LEAD HUMANLY 4.0

One of the key pre-suppositions or convenient assumptions in NLP is to Calibrate on (one's or someone's) Behavior i.e. the most important piece of information about any person is that person's behavior. This works wonders when attempting to comprehend, analyse, and formulate a more progressive approach to organizational behavior, specifically with respect to Leadership.

So how should the leaders of today and the future behave, what traits are still relevant, and what new has been added to the pallet?

The best way is to have a broader view of the work culture, global trends, challenges, economic landscape, and to then deduce what sort of Leadership is still relevant to your own organization. Gone are the days when Leaders were segregated from the herd and put up on a pedestal of a hierarchical structure. The world moved from stratum-driven to a more connected approach where your net-worth would be your network.

Fast forward, pandemic came, saw, and conquered the traditional approach to Leadership and introduced a more suitable version i.e. #Adaptive Leadership, which in the VUCA world of constant (technological) disruption worked wonders. Adaptive leadership theory was introduced by leadership experts, Harvard professors, and authors Marty Linsky and Ronald Heifetz. Marty Linsky and Heifetz's extensive research concluded that businesses are constantly changing or developing and must be navigated accordingly. The role went beyond addressing challenges to anticipating them and narrowing the root-cause. So the focus of Leadership went from grades and positions, to connections, and then onto changing data-driven business processes, and subsequent risk aversive strategies.

What was still missing was the focus on the recipient of Leadership i.e. the people | the humans | the fuel & sustenance of the living organism that is an organization. From the human-centered design to human-centered leadership, the struggle and aim have been to bring the efforts back to the core and not just let them stay wrapped helically around an axis.

With the increase in uncertainty, there was a visible surge in mental health, wellbeing, and workplace productivity challenges in people across the world. Managers had a more people-focused role to play and bring about their #Coaching and #Empathy arrows from their quivers of leadership. With disruption and digital transformation came a dire need of change-receptiveness and a growth mindset shift, top-down and bottom-up. #HCL was not the solution either as that brought an imbalance in the equation where autonomy and empowerment in the name of innovation and change were being abused.

The need of the hour was to comprehend #Leadership and #Management as skills and not roles i.e. anyone anywhere in the organization could be asked to project, perform, and lead when necessary. The Future of Work demands XA i.e. extreme adaptability. That does not mean every individual in the organization carries a different #Vision. It is that the personal vision of each aligns with the main and is also being projected in the behavior of each person.

Leadership will continue to exist as a skill more than an attitude, however, it will shift caps, contexts, and goals, with a higher emphasis on self-discipline, self-organization, and self-management. The structures will be leaner, the vision will be shared, and the accountability will lie with all devoid of their role in the organization.

Are we ready for this #paradoxical yet more future-driven approach to #Leadership?

In case organizations need to get their humans ready for the future of work and to lead humanly by adopting the right mindset and behavior NeuroNurture can be reached out for customized coaching, training programs, and OB/OD consultancy services.

About the Author:

Mariam Khan is heading a mindset and behavior change coaching and consultancy startup in Pakistan, called NeuroNurture

The views and opinions expressed in this article/post are author’s and do not reflect the views of the company &/or organization he/she works for &/or advise.