New Leadership Skills for the Workplace of Tomorrow

Uncertainty and complexity aren’t going away, no matter how much we crave for stability. The next 10 years will be exceptionally volatile, with many make-or-break decisions to be made.

In such an uncertain and volatile environment, the role of the leader becomes even more critical. The leader’s ability to anticipate changes and navigate the ever-changing markets will be a key determinant of the success of any organization.

Futurist Bob Johansen lists the new leadership skills in the updated edition of his book Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World.

1. Maker instinct - The ability to exploit your inner drive to build and grow things, as well as connect with others in the making.
2. Clarity - Ability to cut through the chaos and contradictions to visualize a future that others cannot yet see.
3. Dilemma flipping - Ability to turn dilemmas into advantages and opportunities.
4. Immersive learning ability - Ability to step out of your comfort zone and learn from unfamiliar experiences.
5. Bio-empathy - Ability to see things from nature’s point of view — to understand, respect and learn from nature’s patterns.
6. Constructive depolarizing - Ability to bring people from divergent cultures toward constructive engagement.
7. Quiet transparency - Ability to be open and authentic about what matters without being overly self-promoting.
8. Rapid prototyping - Ability to create quick early versions of innovations, with the expectation that later success will require early failures.
9. Smart mob organizing - Ability to create, engage with and nurture purposeful business or social change networks through intelligent use of electronic or other media.
10. Commons creating - Ability to seed, nurture and grow shared assets that can benefit other players.

All these might seem overwhelming and confusing. Don't worry as I will simplify it for you. Just follow these THREE steps and you will become a leader who everyone looks up to.

#Self-Reflection

First thing, start reflecting on all the experiences you have day in and day out. Why did something go well and how can you replicate that? Why did something go not as planned and how to anticipate the situation better in the future to avoid disappointment? This daily reflection will strengthen you 'thinking' muscle and make you an agile learner - someone who learns from anything and everything. It will also help you see patterns and be able to predict and manoeuvre situations.

#Emotional Intelligence

The second most important skills to develop is your emotional intelligence. As leaders, you key responsibility is motivating and managing people. You need to be able to execute your vision through your teams. That requires you to be able to first, be self-aware. Know your emotional triggers, what drives you and what your values are. Then you need to be able to manage yourself, your thoughts, emotions, reactions and actions. Without being self-aware and having the ability to manage yourself, you will struggle to understand the impact you have on others and how to manage your interpersonal relationships.

#Collaborative Mindset

Although technology is an “enabler” of interactions, collaboration is first and foremost a collection of human behaviours. We want our teams to work collaboratively but often the behaviours found in an organization follow the behaviours of the leaders. If a leader has a collaborative mindset, he or she can also infect their team with this mindset. A collaborative mindset entails

• a focus on “we” rather than “me”
• looking at what is best for the group or project
• alignment of purpose or goal
• having an open mind, and willingness to hear from other team members, or experts
• a willingness to enter into and work through conflicts
• willingness to continually learn

So as a leader, you need to develop such a collaborative mindset before you can expect your teams to collaborate.

If you are able to develop these skills and mindset and apply these to your work situation each and every day, you will be amazed with the results you are able to achieve, for yourself and your team.

So to be equipped well enough to deal with the challenges of a volatile and uncertain work environment, focus on building your skills in terms of emotional intelligence, self-reflection and adaptive thinking, learning agility and develop a collaborative mindset.

If you want to stand out as a superb leader, you need to be proactive and develop these skills. Companies may take time to change their leadership development programs and nominate you for those, but you can go out and do it yourself. This is what will give you that competitive edge.

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