers, and deal with disruptions to business models, supply chains, and other important processes.

Some of these changes were reactions to an emerging crisis. However, some of the best leaders have recognized an opportunity to be proactive - to recognize and respond to the pulse of their teams, evolve how they did business, and act on long-standing plans to grow. Many businesses have had to contend with challenges, such as reduced workforces, lower budgets, or adjusting their business models to stay afloat.

That said, responding to the events of 2020 and beyond is not merely a case of weathering the storm and returning to the world we knew before. In fact, for some businesses, that would be considered a backwards step.

As many countries worldwide have imposed lockdowns, for example, consumers adjusted their habits and began shopping and researching online. In response, proactive businesses and leadership improved their e-commerce offering and made their online shopping experiences more user-friendly. Some even added a direct-to-consumer element to their sales strategy, which required learning new skills, making the most of new data, and putting in infrastructure that may not have existed before.

A 2021 Channel Advisor survey of chief marketing officers[1] of United Kingdom brands that sell items online found that 82% were seeing higher sales than before COVID-19. Twenty-seven percent said sales were “significantly higher.” In addition, several companies have responded to the disruption by accelerating plans for effective remote working, to improve employee skills and development, and to explore new revenue streams.

The disruption caused by the pandemic has highlighted just how crucial great leaders can be to the success of an organization. In a world that is constantly changing, the role of a leader is not just to maintain stability. It is also to spot opportunities, to respond to ideas, and to evolve and reshape a business.

In a resent article by Josh Bersin, a global influencer in business leadership and HR tech, cited that leaders from high growth large companies have distinct HR skills[2]. ?

This is why successful leadership tools and training are more important than ever. Today’s leaders need to learn the human skills to ensure that they are able to rise to the challenge of empowering and engaging their teams and avoiding burnout.

A Few Human or HR Skills (I think) Great Leaders Should Focus on Adopting

There are five areas that come up again and again in a leader’s journey. A great leader or a great human must have a perspective on each of these in order to build strong relationships and take their company and teams in a positive direction. These are:

Inclusion

Innovation

Change management and adaptability

Communication

Emotional Intelligence

I’ll explore how these have changed—both due to recent events and the evolution of workplaces and technology. And I’ll share what many of today’s leaders say about developing a style that energizes teams, and retains and develops the best talent.

Let’s begin! ?

In a world of choice, will employees choose you?

It is important to describe a great leader as someone who sees opportunities instead of challenges. Over the last few years, businesses have certainly seen their share of change and uncertainty. Some reacted by doubling down on their essential functions or reducing staff. The same was also true of employees. Some were keen to maintain their position within a company, often adjusting to new roles and responsibilities. Others switched companies to find more work-life balance, also known and sometimes referred to as the great resignation. ?

According to the U.S. Labor Department, nearly 4 million people quit their jobs in April 2021[3] —the most on record. Due to precautionary remote working measures, many employees joined and left companies without ever meeting their colleagues in person[4].

How could smart businesses position themselves to attract and retain the best of this talent, and what role could leaders play?

Good leadership is a company perk

What do employees want from a company today? Frequently, they prioritize companies that invest in employee development[5], build a supportive office environment[6] , and offer flexible working and a positive work-life balance[7].

Many of these benefits exist because of good leadership and how it is communicated throughout the company. And, indeed, leadership is frequently the decisive factor in convincing talented professionals that they have found the right place to work.

Why do people remain loyal to companies, even when the market for their services is strong? It comes down to how they are treated, whether they are empowered, how their team works together, and how they are prepared to develop and advance.

Leaders are critical to the process of creating a culture where this happens. They can do this by manifesting human skills such as emotional intelligence, resilience, and an appetite and vision for change. Some may find this comes more naturally than others, but they are absolute skills that can and should be learned. Which should mean investing and expanding the human resource tools and technologies of a company. ?

These are proactive HR skills, not reactive

There’s no better time for leaders to consider whether they need to update and refresh their leadership or human skills. That’s not just a reaction to exceptional events. It’s a recognition of what’s to come. In a world where projects can be coordinated globally, there’s a huge opportunity to build excellent teams by recruiting from different countries. The best recruits can come from anywhere and everywhere, and talented and valuable employees often prefer to work flexible hours, without re-locating or commuting long distances.

Adapting to this reality is not a brief inconvenience. It is a requirement of leading a 21st-century business. Mastering these human skills could be instrumental in attracting transformative candidates with atypical work models. These traits could play a significant role in inspiring teams to adopt technology and processes that might require evolution and could be the key to understanding what employees need, to do their best work, instead of “what has always been done.”

See the second article in this series here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/do-you-want-great-leader-human-part-2-3-mike-sites

[1] How brands are primed to thrive in a post-Covid world. Business Reporter. 2021. ?

[2] New Research Shows That High Growth Large Companies Have Distinct HR Skills. 2022.

[3] ‘I Quit My Job’ Is a Signal of Economic Recovery. New York Times. 2021.

[4] If You Never Met Your Co-Workers in Person, Did You Even Work There? New York Times. 2021.

[5] Employee Experience Is Everything in a Post-Pandemic World. HR News. 2021.

[6] Employees Want More From Their Workplaces Post-Pandemic — Here’s How To Get Started. Forbes. 2021.

[7] Here’s what employees want after COVID-19. World Economic Forum. 2021.