Leadership Is Changing! Are You On Board?

Leadership is rapidly?undergoing?a much needed upgrade, something which is dramatically changing the face of organisational cultures, employee engagement and business potential as a whole.

It’s important for us to take the time to look deeper into?what?changes still need to be made,?how?we can make those changes happen, and perhaps more importantly,?why?we should adapt.

And it’s not just leadership, largely due to the pandemic, business as a whole is changing, including people’s values and beliefs too. There is still a huge question about the future of how we work. Do we continue to work remotely or will people want to go back to the office? How about the hybrid model? Businesses have had no choice but learn to adapt over the last two years.

That’s why it’s so crucial to stay?attune?to the?emotional?needs?of your employees and to ask the question,?are your leaders fulfilling those needs?

Businesses typically have many leaders of many different forms, from President’s & CEO’s to Supervisors and natural leaders within a team. The question we should be asking is, are these leaders moving the business forward, or holding it back unwittingly.

For the most part, gone are the days when the authoritarian, ‘bulldozer’ leadership style works. It doesn’t. In fact, it’s been proven time and time again that a happier, more valued workforce, delivers higher productivity, lower costs and better results. Excellent leadership has huge benefits for the company. Put simply, if you lead your employees in the right way, they are more likely to stay and you will keep your best workers.?

People have an innate desire for reciprocity, use it carefully.

Care?for them and they’ll willingly care for your business and its mission.?Trust?them, and they’ll?trust the direction in which you lead them.?Go the extra mile?for them, and they will go the extra mile to deliver more for you and your business. Make them?feel safe and secure, and they’ll do the same for you and your business!

Maybe that seems pretty obvious to some?

But the truth of the matter is that leadership is often a controversial and misunderstood topic. What's more, many people have a different idea about what leadership looks like.

Leadership is not about being the best but bringing out the best in your team. In my opinion, leadership involves everything from high levels of emotional intelligence and communication skills, to effective talent recognition and retention, inspiration, motivation and empowerment.

So how do you see leadership today, and in the future? What does great leadership mean to you? Does it mean the same to your colleagues? Have you seen companies already making a shift in leadership style?

Let me know what you think by sharing your ideas and experiences in the comments!

And if you are interested in learning more about leadership, join me for my upcoming webinar on 'Essential Leadership Skills in Software Engineering.'

I be exploring what these changes mean for our industry and the typical leadership traits for modern software development leaders.

The webinar will take place on on 25th May, 7pm, GMT.

The link will be in the comments :)

Thanks,

Tom